SOURCE  BOOK  FOR 
SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


WILLIAM  I.  THOMAS 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SOURCE   BOOK    FOR 
SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


SOURCE   BOOK   FOR 
SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


ETHNOLOGICAL    MATERIALS,     PSYCHOLOGICAL    STAND- 
POINT, CLASSIFIED  AND  ANNOTATED  BIBLIOG- 
RAPHIES FOR  THE  INTERPRETATION 
OF  SAVAGE  SOCIETY 


BY 

WILLIAM   I.  THOMAS 

Author  of  Sex  and  Society 


In  good  sooth,  my  masters,  this  is  no  door.      Yet  is  it  a  little 
window,  that  looketb  upon  a  great  world. 

—Quoted  in  RISLBY,  The  People  a f  India,  title-page 


CHICAGO 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

LONDON 

T.  FISHER  UNWIN 
1909 


COPYRIGHT  1909  En 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


Published  October,  1909 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. 


College 
Library 

HA7 

51 


WILLIAM  JONES 

KILLED   IN   LUZON 


962148 


PREFACE 

This  book  will  be  found  very  interesting,  if  read 
slowly.  It  had  its  origin  in  the  necessities  of  the  class- 
room, but  in  its  preparation  I  have  had  a  growing  hope 
that  it  may  be  a  means  of  extending  the  interest  in  the 
beginnings  of  human  society  to  a  larger  public.  The 
study  of  savage  and  prehistoric  man  is  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  and  important  of  the  social  sciences,  and  at 
the  same  time  one  of  the  most  esoteric.  It  is  not  only 
inherently  delightful,  but,  as  I  have  attempted  to  indi- 
cate in  the  introductory  chapter,  it  has  a  vital  though 
incompletely  realized  relation  to  historical,  sociological, 
and  pedagogical  studies.  On  every  score  it  deserves  a 
wider  recognition,  and  I  should  be  happy  if  I  could 
assist  it  to  come  into  its  own.  It  is  impossible,  at  any 
rate,  that  the  scientific  and  comparative  method  con- 
nected with  the  movement  we  call  Darwinism  should 
not  in  the  long  run  be  extended  to  the  study  of  man 
himself. 

Human  activities  cannot  be  isolated  or  arranged 
according  to  any  fixed  order  of  development.  Any  one 
of  them  is  related  to  all  the  others.  But  for  convenience 
I  have  grouped  the  materials  I  have  been  able  to  include 
in  the  space  at  my  command  in  seven  parts,  the  external 
environment  and  the  mind  of  man  coming  first,  and  the 
activities  growing  out  of  these  following  in  a  more  or 
less  arbitrary  order. 

In  the  choice  of  the  papers  which  form  the  bulk  of 
the  book  the  proportion  of  bare  fact  and  of  more  gener- 
alized statement  has  of  course  been  a  problem,  and  it 
has  turned  out  that  most  of  the  selections  have  a  thread 


vin  PREFACE 

of  interpretation  running  through  the  facts.  I  have 
not  even  excluded  views  which  seem  to  me  wrong,  but 
have  attempted  to  offset  them  by  different  views  of 
other  writers,  by  suggestions  at  the  end  of  the  different 
sections,  and  by  references  to  the  bibliographies. 

The  fact  that  I  have  in  more  than  one  place  used 
rather  lengthy  passages  from  Herbert  Spencer,  while  at 
the  same  time  taking  special  pains  to  discredit  his  views, 
seems  to  call  for  a  word  of  explanation.  Whatever 
errors  Spencer's  Principles  of  Sociology  may  contain, 
it  still  remains  the  most  systematic  and  considerable 
attempt  to  interpret  society  as  an  evolution.  And  both 
the  originality  and  the  inadequacy  of  his  views  have 
greatly  stimulated  scientific  inquiry.  It  is  also  true  that 
while  many  of  Spencer's  views  are  ignored  by  ethnol- 
ogists they  still  remain  the  only  ones  with  which  a  large 
number  of  persons  are  acquainted.  I  have  therefore 
given  him  a  representation,  both  for  these  reasons  and 
because  the  truth  is  always  more  clearly  developed  when 
compared  with  a  statement  of  error. 

In  printing  the  selections  no  attempt  has  been  made 
to  conform  the  spelling  and  punctuation  to  any  stand- 
ard. The  text  has  been  followed  literally,  and  such 
spellings  as  "labour"  in  English  editions  have  been  re- 
tained. Many  of  the  papers  contained  in  the  original 
copious  footnotes,  citing  authorities.  The  notes  on  some 
of  the  pages  of  Westermarck,  for  instance,  amount  to 
more  than  the  text.  It  was  obviously  not  feasible  to  re- 
print these  notes  here.  When  the  student  wishes  to 
see  the  authority  for  a  statement  he  will  usually  find  it 
indicated  in  the  original  text. 

I  will  not  comment  on  the  proportion  of  space  given 
to  the  bibliographies.  It  might  have  been  more  or  less. 


PREFACE  IX 

The  teacher,  at  any  rate,  will  certainly  not  find  the  lists 
too  large  when  he  comes  to  comb  out  from  them  the 
titles  to  be  found  in  his  college  library.  In  connection 
with  the  lists  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  following 
points : 

1.  The  bibliographies  of  the  different  parts  have  ref- 
erence to  the  types  of  activity  there  treated,  without 
regard  to  race.     Wherever  a  title  bears  on  an  activity 
it  is  included  in  one  of  these  bibliographies.    The  sup- 
plementary bibliographies  at  the  end  of  the  book  con- 
tain more  general  titles  arranged  by  races  and  countries. 
In  these  lists  the  student  may  locate  further  materials 
on  the  activities  represented  in  the  text.     If,  for  in- 
stance, he  is  interested  in  the  mind  of  the  savage  he 
should  first  use  the  bibliography  of  Part  II,  and  then  the 
supplementary  bibliographies.     Or,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  he  is  interested  in  the  Indian,  he  should  use  bibli- 
ography 8  in  connection  with  whatever  titles  he  finds 
on  the  Indian  in  bibliographies  I  to  7. 

2.  In  any  library  it  is  easy  to  locate  the  ethnological 
books,  but  the  papers  in  the  journals  are  not  usually 
listed  separately  in  the  library  catalogue.     In  the  pres- 
ence of  the  38  volumes  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  An- 
thropological Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
the  inexperienced  searcher  for  anthropological  informa- 
tion on  any  point  is  at  a  loss.    He  knows  there  is  some- 
thing there,  but  he  cannot  get  any  farther.     I  have 
therefore  made  a  point  of  differentiating  and  listing  in 
the  bibliographies  the  important  papers  in  the  more  im- 
portant journals.     The  American  Anthropologist  and 
the  above-mentioned  Journal  of   the  Anthropological 
Institute  are  among  the  publications  treated  in  this  way. 
But  the  most  important  feature  of  the  bibliographies 


X  PREFACE 

for  the  reader  who  does  not  live  near  a  large  library  is 
the  similar  listing  of  practically  all  the  important  an- 
thropological papers  in  the  Reports  of  the  Bureau  of 
American  Ethnology  and  in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  and  of  the  U.  S.  National 
Museum.  These  are  government  publications,  widely 
distributed  and  very  generally  accessible.  They  also 
contain  materials  of  the  highest  value. 

3.  In  the  case  of  a  few  important  books  which  are  or 
ought  to  be  in  every  library,  I  have  also  differentiated 
the  contents,  and  listed  the  titles  of  important  chapters 
in  the  bibliographies  of  the  seven  parts  of  the  book. 
This  treatment,  however,  is  only  indicated  and  the  stu- 
dent should  extend  it  to  the  supplementary  bibliogra- 
phies. 

The  titles  in  the  bibliographies  are  numbered,  mainly 
to  facilitate  reference  in  class-work.  The  stars  indicate 
my  judgment  of  the  more  important  titles.  The  fact 
that  there  are  occasional  gaps  in  the  numbers  does  not 
mean  that  anything  has  been  lost  at  that  point,  but  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  titles  were  dropped  out  after  the 
lists  were  in  type.  In  connection  with  every  bibli- 
ography the  student  will  find  some  indication  of  points 
at  which  he  may  lay  hold,  both  in  the  remarks  preced- 
ing the  list  and  particularly  in  the  comments  attached 
to  certain  titles. 

If  I  may  express  a  wish  in  this  connection  it  is  that 
our  libraries,  especially  the  smaller  ones,  will  soon  meet 
the  growing  public  interest  in  anthropological  subjects 
by  the  provision  of  at  least  a  minimum  number  of  the 
more  recent  and  important  works.  The  literature  of 
anthropology  is  very  large,  almost  comparable  in  volume 
to  that  of  history,  but  the  government  publications  men- 


PREFACE  xi 

tioned  above  form  a  valuable  beginning.  To  these 
should  certainly  be  added  the  American  Anthropologist, 
and,  if  possible,  the  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  In- 
stitute, and  the  Journal  of  American  F  oik-Lore.  The 
anthropological  papers  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  are  also  of  the  greatest 
importance  for  America.  If,  in  addition  to  such  a  col- 
lection of  periodicals,  a  library  will  acquire  even  fifty 
selected  books,  it  will  be  almost  decently  equipped  for 
work  on  early  society.  For  the  sake  of  definiteness  I 
have  arranged  a  list  of  100  books  (bibliography  14) 
from  which  such  a  selection  may  be  made. 

The  teaching  profession  is  at  present  manifesting  a 
general  interest  in  anthropological  subjects,  on  account 
of  the  relation  of  the  child  to  the  race,  and  for  the  bene- 
fit of  those  who  wish  to  examine  this  book  from  that 
standpoint,  I  suggest  that  the  introductory  chapter  and 
Parts  II,  III,  and  V,  and  the  bibliographies  of  those 
parts,  will  interest  them  most.  Also  Part  I,  selections 
i  and  8,  Part  VI,  selections  I  and  3,  Part  VII,  selec- 
tions 5,  6,  and  7. 

I  wish  to  express  my  thanks  to  the  publishers  who 
have  generously  permitted  me  to  reprint  certain  papers, 
and  to  authors  for  the  same  courtesy.  I  appreciate  also 
the  unfailing  good  nature  with  which  The  John  Crerar 
Library  and  the  Library  of  the  Field  Museum  of  Natu- 
ral History  have  always  met  my  unusual  demands  on 
their  rich  materials. 

The  decoration  on  the  front  of  the  cover  is  from  a 
carving  on  a  drum  from  New  Guinea,  and  the  one  on 
the  back  is  from  a  canoe  of  the  same  region,  and  repre- 
sents a  human  face. 

W.  I.  T. 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS 


Titles  in  the  supplementary  bibliographies  (8-14)  are  in 
some  cases  more  contracted  than  in  Bibliographies  1-7. 
The  shorter  form  is  given  here.  Places  of  publication  are 
abbreviated  only  in  Bibliographies  8-14. 


Abhandl.  =Abhandlungen  L. 

Am.  =  American  Ley. 

Ann.  =Annual  Lpz. 

Anth.  ^^Anthropology,      Anthro-  Mitth. 

pologie,  Anthropologi-  Nat. 

cal,    Anthropologische  N.  F. 

App.  =;Appendix  N.   S. 

Arch.  =Archaeology,         Archiv,  P. 

Archives  Pap. 

Art.  ^Article  Ph. 

B.  =Berlin  Pol. 
Br.  —Brussels  Proc. 
Bui.  =Bulletin  Psyc. 
Bur.  =Bureau 

C.  ^Chicago  Quar. 
Contr.  ^Contributions  Rep. 
Ed.  —Edited,  Edition  Rev. 
Edin.  ^Edinburgh  Roy. 
Ethn.  =Ethnology,  Ethnologic  San.  Fr. 
Ethnog.  =Ethnography,        Ethnog-  Sci. 

raphie  Ser. 

Frankf.  ^Frankfort  Smiths. 

Gen.  =General  Soc. 

Gesells.  =Gesellschaft  Socialwiss 

Inst.  =Institute,    Institution  St.   P. 

Jahrb.  =Jahrbuch  Tr. 

Jl.  =Journal  Trans. 

K.  =K6niglich,    Kaiserlich  V. 

K.K.  r^Kaiserlich-Koniglich  Zeits. 


:=London 


=ieipzig 

=Mittheilungen  . 

^National,   Natural 

^Neue   Folge 

=New  Series 

—Paris 

=Papers 

^Philadelphia 

=Political 

^Proceedings 

=Psychology,    Psychologi- 

cal 

^Quarterly 
=Report 
=;Review,  Revue 


^San  Francisco 
r=Science,   Sciences 
=:Series 
=Smithsonian 
^Society,    Societe 
r=Socialwissenschaf  t 
=St.  Petersburg 
^Translation 
^^Transactions 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTORY 


PART  I :  THE  RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO 
GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  ENVIRONMENT 

TECHNOGEOGRAPHY,  OR  THE  RELATION  OF  THE  EARTH  TO 

THE    INDUSTRIES    OF    MAN 29 

O.  T.  MASON. 

SITUATION  AND  NUMBERS  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE    ....     45 
F.  RATZEL. 

THE  OPERATION  OF  GEOGRAPHIC  FACTORS  IN  HISTORY      .     47 
ELLEN  C.  SEMPLE. 

[INFLUENCE  OF  A  DESERT  ENVIRONMENT.] 55 

W   J    MCGEE. 

[SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  AN  ARCTIC  ENVIRONMENT.]      .      .      .      .     74 
WILLIAM  J.  SUMNER. 

AGRICULTURE  AND  CATTLE-BREEDING 92 

F.  RATZEL. 

ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  AGRICULTURE 98 

H.  LING  ROTH. 

THE  ECONOMIC  LIFE  OF  PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE 112 

CARL  [KARL]   BUCHER. 

COMMENT   ON    PART   I 130 

BIBLIOGRAPHY        134 

PART  II:  MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION 

THE  MIND  OF  PRIMITIVE  MAN 143 

FRANZ  BOAS. 

[THE  MIND  OF  THE  SAVAGE.] 155 

W.  I.  THOMAS. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  SAVAGE  MIND 173 

JOHN  DEWEY. 

PRIMITIVE  MAN — EMOTIONAL 186 

HERBERT  SPENCER. 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PRIMITIVE  MAN — INTELLECTUAL 200 

HERBERT  SPENCER. 

[EDUCATION  OF  THE  AUSTRALIAN  BOY  THROUGH  INITIATION 

CEREMONIES.] 213 

A.  W.  HOWITT  (213-34)  ;  SPENCER  AND  GILLEN   (234-58) . 

[EFFECT  OF  AUSTRALIAN  EDUCATION  AS  SHOWN  IN  FOOD 

REGULATIONS.] 258 

A.  W.  HOWITT. 

AUSTRALIAN   MESSENGERS  AND  MESSAGE-STICKS      .      .      .   264 
A.  W.  HOWITT. 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  MEDICINE  MAN  TO  THE  PROFES- 
SIONAL OCCUPATIONS 281 

W.  I.  THOMAS. 

'THE  GROWTH  OF  INDIAN  MYTHOLOGIES 303 

FRANZ  BOAS. 

COMMENT  ON  PART  II 316 

BIBLIOGRAPHY        318 

PART  III :  INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY 

TOOLS  AND  MECHANICAL   DEVICES 335 

O.  T.  MASON. 

PRIMITIVE  WARFARE 373 

A.  LANE-FOX  PITT-RIVERS. 

ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PLOUGH  AND  THE  WHEEL-CARRIAGE    399 

E.  B.  TYLOR. 

EARLY   MODES   OF   NAVIGATION 404 

A.  LANE-FOX  PITT-RIVERS. 

INVENTION    AND    DISCOVERY 426 

F.  RATZEL. 

COMMENT   ON    PART   III 436 

BIBLIOGRAPHY        440 

PART  IV :  SEX  AND  MARRIAGE 

THE  ORIGIN  AND  ANTIQUITY  OF  HUMAN  MARRIAGE      .      .  447 
EDWARD  WESTERMARCK. 

AUSTRALIAN  MARRIAGE 468 

SPENCER  AND  GILLEN. 


CONTENTS  xv 


PAGE 


POLYANDRY  AMONG  THE  TODAS 483 

W.  H.  R.  RIVERS. 

MARRIAGE  BY  PURCHASE  AND  LIBERTY  OF  CHOICE      .      .      .  489 
EDWARD  WESTERMARCK. 

MONOGAMY 509 

HERBERT  SPENCER. 

[SEXUAL  ANTAGONISM  AND  TABOO.] 512 

ERNEST  CRAWLEY. 

COMMENT  ON  PART  IV 530 

BIBLIOGRAPHY        535 

PART  V:  ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION 

[POINT  OF  VIEW  FOR  STUDY  OF  PRIMITIVE  ART.]      .      .      .   543 
A.  C.  HADDON. 

CLOTHING  AND  ORNAMENT 549 

F.  RATZEL. 

FORM  AND  ORNAMENT  IN  CERAMIC  ART 558 

W.  H.  HOLMES. 

THE  DANCE 577 

ERNST  GROSSE. 

PRIMITIVE  DRAMA  AND  PANTOMIME 593 

R.  WALLASCHEK. 

[RELATION  OF  ART  TO  THE  CONTROL  OF  LIFE.]     ....  605 
YRJO  HIRN. 

COMMENT  ON  PART  V 635 

BIBLIOGRAPHY        636 

PART  VI :  MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH 

SYMPATHETIC  MAGIC 651 

J.  G.  FRAZER. 

AUSTRALIAN  MEDICINE  MEN  AND  MAGIC 669 

A.  W.  HOWITT. 

THE  ALGONKIN  MANITOU 683 

WILLIAM  JONES. 

ANIMISM 692 

E.  B.  TYLOR. 


xvi  CONTENTS 


PAGE 


[THE  "GHOST-THEORY"  OF  THE  ORIGIN  OF  RELIGION.]      .  704 
HERBERT  SPENCER. 

COMMENT  ON  PART  VI    ...      i 733 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 736 

PART  VII:  SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION,  MORALS, 
THE  STATE 

THE  STATE 753 

F.  RATZEL. 

AUSTRALIAN   TRIBAL   GOVERNMENT 764 

A.  W.  HOWITT. 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  OLD  MEN  IN  AUSTRALIA      ....  788 
SPENCER  AND  GILLEN. 

[TRIBAL   SECRET   SOCIETIES.] 792 

HUTTON  WEBSTER. 

THE  IROQUOIS  CONFEDERACY 803 

L.  H.  MORGAN. 

WYANDOT  GOVERNMENT 823 

J.  W.  POWELL. 

HOSPITALITY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  INDIANS 835 

L.  H.  MORGAN. 

COMMENT  ON  PART  VII 856 

BIBLIOGRAPHY        859 

SUPPLEMENTARY   BIBLIOGRAPHIES 

GENERAL   BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    SUGGESTIONS      ....  873 

8.  AMERICA 874 

9.  AFRICA 883 

10.  AUSTRALIA  AND  TASMANIA 891 

11.  OCEANIA  AND  THE  MALAY  ARCHIPELAGO 894 

12.  ASIA   AND   JAPAN 901 

13.  EUROPE 905 

14.  BOOKS  FOR  PURCHASE 908 

INDEX  OF  NAMES  IN  BIBLIOGRAPHIES 919 

GENERAL   INDEX    927 


INTRODUCTORY 


INTRODUCTORY 

I 

The  general  acceptance  of  an  evolutionary  view  of 
life  and  the  world  has  already  deeply  affected  psy- 
chology, philosophy,  morality,  education,  sociology, 
and  all  of  the  sciences  dealing  with  man.  This  view 
involves  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  not  a  single 
situation  in  life  can  be  completely  understood  in  its 
immediate  aspects  alone.  Everything  is  to  be  regarded 
as  having  an  origin  and  a  development,  and  we  can- 
not afford  to  overlook  the  genesis  and  the  stages  of 
change.  For  instance,  the  psychologist  or  the  neurol- 
ogist does  not  at  present  attempt  to  understand  the 
working  or  the  structure  of  the  human  brain  through 
the  adult  brain  alone.  He  supplements  his  studies  of 
the  adult  brain  by  observations  on  the  workings  of  the 
infant  mind,  or  by  an  examination  of  the  structure  of 
the  infant  brain.  And  he  goes  farther  than  this  from 
the  immediate  aspects  of  his  problem — he  examines  the 
mental  life  and  the  brain  of  the  monkey,  the  dog,  the 
rat,  the  fish,  the  frog,  and  of  every  form  of  life 
possessing  a  nervous  system,  down  to  those  having 
only  a  single  cell;  and  at  every  point  he  has  a  chance 
of  catching  a  suggestion  of  the  meaning  of  brain  struc- 
ture and  of  mind.  In  the  lower  orders  of  brain  the 
structure  and  meaning  are  writ  large,  and  by  working 
up  from  the  simpler  to  the  more  complex  types,  and 
noting  the  modification  of  structure  and  function  point 
by  point,  the  student  is  finally  able  to  understand  the 
frightfully  intricate  human  organ,  or  has  the  best 
chance  of  doing  so.  Similarly  the  biological  sciences 


4  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

practice  a  rigid  genetic  and  comparative  method.  They 
recognize  life  as  a  continuum,  and  they  pay  more  atten 
tion  to  its  simpler  manifestations,  perhaps,  than  to  its 
higher,  because  the  beginning  of  the  whole  process  is 
most  significant.  They  are  there  nearer  to  the  source 
and  secret  of  life  itself. 

But  it  is  a  somewhat  singular  fact  that  while  the 
social  sciences  have  been  profoundly  influenced  by  the 
theory  of  evolution  as  developed  by  the  biologists,  and 
have  imitated  the  methods  developed  by  the  biological 
sciences  in  the  study  of  plant  and  animal  life,  they  have 
generally  failed  to  connect  their  studies  of  society  with 
the  researches  of  anthropology  and  ethnology,  that  is, 
with  those  sciences  which  stand  between  biology  and 
civilization.  And  yet  the  lessons  which  the  sciences 
dealing  with  man  in  historical  time  have  to  learn  from 
the  life  of  the  lower  human  races  are  even  more  impor- 
tant than  those  which  they  have  learned  from  biology. 

It  is  of  course  entirely  proper  for  the  student  to  limit 
himself  even  very  narrowly  to  a  special  field  in  order  to 
work  it  intensively,  but  the  historian,  for  instance,  who 
begins  the  study  of  human  activity  with  Greece  and 
Rome  or  even  with  Assyria  and  Egypt,  cuts  himself 
off  as  completely  from  the  beginnings  of  his  own  sub- 
ject as  would  the  psychologist  who  neglected  all  study 
of  child-psychology  and  of  animal  mind,  or  the  biologist 
who  attempted  to  understand  bird  or  insect  life  without 
a  knowledge  of  the  stages  of  life  lying  below  these. 
Indeed,  when  we  consider  that  the  human  race  is  one, 
that  human  mind  is  everywhere  much  the  same,  and 
that  human  practices  are  everywhere  of  the  same  gen- 
eral pattern,  it  appears  that  the  neglect  of  the  biologist 
or  psychologist  to  study  types  of  life  lower  than  those 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

in  which  he  is  immediately  interested  could  hardly  be 
so  serious  as  the  neglect  of  the  historian  to  familiarize 
himself  with  the  institutional  life  of  savage  society. 

This  failure  of  the  social  scences  to  regard  human 
life  and  human  history  as  a  whole,  and  to  perceive  the 
significance  of  the  savage  for  any  study  of  civilization 
has  been  touched  upon  by  Professor  Robinson  in  his 
brilliant  essay  on  History,  and  I  quote  his  words  exten- 
sively, particularly  since  they  introduce  the  question  of 
a  modification  of  the  method  of  viewing  historical 
materials : 

"Fifty  years  ago  it  was  generally  believed  that  we 
knew  something  about  man  from  the  very  first.  Of 
his  abrupt  appearance  on  the  freshly  created  earth  and 
his  early  conduct,  there  appeared  to  be  a  brief  but  ex- 
ceptionally authoritative  account.  Now  we  are  begin- 
ning to  recognize  the  immense  antiquity  of  man.  There 
are  paleolithic  implements  which  there  is  some  reason 
for  supposing  may  have  been  made  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  years  ago;  the  eolithic  remains  recently  dis- 
covered may  perhaps  antedate  the  paleolithic  by  an 
equally  long  period.  Mere  guesses  and  impressions, 
of  course,  this  assignment  of  millenniums,  which  appear 
to  have  been  preceded  by  some  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  years  during  which  an  animal  was  developing  with 
'a  relatively  enormous  brain  case,  a  skilful  hand  and 
an  inveterate  tendency  to  throw  stones,  flourish  sticks' 
and,  in  general,  as  Ray  Lankester  expresses  it,  'to  de- 
feat aggression  and  satisfy  his  natural  appetites  by  the 
use  of  his  wits  rather  than  by  strength  alone.'  There 
may  still  be  historians  w!ho  would  argue  that  all  this 
has  nothing  to  do  with  history; — that  it  is  'prehistoric/ 
But  'prehistoric'  is  a  word  that  must  go  the  way  of 


6  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

'preadamite/  which  we  used  to  hear.  They  both  indi- 
cate a  suspicion  that  we  are  in  some  way  gaining  illicit 
information  about  what  happened  before  the  foot  lights 
were  turned  on  and  the  curtain  rose  on  the  great  human 
drama.  Of  the  so-called  'prehistoric'  period  we  of 
course  know  as  yet  very  little  indeed,  but  the  bare  fact 
that  there  was  such  a  period  constitutes  in  itself  the 
most  momentous  of  historical  discoveries.  The  earli- 
est, somewhat  abundant,  traces  of  mankind  can  hardly 
be  placed  earlier  than  six  thousand  years  ago.  They 
indicate,  however,  a  very  elaborate  and  advanced  civi- 
lization and  it  is  quite  gratuitous  to  assume  that  they 
represent  the  first  occasions  on  which  man  rose  to  such 
a  stage  of  culture.  Even  if  they  do,  the  wonderful 
tale  of  how  the  conditions  of  which  we  find  hints  in 
Babylonia,  Egypt,  and  Crete  came  about  is  lost. 

"Let  us  suppose  that  there  has  been  something 
worth  saying  about  the  deeds  and  progress  of  man- 
kind during  the  past  three  hundred  thousand  years  at 
least;  let  us  suppose  that  we  were  fortunate  enough  to 
have  the  merest  outline  of  such  changes  as  have  over- 
taken our  race  during  that  period,  and  that  a  single 
page  were  devoted  to  each  thousand  years.  Of  the 
three  hundred  pages  of  our  little  manual  the  closing  six 
or  seven  only  would  be  allotted  to  the  whole  period  for 
which  records,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  exist, 
even  in  the  scantiest  and  most  fragmentary  form.  Or, 
to  take  another  illustration,  let  us  imagine  history  under 
the  semblance  of  a  vast  lake  into  whose  rather  turbid 
depths  we  eagerly  peer.  We  have  reason  to  think  it 
at  least  twenty-five  feet  deep,  perhaps  fifty  or  a  hun- 
dred; we  detect  the  very  scantiest  remains  of  life,  rara 
et  disjecta,  four  or  five  feet  beneath  the  surface,  six  or 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

seven  inches  down  these  are  abundant,  but  at  that  depth 
we  detect,  so  to  speak,  no  movements  of  animate  things, 
which  are  scarcely  perceptible  below  three  or  four 
inches.  If  we  are  frank  with  ourselves  we  shall  realize 
that  we  can  have  no  clear  and  adequate  notion  of  any- 
thing happening  more  than  an  inch, — indeed,  scarce 
more  than  half  an  inch  below  the  surface. 

"From  this  point  of  view  the  historian's  gaze,  in- 
stead of  sweeping  back  into  remote  ages  when  the  earth 
was  young,  seems  now  to  be  confined  to  his  own  epoch. 
Rameses  the  Great,  Tiglath-Pileser,  and  Solomon  appear 
practically  coeval  with  Caesar,  Constantine,  Charle- 
magne, St.  Louis,  Charles  V,  and  Victoria;  Bacon, 
Newton,  and  Darwin  are  but  the  younger  contempo- 
raries of  Thales,  Plato,  and  Aristotle.  Let  those  pause 
who  attempt  to  determine  the  laws  of  human  progress 
or  decay.  It  is  like  trying  to  determine  by  observing 
the  conduct  of  a  man  of  forty  for  a  month,  whether 
he  be  developing  or  not.  Anything  approaching  a 
record  of  events  does  not  reach  back  for  more  than 
three  thousand  years  and  even  this  remains  shockingly 
imperfect  and  unreliable  for  more  than  two  millen- 
niums. We  have  a  few,  often  highly  fragmentary, 
literary  histories  covering  Greek  and  Roman  times,  also 
a  good  many  inscriptions  and  some  important  archeo- 
logical  remains;  but  these  leave  us  in  the  dark  upon 
many  vital  matters.  The  sources  for  the  Roman  Em- 
pire are  so  very  bad  that  Mommsen  refused  to  attempt 
to  write  its  history.  Only  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries  do  the  mediaeval  annals  and  chronicles  begin 
to  be  supplemented  by  miscellaneous  documents  which 
bring  us  more  directly  into  contact  with  the  life  of  the 
time. 


8  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

"Yet  the  reader  of  history  must  often  get  the  impres- 
sion that  the  sources  of  our  knowledge  are,  so  to  speak, 
of  a  uniform  volume  and  depth,  at  least  for  the  last 
two  or  three  thousand  years.  When  he  beholds  a  vo- 
luminous account  of  the  early  Church,  or  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  or  observes  Dahn's  or  Hodgkin's  many  stately 
volumes  on  the  Barbarian  invasions,  he  is  to  be  par- 
doned for  assuming  that  the  writers  have  spent  years  in 
painfully  condensing  and  giving  literary  form  to  the 
abundant  material  which  they  have  turned  up  in  the 
course  of  their  prolonged  researches.  Too  few  sus- 
pect that  it  has  been  the  business  of  the  historian  in  the 
past  not  to  condense  but  on  the  contrary  skilfully  to 
inflate  his  thin  film  of  knowledge  until  the  bubble  should 
reach  such  proportions  that  its  bright  hues  would  at- 
tract the  attention  and  elicit  the  admiration  of  even  the 
most  careless  observer.  One  volume  of  Hodgkin's 
rather  old  fashioned  'Italy  and  her  Invaders,'  had  the 
scanty  material  been  judiciously  compressed,  might  have 
held  all  that  we  can  be  said  to  even  half -know  about  the 
matters  to  which  the  author  has  seen  fit  to  devote  eight 
volumes. 

"But  pray  do  not  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
historical  writer  is  a  sinner  above  all  men.  In  the  first 
place,  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  he  is  by  long 
tradition  a  man  of  letters,  and  that  that  is  not,  after  all, 
such  a  bad  thing  to  be.  In  the  second  place  he  experi- 
ences the  same  strong  temptation  that  everyone  else 
does  to  accept,  at  their  face  value,  the  plausible  state- 
ments which  he  finds,  unless  they  conflict  with  other 
accounts  of  the  same  events  or  appear  to  be  inherently 
improbable. 

"To  take  an  illustration  of  Nietzsche's,  the  vague 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

feeling,  as  we  lie  in  bed,  that  the  soles  of  our  feet  are 
free  from  the  usual  pressure  to  which  we  are  accus- 
tomed in  our  waking  hours  demands  an  explanation. 
Our  dream  explanation  is  that  we  must  be  flying.  Not 
satisfied  co  leave  its  work  half  done,  dream  logic  fabri- 
cates a  room  or  landscape  in  which  we  make  our  aerial 
experiments.  Moreover  just  as  we  are  going  to  sleep  or 
awaking  we  can  often  actually  observe  how  a  flash  of 
light,  such  as  sometimes  appears  on  the  retina  of  our 
closed  eyes,  will  be  involuntarily  interpreted  as  a  vision 
of  some  human  figure  or  other  object,  clear  as  a  stere- 
opticon  slide.  Now  anyone  can  demonstrate  to  himself 
that  neither  dream  logic  nor  the  'mind's-eye  faculty/  as 
it  has  been  called,  desert  us  when  we  are  awake.  Indeed 
they  may  well  be,  as  Nietzsche  suspects,  a  portion  of 
the  inheritance  bequeathed  to  us,  along  with  some  other 
inconveniences,  by  our  brutish  forebears.  At  any  rate 
they  are  forms  of  aberration  against  which  the  histo- 
rian, with  his  literary  traditions,  needs  specially  to  be 
on  his  guard.  There  are  rumors  that  even  the  student 
of  natural  science  sometimes  keeps  his  mind's  eye  too 
wide  open,  but  he  is  by  no  means  so  likely  as  the  histo- 
rian to  be  misled  by  dream  logic.  This  is  not  to  be 
ascribed  necessarily  to  the  superior  self-restraint  of  the 
scientist  but  rather  to  the  greater  simplicity  of  his  task 
and  the  palpableness  of  much  of  his  knowledge.  The 
historian  can  almost  never  have  any  direct  personal 
experience  of  the  phenomena  with  which  he  deals.  He 
only  knows  the  facts  of  the  past  by  the  traces  they  have 
left.  Now  these  traces  are  usually  only  the  reports  of 
someone  who  commonly  did  not  himself  have  any  direct 
experience  of  the  facts  and  who  did  not  even  take  the 
trouble  to  tell  us  where  he  got  his  alleged  information. 


io  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

This  is  true  of  almost  all  the  ancient  and  mediaeval 
historians  and  annalists.  So  it  comes  about  that  'the 
immense  majority  of  the  sources  of  information  which 
furnish  the  historian  with  starting  points  for  his  reason- 
ing are  nothing  else  than  traces  of  psychological  opera- 
tions/ rather  than  direct  traces  of  the  facts. 

"To  take  a  single  example  from  among  thousands 
which  might  be  cited,  Gibbon  tells  us  that  after  the 
death  of  Alaric  in  410  'the  ferocious  character  of  the 
Barbarians  was  displayed  in  the  funeral  of  the  hero, 
whose  valor  and  fortune  they  celebrated  with  mournful 
applause.  By  the  labor  of  a  captive  multitude  they 
forcibly  diverted  the  course  of  the  Busentinus,  a  small 
river  that  washes  the  walls  of  Consentia.  The  royal 
sepulchre,  adorned  with  the  splendid  spoils  and  tro- 
phies of  Rome,  was  constructed  in  the  vacant  bed;  the 
waters  were  then  restored  to  their  natural  channel,  and 
the  secret  spot,  where  the  remains  of  Alaric  had  been 
deposited,  was  forever  concealed  by  the  inhuman 
massacre  of  the  prisoners  who  had  been  employed  to 
execute  the  work.'  The  basis  of  this  account  is  the  illit- 
erate 'History  of  the  Goths'  written  by  an  ignorant  per- 
son, Jordanes,  about  a  hundred  and  forty  years  after 
the  occurrence  of  the  supposed  events.  We  know  that 
Jordanes  copied  freely  from  a  work  of  his  better  in- 
structed contemporary,  Cassiodorus,  which  has  been 
lost.  This  is  absolutely  all  that  we  know  about  the 
sources  of  our  information. 

"Shall  we  believe  this  story  which  has  found  its  way 
into  so  many  of  our  textbooks?  Gibbon  did  not  wit- 
ness the  burial  of  Alaric  nor  did  Jordanes,  upon  whose 
tale  he  greatly  improves,  nor  did  Cassiodorus  who  was 
not  born  until  some  eighty  years  after  the  death  of  the 


INTRODUCTORY  II 

Gothic  king.  We  can  control  the  'psychological  opera- 
tion' represented  in  Gibbon's  text,  for  he  says  he  got 
the  tale  from  Jordanes,  but  aside  from  our  suspicion 
that  Jordanes  took  the  story  from  the  lost  book  by 
Cassiodorus  we  have  no  means  of  controlling  the  vari- 
ous psychological  operations  which  separate  the  tale  as 
we  have  it  from  the  real  circumstances.  We  have  other 
reasons  than  Jordanes'  authority  for  supposing  that 
Alaric  is  dead,  but  as  for  the  circumstances  of  his  burial 
we  can  only  say  they  may  have  been  as  described,  but 
we  have  only  the  slightest  reason  for  supposing  that 
they  were.  The  scope  for  dream  logic  and  the  mind's- 
eye  faculty  as  well  as  for  mistakes  and  misapprehen- 
sions of  all  kinds  is  in  such  cases  infinitely  greater  than 
when  one  deals  with  his  own  impressions,  which  can 
be  intensified  and  corrected  by  repeated  observations 
and  clarified  by  experiment. 

"It  should  now  have  become  clear  that  history  can 
never  become  a  science  in  the  sense  that  physics,  chemis- 
try, physiology,  or  even  anthropology,  is  a  science.  The 
complexity  of  the  phenomena  is  appalling  and  we  have 
no  way  of  artificially  analyzing  and  of  experimenting 
with  our  facts.  We  know  absolutely  nothing  of  any 
occurrences  in  the  history  of  mankind  during  thousands 
of  years  and  it  is  only  since  the  invention  of  printing 
that  our  sources  have  become  in  any  sense  abundant. 
Historical  students  have  moreover  become  keenly  aware 
of  the  'psychological  operations'  which  separate  them 
from  the  objective  facts  of  the  past.  They  know  that 
all  narrative  sources,  upon  which  former  historians  so 
naively  relied,  are  open  to  the  gravest  suspicion  and  that 
even  the  documents  and  inscriptions  which  they  prize 


12  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

more  highly  are  nevertheless  liable  to  grave  misinter- 
pretation." 

I  think,  then,  we  must  frankly  despair  of  ever  recon- 
structing the  past  history  of  man  in  a  complete  and 
particularistic  fashion.  Whether  certain  incidents 
transpired  as  is  set  down  in  the  records  or  handed 
down  in  tradition  we  can  never  know.  The  folk-mind 
is  highly  imaginative  and  anecdotal.  It  has  always 
possessed  the  appetite  for  the  sensational,  the  morbid, 
and  the  marvelous  which  is  at  present  so  successfully 
catered  to  by  the  yellow  section  of  the  daily  press.  It 
has  created  many  picturesque  situations,  but  it  is  not  an 
organ  for  scientific  observation. 

I  suppose  it  is  even  true  that  the  myth,  superstition, 
and  magical  practice  of  the  savage  have  a  more  certain 
value  for  the  study  of  the  history  of  man  than  the 
written  record.  The  printed  page  is  deceitful,  but  the 
myth  cannot  deceive.  What  it  narrates  is  not  true,  but 
the  student  is  not  deceived.  And  the  mere  existence 
of  the  myth  is  one  of  the  great  facts  in  this  history  of 
mind  which  must  be  recognized  if  we  are  to  understand 
the  present  state  of  social  consciousness.  This  is  a 
point  on  which  Professor  Tylor  has  insisted.  And  as 
the  historian  abandons  or  relaxes  his  effort  to  establish 
a  particular  order  of  incidents  in  the  past  and  turns  his 
attention  rather  to  the  establishment  of  certain  general 
principles  of  change,  he  will  find  himself  greatly  assisted 
by  a  knowledge  of  the  life  of  the  non-civilized  races. 
It  is  true  that  the  savage  never  became  civilized,  and 
the  claim  is  sometimes  made  that  he  therefore  has  no 
significance  for  the  study  of  civilization.  But  the  ani- 
mal never  became  human,  and  it  is  far  from  true  that 
the  animal  on  that  account  has  no  significance  for 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

psychology.  And  the  savage  is  much  closer  to  the 
white  than  the  animal  is  to  man.  Indeed  I  believe  that 
the  reader  who  divests  himself  as  far  as  possible  of 
prepossessions  and  race-prejudice  and  reads  the  selec- 
tions in  this  volume,  especially  those  in  Part  II,  will 
conclude  that  the  savage  is  very  close  to  us  indeed,  both 
in  his  physical  and  mental  make-up  and  in  the  forms  of 
his  social  life.  Tribal  society  is  virtually  delayed  civili- 
zation, and  the  savages  are  a  sort  of  contemporaneous 
ancestry. 

I  do  not,  of  course,  wish  to  belittle  the  effort  of  the 
historian  to  establish  his  facts,  but  to  the  young  person 
who  is  planning  to  go  into  history,  economics,  civics, 
education,  or  psychology,  I  do  wish  to  make  this  sugges- 
tion :  If  he  will  plan  his  work  with  reference  to  gaining 

(1)  a  sound  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  biology, 

(2)  an  even  more  particular  knowledge  of  psychology, 
and   (3)   a  very  intimate  knowledge  of  anthropology 
and  ethnology,  he  will  find  himself  in  possession  of  an 
apparatus  which  will  enable  him  to  do  a  rare  class  of 
work  in  his  special  field.     It  is  for  such  a  person  that 
this  volume  is  prepared,  quite  as  much  as  for  the  stu- 
dent of  sociology. 

II 

But  I  wish  chiefly  at  this  point  to  indicate  a  stand- 
point which  will  assist  the  student  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  materials  in  the  body  of  this  volume,  and  which 
he  can  bring  to  bear  also  on  the  literature  indicated  in 
the  bibliographies. 

There  have  been  many  notable  attempts  to  interpret 
the  social  process  in  terms  of  so-called  elemental  or 
dominant  social  forces.  Among  these  may  be  men- 


14  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tioned  Tarde's  "imitation,"  Gumplowicz's  "conflict," 
Durkheim's  "constraint,"  De  Greef's  "contract,"  and 
Giddings'  "consciousness  of  kind."  Now  it  is  evident 
that  the  social  process  is  a  complex,  and  cannot  be 
interpreted  by  any  single  phrase.  It  includes  all  of  the 
forces  mentioned  above,  and  more.  "Imitation"  is  a 
powerful  social  factor,  but  it  is  hardly  more  important 
than  inhibition.  The  "thou  shalt  nots"  have  played  a 
large  role  in  the  life  of  the  race,  as  they  do  still  in  the 
life  of  the  individual.  Similarly  "conflict"  and  "con- 
tract" offset  each  other,  and  "consciousness  of  kind"  is 
hardly  more  conspicuous  as  a  social  force  than  con- 
sciousness of  difference.  The  reader  who  is  interested 
in  theories  of  the  social  process  will  find  them  fully 
discussed  in  Professor  Small's  General  Sociology. 

There  is,  however,  a  useful  concept  into  which  all 
activity  can  be  translated,  or  to  which  it  can  at  least  be 
related,  namely,  control.  Control  is  not  a  social  force, 
but  is  the  object,  realized  or  unrealized,  of  all  purposive 
activity.  Food  and  reproduction  are  the  two  primal 
necessities,  if  the  race  is  to  exist.  The  whole  design  of 
nature  with  reference  to  organic  life  is  to  nourish  the 
individual  and  provide  a  new  generation  before  the 
death  of  the  old,  and  the  most  elementary  statement,  as 
I  take  it,  which  can  be  made  of  individual  and  of  social 
activity  is  that  it  is  designed  to  secure  that  control  of 
the  environment  which  will  assure  these  two  results. 
I  will  illustrate  my  meaning  by  applying  the  concept  of 
control  to  some  of  the  steps  in  organic  and  social  de- 
velopment. 

The  animal  differs  from  the  plant  primarily  in  its 
superior  control  of  the  environment,  secured  through 
the  power  of  motion.  It  does  not  wait  for  food,  but 


INTRODUCTORY  15 

goes  after  it.  In  this  connection  we  have  an  ex- 
planation of  the  organs  of  sense  and  of  prehension 
which  characterize  the  animal.  All  the  multitudi- 
nous and  varied  structures  of  animal  life  will,  indeed, 
be  found  to  answer  to  peculiar  modes  of  control 
which  are  secured  to  the  animal  through  them.  In 
man  the  principle  of  motion  and  consequent  control 
is  extended  through  the  use  of  animals  and  the 
various  means  of  mechanical  transportation  which 
he  has  developed.  With  the  use  of  free  hands  man 
immensely  increased  his  control,  through  the  ability 
to  make  and  use  weapons  and  tools.  Fire  is  a  very 
precious  element  in  control,  since  through  its  use 
man  was  able  to  transform  inedible  into  edible 
materials,  to  smelt  and  forge  iron,  and  to  enlarge  the 
habitable  world  by  regulating  the  temperature  of  the 
colder  regions.  Mechanical  invention  is  to  be  viewed 
as  control.  It  utilizes  new  forces  or  old  forces  in  new 
ways,  making  them  do  work,  and  assist  man  in  squeez- 
ing out  of  nature  values  not  before  suspected,  not 
within  reach,  or  not  commonly  enjoyed.  The  gregari- 
ousness  of  animals  and  the  associated  life  of  men  are 
modes  of  control,  because  numbers  and  co-operation 
make  life  more  secure.  Language  is  a  powerful  in- 
strument of  control,  because  through  it  knowledge, 
tradition,  standpoint,  ideals,  stimulations,  copies,  are 
transmitted  and  increased.  Forms  of  government  are 
aids  to  control,  by  providing  safety  and  fair  play  within 
the  group  and  organized  resistance  to  intrusions  from 
without.  Religion  assists  control,  reinforcing  by  a 
supernatural  sanction  those  modes  of  behavior  which 
by  experience  have  been  determined  to  be  moral,  i.  e., 
socially  advantageous.  Art  aids  control  by  diffusing 


16  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

admirable  copies  for  imitation,  with  the  least  resistance 
and  the  maximum  of  contagion.  Play  is  an  organic 
preparation  and  practice  for  control.  Marriage  secures 
better  provision  and  training  to  children  than  promis- 
cuity. Medicine  keeps  the  organism  in  order  or  repairs 
it.  Liberty  is  favorable  to  control,  because  with  it  the 
individual  has  opportunity  to  develop  ideas  and  values 
by  following  his  own  bent  which  he  would  not  develop 
under  repression.  The  human  mind  is  pre-eminently 
the  organ  of  manipulation,  of  adjustment,  of  control 
It  operates  through  what  we  call  knowledge.  This  in 
turn  is  based  on  memory  and  the  ability  to  compare  a 
present  situation  with  similar  situations  in  the  past  and 
to  revise  our  judgments  and  actions  in  view  of  the  past 
experience.  By  this  means  the  world  at  large  is  con- 
trolled more  successfully  as  time  goes  on.  Knowledge 
thus  becomes  the  great  force  in  control,  and  those 
societies  are  the  most  successful  and  prosperous  in 
which  the  knowledge  is  most  disseminated,  most  reli- 
able, and  most  intensive.  This  is  the  sense  in  which 
knowledge  is  power.  And  as  to  morality,  if  we  should 
single  out  and  make  a  catalogue  of  actions  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  call  laudable  and  virtuous,  we  should 
see  that  they  can  all  be  stated  from  the  control  stand- 
point. But  I  will  not  multiply  instances,  and  I  need 
not  point  out  that  all  conflict,  exploitation,  showing  off, 
boasting,  gambling,  and  violation  of  the  decalogue,  are 
designed  to  secure  control,  however  unsuccessful  in  the 
end. 

There  is,  however,  a  still  more  serviceable  stand- 
point for  the  examination  of  society  and  of  social 
change,  and  that  is  attention.  This  is  by  no  means  in 
conflict  with  the  category  of  control.  Control  is  the 


INTRODUCTORY  17 

end  to  be  secured  and  attention  is  the  means  of  secur- 
ing it.  They  are  the  objective  and  subjective  sides  of 
the  same  process.  Attention  is  the  mental  attitude 
which  takes  note  of  the  outside  world  and  manipulates 
it ;  it  is  the  organ  of  accommodation.  But  attention  does 
not  operate  alone ;  it  is  associated  with  habit  on  the  one 
hand  and  with  crisis  on  the  other.  When  the  habits 
are  running  smoothly  the  attention  is  relaxed;  it  is  not 
at  work.  But  when  something  happens  to  disturb  the 
run  of  habit  the  attention  is  called  into  play  and  devises 
a  new  mode  of  behavior  which  will  meet  the  crisis. 
That  is,  the  attention  establishes  new  and  adequate 
habits,  or  it  is  its  function  to  do  so. 

Such  conditions  as  the  exhaustion  of  game,  the  in- 
trusion of  outsiders,  defeat  in  battle,  floods,  drought, 
pestilence,  and  famine  illustrate  one  class  of  crisis. 
The  incidents  of  birth,  death,  adolescence,  and  mar- 
riage, while  not  unanticipated,  are  always  foci  of 
attention  and  occasions  for  control.  They  throw  a 
strain  on  the  attention,  and  affect  the  mental  life  of  the 
group.  Shadows,  dreams,  epilepsy,  intoxication,  swoon- 
ing, sickness,  engage  the  attention  and  result  in  various 
attempts  at  control.  Other  crises  arise  in  the  conflict 
of  interest  between  individuals,  and  between  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  group.  Theft,  assault,  sorcery,  and  all 
crimes  and  misdemeanors  are  occasions  for  the  exer- 
cise of  attention  and  control.  To  say  that  language, 
reflection,  discussion,  logical  analysis,  abstraction, 
mechanical  invention,  magic,  religion,  and  science  are 
developed  in  the  effort  of  the  attention  to  meet  difficult 
situations  through  a  readjustment  of  habit,  is  simply 
to  say  that  the  mind  itself  is  the  product  of  crisis. 
Crisis  also  produces  the  specialized  occupations.  The 


i8  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

medicine-man,  the  priest,  the  law-giver,  the  judge,  the 
ruler,  the  physician,  the  teacher,  the  artist  and  other 
specialists,  represent  classes  of  men  who  have  or  pro- 
fess special  skill  in  dealing  with  crises.  Among  the 
professions  whose  connection  with  crisis  is  least 
obvious  are  perhaps  those  of  teacher  and  artist.  But 
the  teacher  is  especially  concerned  with  anticipating 
that  most  critical  of  periods  in  the  life  of  the  youth 
when  he  is  to  enter  manhood  and  be  no  longer  sup- 
ported by  others;  and  art  always  arises  as  the  memory 
of  crisis. 

Of  course  a  crisis  may  be  so  serious  as  to  kill  the 
organism  or  destroy  the  group,  or  it  may  result  in 
failure  or  deterioration.  But  crisis,  as  I  am  employing 
the  term,  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  habitually  violent. 
It  is  simply  a  disturbance  of  habit,  and  it  may  be  no 
more  than  an  incident,  a  stimulation,  a  suggestion.  It 
is  here  that  imitation  plays  a  great  role.  But  it  is 
quite  certain  that  the  degree  of  progress  of  a  people 
has  a  certain  relation  to  the  nature  of  the  disturbances 
encountered,  and  that  the  most  progressive  have  had  a 
more  vicissitudinous  life.  Our  proverb  "Necessity  is 
the  mother  of  invention"  is  the  formulation  in  folk- 
thought  of  this  principle  of  social  change. 

The  run  of  crises  encountered  by  different  individu- 
als and  races  is  not  of  course,  uniform,  and  herein  we 
have  a  partial  explanation  of  the  different  rate  and 
direction  of  progress  in  different  peoples.  But  more 
important  than  this  in  any  explanation  of  the  advanced 
and  backward  races  is  the  fact  that  the  same  crisis  will 
not  produce  the  same  effect  uniformly.  And  in  this 
connection  I  will  briefly  indicate  the  relation  of  atten- 
tion and  crisis  to  (i)  the  presence  of  extraordinary 


INTRODUCTORY  19 

individuals  in  the  group,  (2)  the  level  of  culture  of  the 
group,  and  (3)  the  character  of  the  ideas  by  which  the 
group-mind  is  prepossessed: 

i.  Whatever  importance  we  may  attach  to  group- 
mind  and  mass-suggestion,  the  power  of  the  attention  to 
meet  a  crisis  is  primarily  an  individual  matter,  or  at 
least  the  initiative  lies  with  the  individual.  The  group, 
therefore,  which  possesses  men  of  extraordinary 
mental  ability  is  at  an  advantage.  The  fleeing  animal, 
for  instance,  is  always  a  problem,  and  the  resilience  of 
wood  is  probably  always  observed,  but  the  individual 
is  not  always  present  to  relate  the  two  facts,  and  invent 
the  bow  and  arrow.  If  he  is  present  he  probably,  as 
Lewis  Morgan  suggests,  raises  his  group  to  a  higher 
level  of  culture  by  producing  a  new  food  epoch.  The 
relation  of  the  "great  man"  to  crisis  is  indeed  one  of 
the  most  important  points  in  the  problem  of  progress. 
Such  men  as  Moses,  Mohammed,  Confucius,  Christ, 
have  stamped  the  whole  character  of  a  civilization. 
The  pride  with  which  the  German  people  refer  to  them- 
selves as  the  "Volk  der  Dichter  und  Denker,"  and 
their  extraordinary  policy  with  respect  to  specialization, 
which  has  made  the  German  university  a  model  for 
other  nations,  are  attributed  largely  to  Fichte  and  his 
associates  who,  after  the  disastrous  battle  of  Jena, 
preached  a  policy  of  scholarship  as  over  against  a 
policy  of  war.  Similar  cases  of  the  reconstruction  of 
the  habits  of  a  whole  people  by  the  dominating  atten- 
tion of  a  great  man  are  found  among  the  lower  races. 
Dingiswayo  and  Chaka  converted  pastoral  Zululand 
into  a  military  encampment,  as  a  result  of  witnessing 
the  maneuvers  of  a  regiment  of  European  soldiers  in 
Cape  Colony.  And  Howitt's  Native  Tribes  of  South 


20  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

East  Australia  has  interesting  details  on  the  influence 
of  extraordinary  men  in  a  low  race. 

2.  The  level  of  culture  of  the  group  limits  the  power 
of  the  mind  to  meet  crisis  and  readjust.   If  the  amount 
of  general  knowledge  is   small  and  the  material   re- 
sources scanty,  the  mind  may  find  no  way  out  of  an 
emergency  which  under  different  conditions  would  be 
only  the  occasion  for  further  progress.     If  we  could 
imagine  a  group  without  language,  numbers,  iron,  fire, 
and  without  the  milk,  meat,  and  labor  of  domestic  ani- 
mals, and  if  this  group  were  small,  as  it  would  neces- 
sarily be  under  those  conditions,  we  should  have  also 
to  imagine  a  very  low  state  of  mind  in  general  in  the 
group.     In  the  absence  of  mathematics,  fire,  and  iron, 
for  example,  the  use  of  electricity  as  a  force  would  be 
out  of  the  question.     The  individual  mind  cannot  rise 
much  above  the  level  of  the  group-mind,  and  the  group- 
mind  will  be  simple  if  the  outside  environmental  condi- 
tions and  the  antecedent  racial  experiences  are  simple. 
On  this  account  it  is  just  to  attribute  important  move- 
ments and  inventions  to  individuals  only  in  a  qualified 
sense.      The   extraordinary    individual    works    on    the 
material  and  psychic  fund  already  present,  and  if  the 
situation  is  not   ripe  neither   is  he   ripe.     From   this 
standpoint  we  can  understand  why  it  is  almost  never 
possible  to  attribute  any  great  modern  invention  to  any 
single  person.    When  the  state  of  science  and  the  social 
need  reach  a  certain  point  a  number  of  persons  are 
likely  to  solve  the  same  problem. 

3.  The   character   of   the   accommodations   already 
made  affects  the  character  of  the  accommodation  to  the 
new  crisis.     When  our  habits  are  settled  and  running 
smoothly  they  much  resemble  the  instincts  of  animals. 


INTRODUCTORY  21 

And  the  great  part  of  our  life  is  lived  in  the  region  of 
habit. .  The  habits,  like  the  instincts,  are  safe  and  serv- 
iceable. They  have  been  tried,  and  they  are  associated 
with  a  feeling  of  security.  There  consequently  grows 
up  in  the  folk-mind  a  determined  resistance  to  change. 
And  there  is  a  degree  of  sense  in  this,  for  while  change 
implies  possibilities  of  improvement  it  also  implies 
danger  of  disaster,  or  a  worse  condition.  It  must  also 
be  acknowledged  that  a  state  of  rapid  and  constant 
change  implies  loss  of  settled  habits  and  disorganiza- 
tion. As  a  result,  all  societies  view  change  with  sus- 
picion, and  the  attempt  to  revise  certain  habits  is  even 
viewed  as  immorality.  Now  it  is  possible  under  these 
conditions  for  a  society  to  become  stationary,  or  to 
attempt  to  remain  so.  The  effort  of  the  attention  is  to 
preserve  the  present  status  rather  than  to  reaccommo- 
date.  This  condition  is  particularly  marked  among  the 
savages.  In  the  absence  of  science  and  a  proper  esti- 
mation of  the  value  of  change,  they  rely  on  ritual  and 
magic,  and  a  minute,  conscientious,  unquestioning  and 
absolute  adhesion  to  the  past.  Change  is  consequently 
introduced  with  a  maximum  of  resistance.  Some 
African  tribes,  for  example,  have  such  faith  in  fetish 
that  they  cannot  be  induced  to  practice  with  firearms. 
If,  they  say,  the  magic  works,  the  bullet  will  go 
straight;  otherwise  it  will  not.  Similarly,  oriental 
pride  in  permanence  is  quite  as  real  as  occidental 
pride  in  progress,  and  the  fatalistic  view  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan world,  the  view  that  results  are  predeter- 
mined by  Allah  and  not  by  man,  is  unfavorable  to 
change.  Indeed,  the  only  world  in  which  change  is  at 
a  premium  and  is  systematically  sought  is  the  modern 
scientific  world.  It  is  plain  therefore  that  the  nature 


22  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  the  reaction  of  attention  to  crisis  is  conditioned  by 
the  ideas  which  prepossess  the  mind. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  overwork  any  standpoint, 
but  on  the  whole  I  think  that  the  best  course  the  stu- 
dent can  follow  is  to  keep  crisis  constantly  in  mind — 
the  nature  of  the  crisis,  the  degree  of  mental  and  cul- 
tural preparation  a  people  has  already  attained  as  fit- 
ting it  to  handle  the  crisis,  and  the  various  and 
often  contradictory  types  of  reaccommodation  effected 
through  the  attention.  In  this  way  he  will  be  able  to 
note  the  transition  of  blood-feud  into  law,  of  magic 
into  science,  of  constraint  into  liberty,  and,  in  general, 
the  increasing  determination  of  conduct  in  the  region 
of  the  reason  and  the  cerebral  cortex  instead  of  the 
region  of  habit  and  the  spinal  cord. 

Ill 

Finally,  I  wish  to  warn  the  student  to  be  suspicious 
of  what  may  be  called  the  particularistic  explanation  of 
social  change.  Some  years  ago,  when  it  was  the  habit 
to  explain  everything  in  terms  of  "the  survival  of  the 
fittest,"  an  ingenious  German  scholar  put  forth  the 
theory  that  the  thick  crania  of  the  Australians  were 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  men  treated  the  women  with 
such  violence  as  to  break  all  the  thin  heads,  thus  leaving 
only  thick-headed  women  to  reproduce.  A  still  more 
ingenious  German  offered  as  an  explanation  of  the 
origin  of  the  practice  of  circumcision  the  desire  of 
certain  tribes  to  assure  themselves  that  there  should  be 
no  fraud  in  the  collection  of  trophies  in  battle.  This 
was  assured  by  first  circumcising  all  the  males  of  one's 
own  tribe.  Under  these  circumstances  certitude  was 
secured  that  any  foreskins  brought  in  after  battle  with 


INTRODUCTORY  23 

uncircumcised  enemies  could  not  have  been  secured 
from  the  slain  of  one's  own  party.  Lippert,  the  great 
culture-historian,  has  argued  that  the  presence  or 
absence  of  the  milk  of  domestic  animals  has  sealed  the 
fate  of  the  different  races,  pointing  out  that  no  race 
without  milk  has  ever  risen  to  a  high  level  of  culture. 
He  is  also  responsible  for  the  suggestion  that  man  took 
the  idea  of  a  mill  for  grinding,  with  its  upper  and 
nether  mill-stones,  from  the  upper  and  lower  molars  in 
his  own  mouth.  Pitt-Rivers  says  that  the  idea  of  a 
large  boat  might  have  been  suggested  in  time  of  floods, 
when  houses  floated  down  the  rivers  before  the  eyes 
of  men.  I  think  that  even  the  eminent  ethnologists 
Mason  and  McGee  err  in  this  respect  when  they  sug- 
gest the  one  that  "the  hawks  taught  men  to  catch  fish, 
the  spiders  and  caterpillars  to  spin,  the  hornet  to  make 
paper,  and  the  cray-fish  to  work  in  clay"  (see  infra, 
p.  35),  and  the  other  that  plants  and  animals  were  first 
domesticated  in  the  desert  rather  than  in  humid  areas, 
because  in  unwatered  regions  plants,  animals,  and  men 
were  more  in  need  of  one  another  and  showed  a  greater 
tolerance  and  helpfulness  (  see  infra,  pp.  66,  73 ).  In  fact 
a  variorum  edition  of  the  theories  of  the  origins  of  cul- 
ture would  be  as  interesting  as  Mr.  Furness'  variorum 
edition  of  Hamlet,  which,  while  it  was  not,  I  believe, 
prepared  with  that  in  view,  is  yet  one  of  our  great  store- 
houses of  amusement. 

Some  of  these  theories  are  simply  imaginative  and 
absurd,  and  others  are  illustrations  of  the  too  particu- 
laristic. Doubtless  milk  is  a  very  precious  possession, 
but  so  also  is  iron.  No  race  ever  attained  a  consider- 
able level  of  culture  in  the  absence  of  iron.  And  it 


24  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

would  be  possible  to  name  a  number  of  things  which 
races  of  high  culture  possess  and  races  of  low  culture 
do  not  possess.  The  idea  of  crushing,  pounding,  and 
rubbing  is  much  too  general  to  warrant  us  in  saying 
that  the  idea  of  the  mill  is  derived  from  the  human 
mouth.  When  man  has  once  a  floating  log,  bark  boat, 
or  raft,  he  can  enlarge  it  without  assistance  from  float- 
ing houses.  The  growth  of  plant  life  and  the  idea  of 
particular  attention  to  it  are  too  general  to  depend  on 
any  particular  kind  of  accident,  or  on  a  desert  environ- 
ment. Animals  follow  the  camp  for  food,  they  are 
caught  alive  in  traps,  and  the  young  ones  are  kept 
as  pets;  and  this  would  happen  if  there  were  no 
desert  regions.  Two  of  Herbert  Spencer's  great  and 
gross  errors  of  this  character — the  derivation  of 
all  the  learned  and  artistic  occupations  (even  that  of 
the  dancer)  from  the  medicine-man,  and  the  assump- 
tion that  ghost-worship  is  the  origin  of  all  spirit  belief 
and  worship  (even  of  the  worship  of  animals  and 
plants)  I  have  considered  in  Parts  II  and  VI  of  this 
volume. 

The  error  of  the  particularistic  method  lies  in  over- 
looking the  fact  that  the  mind  employs  the  principle 
of  abstraction — sees  general  principles  behind  details 
— and  that  the  precise  detail  with  which  the  process  of 
abstraction  begins  cannot  in  all  cases  be  posited  or 
determined.  Thus  the  use  of  poison  was  certainly 
suggested  to  man  by  the  occurrence  of  poison  in  nature, 
and  in  some  crisis  it  occurred  to  man  to  use  poison  for 
the  purpose  of  killing.  And  since  the  snake  is  the  most 
conspicuous  user  of  poison  in  nature  it  has  usually  been 
said  that  man  gets  his  idea  from  the  snake,  and  that 
the  poisoned  arrow-point  is  copied  from  the  tooth  of 


INTRODUCTORY  25 

the  poisonous  snake.  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  thing 
frequently  happened  in  this  way,  but  there  are  also 
various  other  poisons  in  nature.  The  deadly  curare 
with  which  the  Guiana  Indian  tips  his  tiny  arrow  is  a 
vegetable  product.  The  Bushmen  use  animal,  vege- 
table, and  mineral  poisons,  and  a  mixture  of  all  of 
them,  and  the  Hottentots  manufacture  poisons  from 
the  entrails  of  certain  insects  and  from  putrifying 
flesh.  In  short,  assuming  poison  in  nature  and  the 
arrow  in  the  hands  of  man,  we  can  assume  the  develop- 
ment of  a  poisoned  arrow-point  even  if  there  had  been 
no  such  thing  as  an  envenomed  serpent's  tooth. 

Neither  can  we  look  too  curiously  into  the  order  of 
emergence  of  inventions  nor  assume  a  straight  and 
uniform  line  of  development  among  all  the  races. 
There  have  been  serious  attempts  to  determine  what 
was  the  first  weapon  used  by  man.  Was  it  a  round 
stone,  a  sharp-pointed  stone,  a  sharp-edged  stone,  or  a 
stick?  But  all  we  can  really  assume  is  prehensility  and 
the  general  idea.  The  first  weapon  used  was  the  object 
at  hand  when  the  idea  occurred  to  man.  Or,  having 
any  one  of  these  objects  in  his  hand,  it  used  itself,  so  to 
speak,  and  the  accident  was  afterward  imitated. 

The  attempt  to  classify  culture  by  epochs  is  similarly 
doomed  to  failure  when  made  too  absolutely.  The 
frugivorous,  the  hunting,  the  pastoral,  and  the  agri- 
cultural are  the  stages  usually  assumed.  But  the 
Indian  was  a  hunter  while  his  squaw  was  an  agricul- 
turist. The  African  is  pastoral,  agricultural,  or  hunt- 
ing indifferently,  without  regard  to  his  cultural  status. 
And  the  ancient  Mexicans  were  agricultural  but  had 
never  had  a  pastoral  period.  Different  groups  take 
steps  in  culture  in  a  different  order,  and  the  order 


26  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

depends  on  the  general  environmental  situation,  the 
nature  of  the  crises  arising,  and  the  operation  of  the 
attention.  This  is  a  sufficient  comment  on  the  theory, 
sometimes  used  in  pedagogy,  that  the  mind  of  the  child 
passes  through  epochs  corresponding  to  epochs  of  cul- 
ture in  the  race.  We  have  every  reason  to  think  that 
the  mind  of  the  savage  and  the  mind  of  the  civilized 
are  fundamentally  alike.  There  are,  indeed,  organic 
changes  in  the  brain  of  the  growing  child,  but  these 
are  the  same  in  the  children  of  all  races.  The  savage 
is  not  a  modern  child,  but  one  whose  consciousness  is 
not  influenced  by  the  copies  set  in  civilization.  And 
the  white  child  is  not  a  savage,  but  one  whose  mind  is 
not  yet  fully  dominated  by  the  white  type  of  culture. 
And,  incidentally  there  was  never  a  more  inept  com- 
parison than  that  of  the  child  with  the  savage,  for  the 
savage  is  a  person  of  definitely  fixed  and  specialized 
aims  and  habits,  while  the  child,  as  Professor  Dewey 
has  expressed  it,  is  "primarily  one  whose  calling  is 
growth,"  and  who  is  consequently  characterized  by 
flexible  and  unspecialized  habits.  To  be  sure  there  is  a 
certain  rough  parallelism  between  the  mental  develop- 
ment of  the  child  and  the  course  of  civilization.  The 
race  began  with  motor  activities  and  simple  habits  and 
civilization  has  worked  itself  onto  a  complex  and  arti- 
ficial basis,  with  special  emphasis  on  the  reflective 
activities.  The  child  also  begins  with  hand  and  eye 
movements  and  is  gradually  and  systematically  pre- 
pared by  society  to  operate  in  the  more  complex  and 
reflective  adult  world.  But  that  is  all.  In  both  child 
and  race  the  motor  activities  precede  the  reflective,  and 
this  could  not  be  otherwise,  for  consciousness  is  largely 
built  up  through  the  hand  and  eye  movements. 


PART  I 

THE  RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  GEOGRAPHIC 
AND   ECONOMIC  ENVIRONMENT 


THE  RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  GEOGRAPHIC 
AND  ECONOMIC  ENVIRONMENT 

TECHNOGEOGRAPHY,   OR    THE   RELATION   OF   THE   EARTH 
TO  THE  INDUSTRIES  OF  MANKIND 

By  technogeography  is  meant  the  study  of  the  relationship 
between  the  earth  and  human  arts  and  inventions. 

Anthropogeography  is  the  consideration  of  the  earth  in  its 
broad  connections  with  the  whole  science  of  man,  including  his 
body  and  his  mind,  his  arts,  languages,  social  structures,  philos- 
ophies and  religions.  Of  this  broader  subject  there  are  many 
subdivisions ;  but  at  this  time  your  attention  will  be  directed  to 
the  activities  of  men  as  effected  and  affected  by  the  earth,  to 
which  study  the  term  technogeography  is  applied.  The  arts  of 
mankind  have  changed  the  face  of  nature,  and  some  charming 
books  have  been  written  upon  the  subject  of  the  earth  as  modi- 
fied by  human  action. 

But  now  we  are  to  trace  out  a  few  of  the  great  industries  of 
our  race  as  they  were  provoked  and  developed  by  their  terrestrial 
environment;  in  short,  human  actions  as  they  were  shaped  and 
modified  by  the  earth. 

In  this  inquiry  the  earth  as  modifying  human  life  includes  the 
land  surface  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  deepest  possible  mine  or 
artesian  well  or  geological  stratum ;  all  the  aqueous  mass — that 
is,  every  drop  of  water  in  the  seas  and  out  of  them,  for  there  is 
no  telling  when  any  drop  may  enter  the  circle  of  human  agencies 
and  ownerships ;  the  circumambient  air,  every  gallon  of  that 
aerial  ocean  which  swathes  the  world  and  vitalizes  all  living 
things,  the  common  carrier  of  clouds  and  birds,  of  health  and 
disease,  of  music  and  perfumes,  of  industry  and  commerce.  As 
modifying  human  conduct,  as  subject  of  preemption  and  mo- 
nopoly, not  only  the  masses  just  mentioned  are  included,  but 
motions  and  powers,  even  gravity,  mechanical  properties,  physi- 
cal forces,  chemical  activities,  vital  phenomena  of  plants  and 
animals,  that  may  be  covered  by  patents  and  their  uses  become 

a  matter  of  legislation  and  diplomacy 

29 


30  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  industries  here  discussed  are  chiefly  the  commonest  trades 
and  daily  occupations  of  men,  in  which  material  substances  and 
terrestrial  forces  are  involved.  However,  as  Mr.  Spencer  and 
other  writers  on  dynamic  anthropology  well  observe,  even  the 
most  intellectual  and  spiritual  activities  of  men  have  their  opera- 
tive side,  their  apparatus  and  sensible  processes.  The  earth  not 
only  modifies  the  trades  and  crafts,  but  all  human  activities,  how- 
ever evoked. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  I  ask  you  to  remember  that  every  action 
in  every  industry,  in  every  climate,  and  every  status  of  culture 
involves  five  substantial  elements : 

a.  Raw  materials  in  endless  varieties  and  attributes. 

b.  Motive  power  of  man,  beast,  fire,  air,  water,  gas,  hard  sub- 
stances, chemistry,  electricity. 

c.  Tools  and  machinery,  including  both  their  manual  or  opera- 
tive and  their  working  parts  and  the  mechanical  powers  involved. 

d.  Processes  simple,  complex,  and  compound — that  is,  single 
motion   for  single  function,  many  movements  for  simple   func- 
tion, many  motions  for  many  functions. 

e.  Products  ready  to  supply  desires  or  give  satisfaction  or  to 
enter  as  material  into  new  series  of  changes. 

The  progress  of  mankind  means  the  greater  and  greater  elabo- 
ration of  these — more  uses  or  functions  for  the  same  species  of 
material  furnished  by  the  earth,  more  species  of  the  earth's 
materials  for  each  function  or  piece  of  work ;  more  uses  for  each 
form  of  power,  and  more  forms  of  power  involved  in  the  same 
use ;  more  parts  to  the  handle  and  working  portion  of  the  same 
tool,  and  more  tools  for  the  same  operation ;  more  movements  or 
forms  of  motion  in  the  same  process  and  a  greater  variety  of 
processes  to  compass  the  very  same  result;  more  elements  or 
products  of  industry  to  gratify  a  single  desire,  and  the  crea- 
tion of  new  and  more  exacting  desires  by  the  refinement  of 
society. 

2.  I  beg  you  to  hold  in  mind,  secondly,  the  fact  that  all  volun- 
tary human  actions  are  carried  on  to  satisfy  wants  or  needs, 
bodily,  mental,  spiritual,  social,  beginning  with  the  lowest  ani- 
mal  cravings   and   ending  with  the  highest   aspirations   of  the 
most  exalted  men ;  also  you  must  remember  that  these  needs  have 


.       RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  31 

been  developed  and  organized  by  a  larger  and  larger  acquaint- 
ance with  the  earth  and  its  resources. 

The  order  of  arising  of  these  wants,  both  in  the  child  and  in 
the  race,  have  been  for  food,  rest,  shelter,  clothing,  defense.  The 
the  order  of  intellectual  wants  was  in  the  same  lines.  Each  crav- 
ing has  grown  from  simplicity  and  monotony  to  variety  and  com- 
plexity, involving  more  activities  in  the  same  process,  more  and 
more  varied  mental  processes  in  the  same  activity,  ending  with 
cooperative  thinking  of  higher  and  higher  order. 

3.  Remember,  thirdly,  that  these  industries  for  gratifying 
desires  may  be  grouped  into  the  following  classes  as  regards  the 
earth,  together  constituting  a  cycle  and  each  involving  the  five 
elements  before  named : 

a.  Going  to  the  earth  for  raw  materials — fishing,  hunting, 
gleaning,  lumbering,  mining.     Some  of  these  may  be  enlarged 
by  cultivation  and  domestication  in  order  to  stimulate  the  gen- 
erosity of  the  earth. 

b.  Carrying,  hauling,  transporting,  in  any  stage  of  manipula- 
tion, using  the  powers  furnished  by  nature. 

c.  Manufacturing,  changing  the  physical,   chemical,  or  vital 
form,  or  the  size  or  shape,  or  combinations  of  materials  for  some 
useful  end. 

d.  Exchange,  barter,  buying,  selling,  with  all  the  handling  that 
is  involved.     In  this  there  is  a  rude  mimicry  of  the  correlation 
and  conservation  of  energy. 

e.  Consumption,  the  storing  and  using  up  of  the  finished  prod- 
uct, either  to  wear  it  out  or  to  make  it  the  raw  material  of  another 
cycle  of  activities  of  the  same  kind.    In  brief,  the  sum  of  human 
industries  is  the  arts  of  exploitation,  cultivation,  manufacture, 
transportation,    commerce — extremely    simple    in    primitive    life, 
infinitely  complicated  and  interlocked  in  civilization.    The  indus- 
tries of  men,  from  this  point  of  view,  are  the  transformation  of 
terrestrial  materials,  by  means  of  terrestrial  forces,  according  to 
processes  of  which  the  earth  set  the  earliest  examples,  and  all 
this  to  gratify  human  desires 

The  earth  is  the  mother  of  all  mankind.  Out  of  her  came 
they.  Her  traits,  attributes,  characteristics  they  have  so  thor- 
oughly inherited  and  imbibed  that,  from  any  doctrinal  point 


32  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  view  regarding  the  origin  of  the  species,  the  earth  may  be  said 
to  have  been  created  for  men  and  men  to  have  been  created  out 
of  the  earth.  By  her  nurture  and  tuition  they  grow  up  and  flour- 
ish, and  folded  in  her  bosom  they  sleep  the  sleep  of  death. 

The  idea  of  the  earth-mother  is  in  every  cosmogony.  Nothing 
is  more  beautiful  in  the  range  of  mythology  than  the  con- 
ception of  Demeter  with  Persephone,  impersonating  the  mater- 
nal earth,  rejoicing  in  the  perpetual  return  of  her  daughter  in 
spring,  and  mourning  over  her  departure  in  winter  to  Hades. 

The  human  race  is  put  into  relation  with  all  bodies  through 
gravitation,  with  all  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  substances 
through  the  laws  of  physics  and  chemistry ;  with  the  vegetal  and 
the  animal  kingdom  through  the  additional  phenomena  called  life, 
and  with  all  animals  through  mentation 

The  earth  is  also  a  great  warehouse  of  materials  of  infinite 
qualifications  for  gratifying  human  desires. 

This  is  apparent  enough  to  any  one  who  reflects  about  it,  but 
few  persons  think  of  the  long  ages  during  .which  these  substances 
were  being  compounded  and  compacted.  These  materials  are 
the  foundation  of  all  technique  and  all  styles  of  technique — 
textile,  plastic,  graphic,  glyphic,  tonic,  and  landscape.  For  them 
the  earth  not  only  furnishes  the  raw  stuffs,  but  the  apparatus 
and  different  motives  to  different  races. 

We  should  not  overlook  the  fact,  however,  that  the  greatest 
care  of  time  has  been  bestowed  on  the  thin  pellicle  of  the  earth 
called  the  soil,  from  which  come  our  food,  and  that  of  our  do- 
mestic animals,  our  clothing,  our  habitations,  our  vegetal  and 
animal  supplies,  and  even  the  sustenance  of  the  marine  products 
upon  which  we  prey.  I  have  not  time  in  this  place  to  speak  of 
the  labor  bestowed  by  nature  upon  what  Professor  McGee  calls 
"the  veneer  of  brown  loam,"  out  of  which  the  most  of  human 
activity  has  sprung. 

Before  quitting  the  subject  of  the  study  of  the  earth  as  a  ware- 
house the  student  ought  not  to  overlook  the  varied  characteristics 
of  these  resources.  The  qualities  of  things  are  the  earth's,  the 
grains  and  colors  of  the  same  stone,  the  elasticity  and  fibres  of 
timber,  the  plasticity  and  temper  of  clays,  the  malleability  and 
ductility  of  the  same  metals,  and  so  on.  So  marked  are  these 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  33 

that  in  our  higher  civilizations  we  must  have  iron  from  half  a 
dozen  countries  to  conduct  one  of  our  complex  establishments. 
The  very  diversity  of  the  same  material  from  place  to  place 
has  resulted  in  the  production  of  the  greatest  possible  variety 
of  skill. 

How  quickly  the  lower  races  of  men  recognized  these  qualities 
and  put  them  to  use,  not  only  discovering  that  stone  is  flaky 
and  bois  d'arc  elastic,  for  instance,  but  that  there  are  certain 
conditions  under  which  these  qualities  exist  more  favorably  than 
in  others 

The  earth  is  also  the  reservoir  of  all  locomotion  and  power 
useful  to  man.  Even  the  strength  of  his  own  limbs  and  back 
is  derived  from  the  food  which  she  bestows.  I  do  not  speak  of 
that,  however,  but  of  the  substitutes  therefor.  She  gives  to  the 
North  American  Indians  the  dog,  to  the  South  American  the 
llama,  to  the  people  of  the  eastern  continent  the  horse,  ass, 
camel,  elephant,  and  ox  to  convey  them  about  and  to  carry  or 
draw  their  loads. 

The  winds  blow  upon  the  sails  and  turn  the  mills,  the  waters 
set  in  motion  the  wheels  and  transport  the  freight.  The  steam 
is  a  still  more  versatile  genius  of  power,  and  electricity  just 
enters  upon  its  mission.  Coal,  as  a  cheap  source  of  energy,  enables 
men  to  substitute  for  areas  of  raw  material  areas  of  manufacture 
and,  indeed,  to  create  areas  of  consumption. 

The  several  kingdoms  and  forces  of  nature  give  rise  to  their 
several  bodies  of  arts,  each  of  which  springs  from  the  earth,  and 
their  investigation  may  be  named  as  follows : 

1.  Physiotechny,  of  arts  dependent  on  the  physical  forces  of 
the  earth. 

2.  Pyrotechny,  of  arts  of  creating  and  utilizing  fire. 

3.  Anemotechny,  of  arts  based  on  uses  of  the  atmosphere. 

4.  Hydrotechny,  of  arts  based  on  the  uses  of  water. 

5.  Lithotechny,  of  arts  based  on  the  uses  of  minerals  and  rocks. 

6.  Phytotechny,  of  arts  based  on  the  uses  of  plants. 

7.  Zootechny,  of  arts  based  on  uses  of  animals. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  were  I  to  elaborate  in  the 
most  elementary  manner  the  methods  in  which  domestic  animals, 
wind,  fire,  water,  elasticity  of  solids,  elasticity  of  gases,  explo- 


34  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

sives,  chemical  action,  magnetism  and  electricity  had  enrolled 
themselves  in  the  service  of  mankind  merely  to  furnish  power 
to  do  the  work  that  in  the  simplest  form  is  done  by  hand.  Every 
one  of  them  must  have  struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  first 
men.  By  being  subdued  they  obeyed  the  principle  that  I  have 
previously  laid  down  of  increasing  their  own  usefulness  and  in- 
dispensableness  by  creating  and  complicating  new  wants. 

The  form  of  the  globe,  its  coast  lines,  elevations  and  reliefs, 
the  amount  of  sunshine,  the  properties  and  contents  of  the  at- 
mosphere, the  varying  temperatures,  winds,  rainfalls,  and  springs 
beneath  the  surface,  the  waterfalls  in  the  surface  also  act  as 
motives,  if  not  as  motive  power  to  all  apparatus  and  all  the 
movements  of  men.  We  cannot  eliminate  the  heavenly  bodies 
from  this  enumeration,  since  they  furnished  clocks  and  alma- 
nacs and  compasses  to  primitive  peoples,  and  longer  voyages  were 
undertaken  by  their  guidance  in  the  Pacific  than  were  made  two 
centuries  later  in  the  Atlantic  by  Columbus  with  the  aid  of  the 
mariner's  compass 

Exploitation  and  cultivation,  manufacture,  transportation,  ex- 
change, consumption,  as  I  have  previously  said,  together  con- 
stitute the  round  through  which  commodities  are  conducted  in 
the  progress  of  industries.  The  proposition  is  that  the  earth 
was  in  the  beginning  and  is  now  the  teacher  of  these  activities. 
There  were  quarriers,  miners,  lumberers,  gleaners,  and,  some  say, 
planters ;  there  were  fishermen,  fowlers,  trappers,  and  hunters 
before  there  was  a  genus  homo.  There  were  also  manufacturers 
in  clay,  in  textiles,  and  in  animal  substances  before  there  were 
potters,  weavers,  and  furriers ;  there  were  all  sorts  of  moving 
material  and  carrying  passengers  and  engineering  of  the  simplest 
sort.  It  might  be  presumption  to  hint  that  there  existed  a  sort 
of  barter,  but  the  exchange  of  care  and  food  for  the  honeyed 
secretions  of  the  body  going  on  between  the  ants  and  the  aphidse 
look  very  much  like  it. 

The  world  is  so  full  of  technological  processes  brought  about 
among  her  lower  kingdoms  that  T  should  weary  you  in  enumer- 
ating them.  Stone-breaking,  flaking,  chipping,  boring,  and 
abrading  have  been  going  on  always,  by  sand-blast,  by  water, 
by  fire,  by  frost,  by  gravitation.  Archaeologists  tell  us  that  sav- 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  35 

ages  are  very  shrewd  in  selecting  bowlders  and  other  pieces  of 
stone  that  have  been  blocked  out  and  nearly  finished  by  nature 
for  their  axes,  hammers,  and  other  tools. 

In  tropical  regions  of  both  hemispheres  where  scanty  clothing 
is  needed  certain  species  of  trees  weave  their  inner  bark  into  an 
excellent  cloth,  the  climax  of  which  is  the  celebrated  tapa  of 
Polynesia.  Furthermore,  the  fruits  of  vines  and  trees  offer  their 
hard  outer  shells  for  vessels  and  for  other  domestic  purposes,  for 
adornment  of  the  persons,  and  as  motives  in  art  and  handicraft. 

Among  the  animals  there  is  scarcely  one  that  has  not  obtruded 
itself  into  the  imaginations  of  men  and  stimulated  the  inventive 
faculty.  The  bears  were  the  first  cave-dwellers ;  the  beavers  are 
old-time  lumberers ;  the  foxes  excavated  earth  before  there  were 
men ;  the  squirrels  hid  away  food  for  the  future,  and  so  did 
many  birds,  and  the  last  named  were  also  excellent  architects 
and  nest-builders ;  the  hawks  taught  men  to  catch  fish ;  the  spiders 
and  caterpillars  to  spin ;  the  hornet  to  make  paper,  and  the  cray- 
fish to  work  in  clay. 

2.  The  very  genius  of  transportation  and  commerce  also  is 
taking  commodities  from  places  where  they  are  superabundant 
and  from  ownerships  where  there  is  an  excess  over  needs  and 
placing  them  where  they  are  wanted.  It  is  a  change  of  place 
to  relieve  excess  and  to  supply  demands.  The  savages  had  their 
changes  of  place  and  of  ownership,  constituting  a  primitive  or  ele- 
mentary commerce,  having  all  the  characteristics  of  the  modern ; 
but  I  am  now  speaking  of  something  that  preceded  even  this. 
Nature  had  her  great  centers  of  superabounding  material  and 
took  pains  to  convert  this  excess  into  supply  against  scarcity. 
She  had  devised  her  balance-wheels  to  effect  uniformity  of  life 
and  to  preserve  it  against  famine  and  failure.  In  illustration  of 
this  let  me  point  out  two  or  three  examples : 

a.  She  stored  up  the  excess  of  one  season  to  supply  the 
scarcity  of  another  season  of  the  year.  Many  examples  of  this 
could  be  cited.  All  over  the  earth  bees  gather  honey  from 
ephemeral  plants  that  man  cannot  eat  and  store  it  away  in  endur- 
ing form  to  be  used  by  man  in  time  of  need.  In  certain  regions 
of  California  the  pinon  seeds  grew  so  abundantly  that  the  Indians 
could  not  gather  them ;  but  the  squirrels  did  lay  them  up  in  vast 


36  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

quantities,  fed  on  them  in  winter,  and  themselves  were  eaten  by 
the  savages  at  a  time  when  meat  diet  was  most  necessary,  and 
gave  to  the  Indians  a  lesson  in  economy  and  storage. 

b.  She  used  the  excess  of  one  locality  to  supply  the  dearth  of 
another  locality.     In  some  places  along  the  great  lakes  the  wild 
rice  (Zisania  aquatica)  covers  thousands  of  acres  and  feeds  mil- 
lions of  water  fowl.    These  same  creatures  are  the  source  of  food 
for  the  Eskimo,  who  never  saw  a  spear  of  grass  nor  ate  a  mouth- 
ful of  vegetal  diet.    They  are  also  wonderful  teachers  of  the  art 
of  migration.    Seeds  of  plants  entered  into  this  natural  transpor- 
tation through  rivers  and  ocean  currents,  through  winds  and  by 
the  agency  of  birds,  even  of  migratory  birds,  and  set  up  in  their 
progeny  new  centers  of  supply  on  distant  shores. 

c.  But  the  most  marvelous  of  all  these  commercial  enterprises 
of  nature  is  that  in  which  she  converts  apparently  inaccessible 
and  unutilizable  material  into  inexhaustible  supplies  for  every 
industry  of  man.    A  wonderful  example  of  this  is  found  in  the 
littoral  feeding  grounds.    There  is  a  bench  of  land  under  the  sea 
skirting  every  shore  and  reaching  under  all  estuaries.     It  is  not 
deep.    Indeed,  it  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  land  and  the 
profound  sea.    Upon  this  plateau  the  debris  of  the  fertile  lands 
and  fresh  waters  are  daily  poured  and  myriads  of  the  lower 
plants  and  animals  are  developed.    Here  are  nourished  cod,  shad, 
herring,  salmon,  oysters,  clams,  and  so  on.    The  fish,  after  attain- 
ing maturity,  actually  swim  up  to  men's  doors  to  be  captured ; 
also  upon  this  feeding  ground  are  nourished  the  sea  mammals, 
which  have  been  indispensable  to  the  life  and  happiness  of  our 
northern  aborigines.     It  is  true  that  every  useful  plant  is  con- 
verted by  nature  out  of  material  which  men  cannot  use.     Long 
before  Texas  cattle  were  bred  in  one  place  and  driven  hundreds 
of  miles  to  market,  nature  reared  fish  and  walrus  upon  her  enor- 
mous pasture-lands  under  the  sea  and  drove  them  to  market 
herself. 

3.  From  one  point  of  view  the  languages  and  literatures  of 
men  have  been  taught  and  suggested  by  the  earth.  Many  words 
in  all  languages  are  imitations  of  the  cries  and  sounds  of  nature. 
The  motions  and  actions  of  her  creations  and  creatures  give  rise 
to  names  for  our  common  activities.  By  figures  of  speech  the 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  37 

conduct  of  these  beings  furnishes  the  literary  man  and  the  moral- 
ist with  means  of  graphic  and  pleasing  description. 

Furthermore,  every  act  is  an  expression  of  thought,  and  every- 
thing made  by  men  is  a  testimony  to  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
man  who  made  it.  Even  our  most  poetic  and  spirituelle  con- 
ceptions find  their  counterparts  in  phenomena  around  us. 

4.  The  earth  has  furnished  man  with  examples  of  many  forms 
of  social  life,  from  the  absolute  promiscuity  of  gregarious  crea- 
tures to  the  monogamy  for  life  among  the  eagles.    The  problems 
of  society,  clanship,  government,  and  politics  were  working  them- 
selves out  under  the  eyes  of  primitive  man. 

5.  In  the  forms  of  its  creeds  and  its  cults,  humanity  does  not 
seem  to  be  able  to  get  away  from  earthly  patterns.    The  Elysian 
fields,  the  Valhalla,  the  life  that  now  is,  reflected  upon  the  life 
beyond,  are  all  shaped  after  models   familiar  upon  the  earth. 
Likewise  the  cults  of  men,  involving  places  of  worship,  social 
organization,  times  of  meeting,  festivals,  and  the  like,  necessarily 
depend  upon  climate  and  environment  generally.     There  is  a 
true  sense  in  which  religion  is  physiographic  and  in  its  lower 
forms  entirely  naturistic 

Besides  this  general  view  of  the  earth  as  an  organized  series 
of  materials  and  forces,  it  is  necessary  also  to  study  it  in  parts, 
to  anatomize  it,  as  the  zoologists  would  say.  The  most  cursory 
glance  reveals  the  fact  that  there  are  certain  well  established 
worlds  within  this  world.  This  earth,  which  seems  to  be  an  oblate 
spheroid,  all  parts  of  which  are  approachable  from  the  rest  and 
their  functions  almost  interchangeable  one  with  another,  is  made 
up  of  great  isolated  parts  or  patches,  which  may  be  denominated 
culture  or  inventional  areas,  Oikoumenai  of  Aristotle.  Each 
one  of  the  areas  has  a  climate  of  its  own,  waters  and  lands  of  its 
own,  plants  and  minerals  and  animals ;  indeed,  a  physiography 
of  its  own ;  so  that  when  a  group  of  human  beings  have,  in  the 
fortunes  of  existence,  found  themselves  in  one  of  these  spaces 
they  have  been  irresistibly  developed  into  a  culture  and  trades 
and  industries  of  their  own.  This  was  the  centrifugal  stage  of 
the  evolution  of  industries.  It  was  just  as  though  they  had  cut 
themselves  off  from  the  rest  of  their  species  and  gone  to  inhabit 
another  world. 


38  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  forces  acting  to  create  these  culture  areas  were,  first  of 
all,  earth  forces,  the  same  that  were  at  work  to  build  the  earth. 
After  the  general  plan  of  the  entire  structure  was  laid  down, 
the  fitting  and  furnishing  of  the  various  apartments  was  a  mat- 
ter of  local  appropriation  of  these  forces.  Solar  heat,  moisture, 
terrestrial  forms  and  movements  horizontally  and  vertically 
cooperated  in  each  area  to  stamp  upon  it  the  type  of  its  life. 
The  result  in  each  instance  was  to  create  a  series  of  conditions 
suitable  for  some  lives  and  not  for  others,  suitable  for  man  in 
one  stage  of  his  culture  journey  and  not  in  others.  In  regard 
to  the  capability  of  meeting  man's  necessities,  the  regions  of 
which  we  are  speaking  may  be  thus  characterized : 

1.  Areas  of  discouragement,  too  cold,  too  hot,  too  wet,  too 
dry,  too  elevated,  malarious,  infested  with  noxious  insects  or 
beasts,  too  thickly  forested.    By  and  by  these  very  regions  might 
become  centers  of  greatest  activity. 

2.  Areas  of  monotony.     Upon  this  point  Schrader  uses  the 
following  comparison: 

"Life  commenced  in  the  water,  where  the  changes  of  light, 
heat,  pressure,  food,  and  occupation  were  very  slight,  attained 
its  complete  development  on  the  land,  in  an  element  more  deli- 
cate and  more  mobile,  in  the  midst  of  reactions  more  multiple 
and  more  varied." 

This  same  rule  applies  to  the  lands  themselves.  Those  in 
which  men  occupied  a  homogeneous  environment  were  like  the 
sea,  and  the  people  were  little  differentiated.  The  arctic  regions 
in  their  marine  mammals  and  semi-aquatic  men  furnish  a  good 
example  of  this  class. 

But  in  the  equatorial  regions  of  the  globe  there  occurs  much 
of  the  monotony  of  environment  which  characterizes  the  circum- 
polar  region.  In  the  latter  man  exhausts  himself  in  his  efforts 
for  subsistence ;  in  the  former  he  does  not  develop  because  nature 
supplies  his  few  wants  and  at  the  same  time  overwhelms  the 
work  of  his  hands ;  but  in  Australia  all  the  unfavorable  condi- 
tions of  human  existence  are  exaggerated.  Isolation,  aridity, 
want  of  indentations  and  relief,  absence  of  useful  plants  or  ani- 
mals ;  these  negative  conditions  are  certainly,  of  all  in  the  world, 
least  favorable  to  man. 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  39 

Schrader  follows  the  plan  of  establishing  anthropological 
zones,  but  tidewater,  Piedmont,  and  mountain  areas  are  also  im- 
portant. 

3.  Areas  of  two  elements,  two  elevations,  two  seasons,  two 
occupations,  two  wants.     This  will  be  exemplified  further  on. 

4.  Areas  of  many  elements,  with  variety  of  climate,  scenery, 
sources  of  material  supply,  and  means  of  communication,  stimu- 
lating the  appropriation  of  nature's  largess. 

As  regards  the  creation  of  races  of  men,  these  regions  were 
ethnic  areas.  Respecting  arts  and  industries,  they  certainly  were 
technic  areas,  and  therefore  they  were  most  important  elements 
in  the  present  study. 

In  the  most  primitive  life  exploiting,  transportation,  manu- 
facture, barter,  and  consumption  in  each  culture  area  extended 
over  little  space,  used  only  a  few  materials,  changed  their  form 
only  a  little,  were  in  the  hands  of  a  few  persons,  and  their  prod- 
ucts were  consumed  on  the  spot.  A  Zuni  woman  walks  five 
miles  to  the  mesa  for  clay,  carries  it  home  on  her  back,  makes 
it  into  pottery,  decorates  and  burns  it,  and  then  wears  it  out  in 
cooking,  water-carrying,  or  storing  food.  She  is  at  once  miner, 
common  carrier,  potter,  artist,  cook,  and  purveyor.  Her  culture 
area  does  not  embrace  more  than  100  square  miles. 

Even  now  many  of  these  separate  culture  areas,  in  spite  of  the 
mixing  of  people  in  the  historic  past,  may  still  be  traced.  From 
the  North  American  continent  the  savage  has  been  nearly  moved, 
but  scholarship  is  able  to  lay  down  the  home  sites  of  all  the 
historic  families ;  the  habitations  of  their  various  stocks  are 
marked  out  geographically. 

On  the  extreme  northern  limit  of  America  there  is  a  fringe  of 
icy  coast.  You  may  commence  to  trace  it  in  the  northeastern 
corner  of  Greenland.  The  whole  shore  of  this  land  mass  forms 
a  part  of  that  area,  down  to  Cape  Farewell  and  up  to  Smith's 
sound.  Resuming  your  journey  about  the  southern  limit  of 
Labrador,  you  are  to  explore  Baffin  land,  all  about  Hudson  bay, 
among  the  islands  of  northern  Canada,  past  the  mouth  of  Mac- 
kenzie river  all  the  way  to  Bering  strait.  The  arctic  shores  of 
both  continents  above  and  below  these  straits  as  far  west  as  Lap- 
land, in  Norway,  must  be  included,  and  the  Alaskan  coast  as  far 


40  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

down  as  Mount  St.  Elias.  This  is  the  Arctic,  the  interhemis- 
pheric  world 

Immediately  in  contact  with  this  hyperborean  oikoumene  is 
the  birch-bark  region,  extending  in  both  hemispheres.  The  house, 
the  boat,  the  snowshoe  frame,  the  vessels  for  food  and  water 
and  for  cookery,  the  lumber  for  all  arts,  arid  the  food  for  much 
of  the  game  are  hence  derived.  It  is  the  birch-bark  country  in 
space,  just  as  we  speak  of  the  stone  age,  the  bronze  age,  the  steel 
age,  in  time.  In  early  culture  they  did  not  ship  birch  wood  and 
bark,  but  birch  art  sprung  from  birch  environment.  Geography 
was  the  mother  of  the  arts 

The  land-locked  inlets  of  America's  northwest  coast,  extend- 
ing for  more  than  a  thousand  miles,  being  a  safe  and  easy  mode 
of  communication  between  Thlingit,  Haida,  Tsimshian,  Nut- 
kans,  and  Coast  Salish  tribes,  not  only  was  there  much  borrow- 
ing of  myth  and  speech  and  commingling  of  blood,  but  arts  were 
interchanged  and  an  incipient  commerce  engendered. 

The  great  interior  basin  of  the  United  States  is  arid,  but 
abounds  in  excellent  seed-producing  plants,  and  here  the  people 
were  bread-eaters  and  all  the  term  implies.  The  plains  of  the 
great  West  were  the  abode  of  innumerable  buffalo,  and  there 
the  tribes,  regardless  of  ethnic  differences,  were  tall  meat-eaters, 
dwelling  in  hide  teepees,  clothing  themselves  in  skins,  and  prac- 
ticing a  hundred  arts  with  reference  to  this  one  animal.  On  the 
east  coast  of  North  America,  were  the  clam,  oyster,  turtle,  abun- 
dance of  mackerel,  shad,  and  herring,  plentiful  supply  of  wild 
fowl  and  mammals  and  fertile  lowlands  and  diversities  of  wood 
for  their  implements.  These  varied  conditions  produced  on 
the  whole  the  finest  Indians  north  of  Mexico.  The  same  careful 
scrutiny  of  the  Mexican  plateau,  the  Orinoco,  or  the  Amazon 
drainage,  of  the  three  culture  elevations  of  Peru,  of  the  river 
systems  of  Africa,  of  the  island  groups  of  the  Indo-Pacific,  would, 
if  we  had  time  to  go  over  them,  show  us  that  the  common  trades 
and  daily  toil  of  the  people  run  in  grooves  like  a  train  of  cars. 
Each  people  had  ransacked  its  own  environment  and  got  the  best 
out  of  it  that  their  grade  of  culture  was  capable  of  extracting. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  continue  the  enumeration  of  these  tech- 
nic  areas  of  the  earth.  It  may  be  truly  said  that  each  distinct 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  41 

zoological  or  botanical  region  was  capable  of  developing  a  dis- 
tinct body  of  arts.  And,  per  contra,  if  there  be  found  a  people 
in  possession  of  industries  that  are  unique,  then  the  region  must 
be  ransacked  for  the  environment  and  resources  that  endowed 
and  patronized  these  industries.  The  art  and  the  craft  are  of 
the  region.  No  people  are  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  develop- 
ment of  any  of  nature's  gifts  if  nature  has  never  bestowed  them. 

In  America,  when  it  was  discovered,  the  technic  regions  were 
not  equally  advanced  in  the  culture  of  their  inhabitants.  In  the 
valley  of  Mexico  and  in  Central  America  and  on  the  Pacific 
coast  of  the  Andes  were  the  highest  arts.  The  western  continent, 
as  a  whole,  was  not  the  best  fitted  by  nature  for  man's  advance- 
ment. The  mammals  would  none  of  them  yield  their  milk  and 
there  were  no  draught  or  pack  animals  except  the  dog  in  the 
north  and  the  llamas  in  the  south.  All  the  arts  of  the  new 
world  were  the  works  of  men's  hands ;  consequently  the  whole 
area  of  culture  skill  was  little  elevated  compared  with  that  of 
the  eastern  continents.  But  the  Mexican  and  the  Peruvian 
body  of  industries  occupied  the  most  artificial  centers 

No  sooner  had  the  varied  riches  of  different  areas  begun  to 
manifest  themselves  to  one  another  than  human  feet  took  up 
the  march  which  has  given  the  whole  earth  to  the  whole  species, 
and  promises  to  make  of  it,  by  and  by,  a  single  neighborhood. 
In  short,  the  earth  developed  in  isolated  peoples  a  separate  set 
of  industries.  With  your  permission  I  shall  call  it  the  centrifu- 
gal or  outward  movement. 

Next,  it  brought  these  separate  cultures  together  as  a  higher 
composite  organization  of  industry,  and  tends  at  last  to  make  all 
men  dependent  upon  the  entire  earth.  This  you  will  let  me  call 
the  centripetal  movement. 

The  centrifugal  movements  were  the  actions  of  savages  and 
barbarous  peoples.  The  centripetal  movements  were  toward 
civilization.  The  movements  toward  widening  the  oikoumenai 
were: 

1.  Intra-areal,  or  inside  the  geographic  province  to  enlarge  it. 

2.  Inter-areal,  between  small  contiguous  provinces. 

3.  Inter-regional,  overstepping  great  natural  barriers. 

4.  The  march  of  aggressive  campaigns. 


42  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

5.  Inter-continental,  the  beginnings  of  universal  conquest. 

6.  Inter-hemispheric,  the  periods  of  great  discoveries. 

7.  Universal. 

The  primitive  occupation  of  different  culture  areas  on  the 
earth  prepared  the  way  for  the  diversification  of  the  ways  and 
means  of  gratifying  human  desires.  This  centrifugal  man  de- 
veloped the  culture  areas  and  their  arts.  The  more  advanced 
centripetal  man  brought  the  arts  together  and  thus  provided  for 
their  universal  distribution,  elaboration,  and  perfection. 

Barter  and  long  journeys  for  subsistence,  cultivation  of  plants 
and  domestication  of  animals,  the  use  of  machinery,  and  the 
storage  of  food  were  not  unknown  to  pre-Columbian  Americans. 
In  one  grave  near  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  were  found  copper  from 
northern  Michigan,  obsidian  from  Yellowstone  park,  mica  from 
North  Carolina,  pyrula  shells  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Ivory  hunting  and  other  natural  causes  set  the  African  negroes 
on  the  move  before  the  days  of  recorded  history,  so  that  there  is 
no  longer  a  negro  race.  Their  original  neighborhood  is  not 
known ;  their  languages  are  better  means  of  classification  than 
themselves ;  their  arts  are  hopelessly  mixed. 

In  studying  the  migrations  which  might  have  led  Mongoloid 
peoples  to  America,  the  escape  from  the  regions  of  an  ever-van- 
ishing food  supply  in  the  rear  and  the  pursuit  of  an  inviting 
food  supply  in  front  played  a  prominent  part.  Two  hundred 
years  ago  and  more  the  upper  Pacific,  the  Bering  sea,  and  the 
plains  of  the  great  West  contained  far  the  largest  storages  of 
human  subsistence  in  the  world.  The  fish,  the  seacow,  the  Arctic 
mammals,  the  caribou,  the  buffalo,  in  a  certain  sense,  peopled 
America. 

In  the  Indian  ocean  and  the  Pacific,  six  hundred  years  ago, 
the  Polynesian  race  suddenly  became  the  Norsemen  of  that  area. 
In  their  improved  canoes,  with  sails  and  outriggers,  they  set  out 
from  Tonga  and  visited  Easter  islands,  on  the  east ;  Madagascar, 
on  the  west;  New  Zealand,  on  the  south,  and  Hawaii,  on  the 
north,  each  journey  being  not  far  from  two  thousand  miles  from 
home.  No  other  motive  was  assigned  but  to  follow  the  leadings 
of  nature  to  behold  and  enjoy  more  of  the  earth. 

In  this  same  Malayo-Polynesian  area,  especially  in  the  region 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  43 

extending  from  Australia  to  Indo-China,  there  is  a  curious  mixing 
of  the  regional  question  with  that  of  race.  Here  dwell  Negroes, 
Malays,  Polynesians,  and  Australians;  but  the  material  out  of 
which  things  are  made,  the  implements  with  which  they  are 
made,  and  the  products  of  industrial  arts  are  clearly  of  the  soil, 
and  there  is  great  confusion  of  industry  and  race,  undergoing 
the  process  of  transformation  from  segregation  to  unification. 

Racial  peculiarities  overlap  the  natural  elements  of  industry 
and  the  technogeographer  and  the  ethnogeographer  are  merged 
into  the  ethnotechnologist. 

The  Mediterranean  sea  remained  a  barrier  until  many  diverse 
civilizations  were  developed  on  its  African,  Asiatic,  and  Euro- 
pean shores.  It  was  at  first  a  means  of  dividing  peoples  of  the 
same  race  until  they  had  elaborated  their  several  contributions 
to  industrial  processes. 

The  second  stage  of  industrial  development  had  begun  when 
the  first  column  of  Aryan  history  began  to  be  written. 

Of  early  Caucasian  and  Mongolian  culture  only  a  few  hints 
can  be  given.  In  prehistoric  times  precisely  the  same  law  was 
in  force  which  the  American  continent  revealed  to  the  eyes  of 
the  discoverers ;  but  another  state  of  things  was  in  operation 
there  in  historic  times,  namely,  the  working  out  of  the  higher 
law  of  commerce  and  artificiality  of  life,  in  the  operation  of 
which  the  genius  of  man  rises  superior  to  natural  barriers  and 
exigencies  and  turns  whole  continents  or  the  whole  earth  into 
one  organized  cultural  area  or  oikoumene. 

No  one  can  tell  the  region  that  gave  to  man  the  cereals  of 
Europe.  It  is  said  that  rice  is  a  contribution  from  southeastern 
Asia,  but  whence  wheat,  rye,  barley,  millet,  oats?  Fruits,  like 
apples,  plums,  quinces,  peaches,  belong  to  the  same  category. 
The  date  may  be  accredited  to  Africa  and  the  grape  to  many 
lands.  But  there  is  no  account  of  our  race  at  a  time  when  the 
genius  of  invention  was  being  developed  through  them  in  their 
separate  oikoumenai.  The  historian  was  too  late  on  the  field  to 
record  the  gathering  of  them  in  a  wild  state. 

Likewise  the  domestic  animals.  The  dog  offered  his  services 
as  a  hunter  and  a  beast  of  burden,  the  cat  as  the  enemy  of  ver- 
min ;  the  cow,  horse,  ass,  elephant,  sheep,  goat,  camel,  llama  were 


44  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

furnished  by  nature  to  enhance  the  arts  of  food,  shelter,  cloth- 
ing, manufacture,  transportation,  and  to  set  an  example  of  in- 
dustry ;  but  of  the  transition  there  is  no  record.  The  second 
stage  of  industrial  development  had  begun  when  the  second  vol- 
ume of  Aryan  history  was  about  to  be  written 

In  primitive  life  culture  areas  were  chiefly  the  regions  where 
abounded  the  raw  materials.  They  were  in  fact  areas  of  natural 
exigencies.  But  in  higher  civilization  the  arts  have  usurped  the 
prerogative  of  nature  and  created  artificial  culture  areas.  Plants 
have  been  made  to  grow  and  animals  to  thrive  thousands  of 
miles  from  their  original  home.  Materials  of  all  sorts  are  carried 
to  manufacturing  centers  to  be  made  up  into  forms  for  commerce 
and  consumption.  These  are  artificial  technic  areas,  whose  geog- 
raphy is  an  essential  study  in  political  economy. 

For  example,  the  Muskoki  Indian  woman  used  to  go  to  the 
fields,  gather  the  wild  hemp,  carry  it  home,  soak  it,  hackle  it, 
spin  it,  weave  it,  and  then  use  it  up  on  the  spot.  But  on  that 
very  ground  now  grows  the  cotton,  a  foreign  plant,  raised  by 
one  man,  ginned  by  another,  hauled  on  wagons  to  railroads,  thence 
carried  to  the  sea  and  across  it  to  great  manufacturing  towns, 
where  it  is  hauled  and  spun  and  woven,  and  hauled  and  shipped 
and  sold  and  sold  until  the  product  may  be  seen  in  every  portion 
of  the  habitable  globe.  The  geography  of  this  one  staple  in  its 
multiform  transformations,  brought  about  by  the  gradual  appro- 
priation of  all  the  forces  of  the  earth  and  then  its  movements 
until  at  last  it  has  been  caught  in  the  current  of  every  terrestrial 
wind  and  followed  every  world-encompassing  oceanic  stream, 
would  exemplify  what  I  am  trying  to  say  about  the  coming  of  the 
globe  to  be  one  united  oikoumene. 

In  all  this,  the  race  has  grown,  not  independent  of  the  earth, 
but  more  dependent  upon  it.  Artificial  and  domesticated  sup- 
plies of  material  are  as  much  from  the  earth  as  the  wildest.  Men 
in  devising  tools  and  machinery  and  engines  to  do  the  work  of 
their  hands  have  had  to  go  to  their  mother  for  them.  They  use 
other  forces  than  their  own,  but  they  are  still  forces  furnished 
by  the  earth.  They  have  multiplied  invention  upon  invention, 
but  every  one  of  them  is  a  device  for  using  a  great  loan  already 
in  hand  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  larger  one 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  45 

In  this  partnership  between  man  and  the  earth  the  progress 
of  culture  has  beeen  from  naturalism  to  artificialism ;  from  ex- 
ploitation to  cultivation  and  domestication ;  from  mere  muscular 
power  to  more  subtle  physical  force  of  man,  of  beast,  of  water, 
of  air,  of  fire,  of  electricity ;  from  tools  to  machinery ;  from  sim- 
plest imitative  processes  to  highly  complex  processes,  involving 
many  materials  and  motive  powers  and  inventions ;  from  short 
journeys  to  long  journeys ;  from  mere  barter  to  world-embracing 
commerce ;  from  monotonous  and  monorganic  food  and  clothing, 
shelter  and  furniture,  mental  and  social  appliances  to  forms  as 
complex  and  varied  as  the  imagination  can  conceive.  And  when 
the  supply  gives  out,  it  is  not  the  earth  that  fails,  but  it  is  the 

comprehension    and    the    skill    of    men — O.    T.    MASON, 

American  Anthropologist,  7:137-58. 

SITUATION  AND  NUMBERS  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE 

....  The  organisation  of  races  outside  of  the  European 
and  Asiatic  sphere  of  civilization  does  not  permit  any  density  of 
population  to  exist.  Small  communities  cultivating  their  narrow 
patches  of  ground  are  separated  from  each  other  by  wide  empty 
spaces  which  either  serve  for  hunting-grounds  or  lie  useless  and 
vacant.  These  limit  the  possibilities  of  intercourse,  and  render 
large  permanent  assemblies  of  men  impossible.  Hunting  races, 
among  whom  agriculture  does  not  exist  or  tends  to  vanish,  often 
dwell  so  thinly  scattered  that  there  will  be  only  one  man,  fre- 
quently less,  to  24  square  miles.  Where  there  is  some  agriculture, 
as  among  many  Indian  tribes,  among  Dyaks,  in  Papua,  we  find 
from  i  o  to  40  in  the  same  area ;  as  it  develops  further,  in  central 
Africa  for  instance,  or  the  Malay  Archipelago,  from  100  to  300. 
In  the  northwest  of  America  the  fishing-races  who  live  on  the 
coast  run  to  100  in  20  square  miles,  and  the  cattle-keeping  nomads 
to  about  the  same.  Where  fishing  and  agriculture  are  combined, 
as  in  Oceania,  we  find  as  many  as  500.  The  same  figure  is  reached 
in  the  steppes  of  Western  Asia  by  the  partly  settled,  partly  nomad 
population.  Here  we  cross  the  threshold  of  another  form  of 
civilization.  Where  trade  and  industry  combine  to  operate  there 
is  sustenance  for  10,000  persons  (as  in  India  and  East  Asia),  or 
15,000  (as  in  Europe)  to  24  square  miles 


46  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

In  density  of  population  lies  not  only  steadiness  of  and  se- 
curity for  vigorous  growth,  but  also  the  immediate  means  of 
promoting  civilization.  The  closer  men  are  in  contact,  the  more 
they  can  impart  to  each  other,  the  less  does  what  is  acquired  by 
civilization  go  to  waste,  the  higher  does  competition  raise  the 
activity  of  all  their  powers.  The  increase  and  maintenance  of  the 
numbers  are  intimately  connected  with  the  development  of  cul- 
ture; a  population  thinly  scattered  over  a  large  district  means 
low  civilization,  while  in  old  or  new  centres  of  civilization  we 
find  the  people  in  dense  masses.  China  and  India  reckon  their 
inhabitants  at  600,000,000,  but  an  equivalent  area  of  the  inter- 
vening region  of  the  Central  Asiatic  nomads,  Mongolia,  Tibet, 
East  Turkestan,  cannot  show  a  sixtieth  of  the  number.  Six- 
sevenths  of  the  earth's  inhabitants  belong  to  civilized  countries. 

While  the  history  of  the  European  nations  for  centuries  past 
shows  the  same  decided  tendency  to  increase  which  we  observe 
even  in  ancient  times,  the  uncivilized  races  offer  examples  of 
shrinkage  and  retrogression  such  as  we  find  in  the  case  of  the 
others,  if  at  all,  only  lasting  over  a  short  period,  and  then  as  the 
result  of  casualties  such  as  war  and  pestilence.  The  very  thinness 
of  the  population  is  a  cause  of  their  decay ;  their  smaller  numbers 
are  more  readily  brought  to  the  point  of  dwindling  or  vanishing. 
Rapid  *using-up  of  the  vital  powers  is  a  characteristic  of  all  the 
races  in  the  lower  stages  of  civilization.  Their  economical  basis 
is  narrow  and  incomplete,  frugality  only  too  often  verges  on 
poverty,  scarcity  is  a  frequent  visitor,  and  all  those  measures  of 
precaution  with  which  sanitary  science  surrounds  our  life  are 
lacking.  In  the  struggle  with  the  too  powerful  forces  of  nature, 
as  in  the  Arctic  regions  or  the  steppe-districts  of  the  southern 
hemisphere,  on  the  confines  of  the  inhabited  world,  they  often 
succumb  till  they  are  completely  wiped  out,  and  a  whole  race 
perishes.  It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  refer,  as  is  often  done,  the  ex- 
tinction of  barbarous  races,  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  solely  to 
contact  with  superior  civilization.  But  closer  consideration  en- 
ables us  to  recognise  self-destruction  as  a  no  less  frequent  case. 
The  two  work  as  a  rule  together;  neither  would  attain  its  end 
so  quickly  without  the  co-operation  of  the  other.  The  basis  of 
a  healthy  increase  in  population  is  an  approximate  balance  of  the 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  47 

sexes;  this  among  uncivilized  people  is  generally  disturbed,  and 
the  number  of  children  small.  War,  murder,  and  kidnapping  all 
contribute  to  reduce  the  population.  Human  life  is  of  small 
value,  as  human  sacrifices  and  cannibalism  sufficiently  indicate. 
Lastly,  man  in  a  state  of  nature  is  far  from  possessing  that  ideal 
health  of  which  so  many  have  fabled ;  the  negroes  of  Africa  can 
alone  be  described  as  a  robust  race.  Australians,  Polynesians, 
Americans,  on  the  other  hand,  are  far  more  subject  to  diseases 
than  civilized  men  are,  and  adapt  themselves  to  new  climates 
with  difficulty.  There  is  no  question  but  that  these  peoples  were 
in  many  districts  slowly  dying  out  by  sickness  before  the  ap- 
pearance of  Europeans.  But  no  doubt  the  arrival  of  civiliza- 
tion disturbs  society  down  to  its  roots.  It  contracts  the  available 
space,  thus  altering  one  of  the  conditions  upon  which,  as  we  shall 
hereafter  see,  the  peculiar  social  and  political  arrangements  of 
races  in  a  natural  state  were  framed.  It  introduces  wants  and  en- 
joyments which  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  mode  of  living  usual 
among  these  people,  or  their  capacity  for  labour.  It  brings 
upon  them  diseases  previously  unknown,  which  on  a  new  soil 
commit  frightful  ravages ;  and  inevitable  quarrels  and  fighting 
besides.  Over  the  larger  territories,  such  as  North  America, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  the  progress  of  civilization  led  to  the 
crowding  of  the  aboriginal  races  into  the  least  favourable  dis- 
tricts, and  therewith  to  the  diminution  of  their  numbers. — F. 
RATZEL,  History  of  Mankind,  1:10-12.  (Trans,  of  Volker- 
kunde.)  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1896. 

THE  OPERATION  OF  GEOGRAPHIC  FACTORS  IN  HISTORY 

....  Man  can  no  more  be  scientifically  studied  apart  from 
the  ground  which  he  tills,  or  the  lands  over  which  he  travels, 
or  the  seas  over  which  he  trades,  than  polar  bear  or  desert  cactus 
can  be  understood  apart  from  its  habitat.  Man's  relations  to  this 
environment  are  infinitely  more  numerous  and  complex  than  those 
of  the  most  highly  organized  plant  or  animal.  So  complex  are 
they  that  they  constitute  a  legitimate  and  necessary  object  of 
special  study.  The  investigation  which  they  receive  in  anthro- 
pology, ethnology,  sociology,  and  history  is  piecemeal  and  partial, 
limited  as  to  the  race,  cultural  development,  epoch,  country  or 


48  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

variety  of  geographic  conditions  taken  into  account.  Hence  all 
these  sciences,  together  with  history,  so  far  as  history  undertakes 
to  explain  the  causes  of  events,  fail  to  reach  a  satisfactory  solu- 
tion of  their  problems  largely  because  the  geographic  factor 
which  enters  into  them  all  has  not  been  thoroughly  analyzed. 
Man  has  been  so  noisy  about  the  way  he  has  "conquered  Na- 
ture," and  Nature  has  been  so  silent  in  her  persistent  influence 
over  man,  that  the  geographic  factor  in  the  equation  of  human 
development  has  been  overlooked. 

In  every  problem  of  history  there  are  two  main  factors, 
variously  stated  as  heredity  and  environment,  man  and  his 
geographic  conditions,  the  internal  forces  of  race  and  the  ex- 
ternal forces  of  habitat.  Now  the  geographic  element  in  the 
long  history  of  human  development  has  been  operating  strongly 
and  operating  persistently.  Herein  lies  its  importance.  It  is  a 
stable  force.  It  never  sleeps.  This  natural  environment,  this 
physical  basis  of  history,  is  for  all  intents  and  purposes  immu- 
table in  comparison  with  the  other  factor  in  the  problem — shifting, 
plastic,  progressive,  retrogressive  man. 

History  tends  to  repeat  itself  largely  owing  to  this  steady, 
unchanging  geographic  element.  If  the  ancient  Roman  consul  in 
far-away  Britain  often  assumed  an  independence  of  action  and 
initiative  unknown  to  the  provincial  governors  of  Gaul,  and  if  cen- 
turies later  Roman  Catholicism  in  England  maintained  a  similar 
independence  toward  the  Holy  See,  both  facts  have  their  cause 
in  the  remoteness  of  Britain  from  the  center  of  political  or  ec- 
clesiastical power  in  Rome.  If  the  independence  of  the  Roman 
consul  in  Britain  was  duplicated  later  by  the  attitude  of  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies  toward  England,  and  again  within  the  young  re- 
public by  the  headstrong  self-reliance,  impatient  of  government 
authority,  which  characterized  the  early  trans-Allegheny  com- 
monwealths in  their  aggressive  Indian  policy,  and  led  them  to 
make  war  and  conclude  treaties  for  the  cession  of  land  like  sov- 
ereign states;  and  if  this  attitude  of  independence  in  the  over- 
mountain  men  reappeared  in  a  spirit  of  political  defection  look- 
ing toward  secession  from  the  Union  and  a  new  combination  with 
their  British  neighbor  on  the  Great  Lakes  or  the  Spanish  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  these  are  all  the  identical  effects  of  geographical 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  49 

remoteness  made  yet  more  remote  by  barriers  of  mountain  and 
sea.  This  is  the  long  reach  which  weakens  the  arm  of  authority, 
no  matter  what  the  race  or  country  or  epoch 

As  the  surface  of  the  earth  presents  obstacles,  so  it 
offers  channels  for  the  easy  movement  of  humanity,  grooves 
whose  direction  •  determines  the  destination  of  unknowing,  un- 
planned migrations,  and  whose  termini  become,  therefore,  re- 
gions of  historical  importance.  Along  these  nature-made  high- 
ways history  repeats  itself.  The  maritime  plain  of  Palestine  has 
been  an  established  route  of  commerce  and  war  from  the  time 
of  Sennacherib  to  Napoleon.  The  Danube  valley  has  admitted 
to  central  Europe  a  long  list  of  barbarian  invaders,  covering  the 
period  from  Attila  the  Hun  to  the  Turkish  besiegers  of  Vienna 
in  1683.  The  history  of  the  Danube  valley  has  been  one  of 
warring  throngs,  of  shifting  political  frontiers,  and  unassimi- 
lated  races;  but  as  the  river  is  a  great  natural  highway,  every 
neighboring  state  wants  to  front  upon  it  and  strives  to  secure  it 
as  a  boundary. 

The  movements  of  peoples  constantly  recur  to  these  old 
grooves.  The  unmarked  path  of  the  voyageur's  canoe,  bringing 
out  pelts  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  fur  market  at  Montreal,  is 
followed  today  by  whaleback  steamers  with  their  cargoes  of 
Manitoba  wheat.  Today  the  Mohawk  depression  through  the 
northern  Appalachians  diverts  some  of  Canada's  trade  from  the 
Great  Lakes  to  the  Hudson,  just  as  in  the  seventeenth  century 
it  enabled  the  Dutch  at  New  Amsterdam  and  later  the  English 
at  Albany  to  tap  the  fur  trade  of  Canada's  frozen  forests.  For- 
merly a  line  of  stream  and  portage,  it  carries  now  the  Erie  Canal 
and  New  York  Central  Railroad.  Similarly  the  narrow  level  belt 
of  land  extending  from  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  to  the  eastern 
elbow  of  the  lower  Delaware,  defining  the  outer  margin  of  the 
rough  hill  country  of  northern  New  Jersey  and  the  inner  margin 
of  the  smooth  coastal  plain,  has  been  from  savage  days  such  a 
natural  thoroughfare.  Here  ran  the  trail  of  the  Lenni-Lenapi 
Indians;  a  little  later  the  old  Dutch  road,  between  New  Amster- 
dam and  the  Delaware  trading-posts ;  yet  later  the  King's  High- 
way from  New  York  to  Philadelphia.  In  1838  it  became  the 
route  of  the  Delaware  and  Raritan  Canal,  and  more  recently  of 


50  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
....  Thus  natural  conditions  fix  the  channels  in  which  the 
stream  of  humanity  most  easily  moves,  determine  within  certain 
limits  the  direction  of  its  flow,  the  velocity  and  volume  of  its 
current.  Every  new  flood  tends  to  fit  itself  approximately  into 
the  old  banks,  seeks  first  these  lines  of  least  resistance,  and  only 
when  it  finds  them  blocked  or  pre-empted  does  it  turn  to  more 

difficult  paths 

The  great  belt  of  deserts  and  steppes  extending  across  the  Old 
World  gives  us  a  vast  territory  of  rare  historical  uniformity. 
From  time  immemorial  they  have  borne  and  bred  tribes  of 
wandering  herdsmen;  they  have  sent  out  the  invading  hordes 
who,  in  successive  waves  of  conquest,  have  overwhelmed  the 
neighboring  river  lowlands  of  Eurasia  and  Africa.  They  have 
given  birth  in  turn  to  Scythians,  Indo-Aryans,  Avars,  Huns, 
Saracens,  Tartars  and  Turks,  as  to  the  Tuareg  tribes  of  the  Sa- 
hara, the  Sudanese  and  Bantu  folk  of  the  African  grasslands. 
But  whether  these  various  peoples  have  been  Negroes,  Hamites, 
Semites,  Indo-Europeans,  or  Mongolians,  they  have  always  been 
pastoral  nomads.  The  description  given  by  Herodotus  of  the 
ancient  Scythians  is  applicable  in  its  main  features  to  the 
Kirghis  and  Kalmuk  who  inhabit  the  Caspian  plains  today.  The 
environment  of  this  dry  grassland  operates  now  to  produce  the 
same  mode  of  life  and  social  organization  as  it  did  2,400  years 
ago ;  stamps  the  cavalry  tribes  of  Cossacks  as  it  did  the  mounted 
Huns ;  energizes  its  sons  by  its  dry  bracing  air,  toughens  them  by 
its  harsh  conditions  of  life,  organizes  them  into  a  mobilized 
army,  always  moving  with  its  pastoral  commissariat.  Then  when 
population  presses  too  hard  upon  the  meager  sources  of  sub- 
sistence, when  a  summer  drought  burns  the  pastures  and  dries 
up  the  water-holes,  it  sends  them  forth  on  a  mission  of  conquest, 
to  seek  abundance  in  the  better  watered  lands  of  their  agricul- 
tural neighbors.  Again  and  again  the  productive  valleys  of  the 
Hoangho,  Indus,  Ganges,  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  Nile,  Volga, 
Dnieper,  and  Danube  have  been  brought  into  subjection  by  the 
imperious  nomads  of  arid  Asia,  just  as  the  "hoe-people"  of  the 
Niger  and  upper  Nile  have  so  often  been  conquered  by  the 
herdsmen  of  the  African  grasslands.  Thus,  regardless  of  race 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  51 

or  epoch — Hyksos  or  Kaffir — history  tends  to  repeat  itself  in 
these  rainless  tracts,  and  involves  the  better  watered  districts 
along  their  borders  when  the  vast  tribal  movements  extend  into 
these  peripheral  lands 

Owing  to  the  evolution  of  geographic  relations,  the  physi- 
cal environment  favorable  to  one  stage  of  development  may  be 
adverse  to  another,  and  vice  versa.  For  instance,  a  small,  iso- 
lated, and  protected  habitat,  like  that  of  Egypt,  Phoenicia,  Crete, 
and  Greece,  encourages  the  birth  and  precocious  growth  of 
civilization;  but  later  it  may  cramp  progress,  and  lend  the 
stamp  of  arrested  development  to  a  people  who  were  once  the 
model  for  all  their  little  world.  Open  and  wind-swept  Russia, 
lacking  these  small  warm  nurseries  where  Nature  could  cuddle 
her  children,  has  bred  upon  its  boundless  plains  a  massive,  un- 
tutored, homogeneous  folk,  fed  upon  the  crumbs  of  culture  that 
have  fallen  from  the  richer  tables  of  Europe.  But  that  item  of 
area  is  a  variable  quantity  in  the  equation.  It  changes  its  char- 
acter at  a  higher  state  of  cultural  development.  Consequently, 
when  the  Muscovite  people,  instructed  by  the  example  of  western 
Europe,  shall  have  grown  up  intellectually,  economically,  and 
politically  to  their  big  territory,  its  area  will  become  a  great 
national  asset.  Russia  will  come  into  its  own,  heir  to  a  long- 
withheld  inheritance.  Many  of  its  previous  geographic  disad- 
vantages will  vanish,  like  the  diseases  of  childhood,  while  its 
massive  size  will  dwarf  many  previous  advantages  of  its  Euro- 
pean neighbors 

Let  us  consider  the  interplay  of  the  forces  of  land  and  sea 
apparent  in  every  country  with  a  maritime  location.  In  some 
cases  a  small,  infertile,  niggardly  country  conspires  with  a  beck- 
oning sea  to  drive  its  sons  out  upon  the  deep;  in  others  a  wide 
territory  with  a  generous  soil  keeps  its  well-fed  children  at  home 
and  silences  the  call  of  the  sea.  In  ancient  Phoenicia  and  Greece, 
in  Norway,  Finland,  New  England,  in  savage  Chile  and  Tierra 
del  Fuego,  and  the  Indian  coast  district  of  British  Columbia,  and 
southern  Alaska,  a  long,  broken  shoreline,  numerous  harbors, 
outlying  islands,  abundant  timber  for  the  construction  of  ships, 
difficult  communication  by  land,  all  tempted  the  inhabitants  to  a 
sea-faring  life.  While  the  sea  drew,  the  land  drove  in  the  same 


52  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

direction.  There  a  hilly  or  mountainous  interior  putting  obsta- 
cles in  the  way  of  landward  expansion,  sterile  slopes,  a  paucity  of 
level,  arable  land,  an  excessive  or  deficient  rainfall  withholding 
from  agriculture  the  rewards  of  tillage — some  or  all  of  these 
factors  combined  to  compel  the  inhabitants  to  seek  on  the  sea 
the  livelihood  denied  by  the  land.  Here  both  forces  worked  in 
the  same  direction. 

In  England  conditions  were  much  the  same,  and  from  the 
sixteenth  century  produced  there  a  predominant  maritime  de- 
velopment which  was  due  not  solely  to  a  long  indented  coast-line 
and  an  exceptional  location  for  participating  in  European  and 
American  trade.  Its  limited  island  area,  its  large  extent  of 
rugged  hills  and  chalky  soil  fit  only  for  pasturage,  and  the  lack 
of  a  really  generous  natural  endowment  made  it  slow  to  answer 
the  demands  of  a  growing  population,  till  the  industrial  de- 
velopment of  the  nineteenth  century  exploited  its  mineral  wealth. 
So  the  English  turned  to  the  sea — to  fish,  to  trade,  to  colonize. 
Holland's  conditions  made  for  the  same  development.  She 
united  advantages  of  coast-line  and  position  with  a  small  in- 
fertile territory,  consisting  chiefly  of  water-soaked  grazing  lands. 
When  at  the  zenith  of  her  maritime  development,  a  native  au- 
thority estimated  that  the  soil  of  Holland  could  not  support  more 
than  one-eighth  of  her  inhabitants.  The  meager  products  of  the 
land  had  to  be  eked  out  by  the  harvest  of  the  sea.  Fish  assumed 
an  important  place  in  the  diet  of  the  Dutch,  and  when  a  process 
of  curing  it  was  discovered,  laid  the  foundation  of  Holland's  ex- 
port trade.  A  geographical  location  central  to  the  Baltic  and 
North  Sea  countries,  and  accessible  to  France  and  Portugal, 
combined  with  a  position  at  the  mouth  of  the  great  German 
rivers  made  it  absorb  the  carrying  trade  of  northern  Europe. 
Land  and  sea  co-operated  in  its  maritime  development. 

Often  the  forces  of  land  and  sea  are  directly  opposed.  If  a 
country's  geographic  conditions  are  favorable  to  agriculture  and 
offer  room  for  growth  of  population,  the  land  forces  prevail,  be- 
cause man  is  primarily  a  terrestrial  animal.  Such  a  country 
illustrates  what  Chisholm,  with  Attic  nicety  of  speech,  calls 
"the  influence  of  bread-power  on  history,"  as  opposed  to  Mahan's 
sea-power.  France,  like  England,  had  a  long  coast-line,  abundant 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  53 

harbors,  and  an  excellent  location  for  maritime  supremacy  and 
colonial  expansion;  but  her  larger  area  and  greater  amount  of 
fertile  soil  put  off  the  hour  of  a  redundant  population  such  as 
England  suffered  from,  even  in  Henry  VIII's  time.  Moreover, 
in  consequence  of  steady  continental  expansion  from  the  twelfth 
to  the  eighteenth  century  and  a  political  unification  which  made 
its  area  more  effective  for  the  support  of  the  people,  the  French 
of  Richelieu's  time,  except  those  from  certain  districts,  took  to 
the  sea,  not  by  natural  impulse  as  did  the  English  and  Dutch, 
but  rather  under  the  spur  of  government  initiative.  They  there- 
fore achieved  far  less  in  maritime  trade  and  colonization.  In 
ancient  Palestine,  a  long  stretch  of  coast,  poorly  equipped  with 
harbors,  but  accessible  to  the  rich  Mediterranean  trade,  failed  to 
offset  the  attractions  of  the  gardens  and  orchards  of  the  Jordan 
valley  and  the  pastures  of  the  Judean  hills,  or  to  overcome  the 
land-born  predilections  and  aptitudes  of  the  desert-bred  Jews. 
Similarly,  the  river-fringed  peninsulas  of  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
opening  wide  their  doors  to  the  incoming  sea,  were  powerless, 
nevertheless,  to  draw  the  settlers  away  from  the  riotous  pro- 
ductiveness of  the  wide  tidewater  plains.  Here  again  the 
geographic  force  of  the  land  outweighed  that  of  the  sea  and 
became  the  dominant  factor  in  directing  the  activities  of  the  in- 
habitants. 

Heinrich  von  Treitschke,  in  his  recent  Politik,  imitates  the 
direct  inference  of  Buckle  when  he  ascribes  the  absence  of  ar- 
tistic and  poetic  development  in  Switzerland  and  the  Alpine 
lands  to  the  overwhelming  aspect  of  nature  there,  its  majestic 
sublimity  which  paralyzes  the  mind.  He  reinforces  his  position  by 
the  fact  that,  by  contrast,  the  lower  mountains  and  hill  country 
of  Swabia,  Franconia,  and  Thuringia,  where  nature  is  gentler, 
stimulating,  appealing,  and  not  overpowering,  have  produced 
many  poets  and  artists.  The  facts  are  incontestable.  They 
appear  in  France  in  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  awards 
made  by  the  Paris  Salon  of  1896.  Judging  by  these  awards  the 
rough  highlands  of  Savoy,  Alpine  Provence,  the  massive  eastern 
Pyrennees,  and  the  Auvergne  plateau,  together  with  the  barren 
peninsula,  Brittany,  are  singularly  lacking  in  artistic  instinct, 
while  art  flourishes  in  all  the  river  lowlands  of  France.  More- 


54  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

over,  French  men  of  letters  by  the  distribution  of  their  birth- 
places, are  essentially  products  of  fluvial  valleys,  and  plains, 
rarely  of  upland  and  mountain. 

This  contrast  has  been  ascribed  to  a  fundamental  ethnic  dis- 
tinction between  the  Teutonic  population  of  the  lowlands  and 
the  Alpine  or  Celtic  stock  which  survives  in  the  protected  isola- 
tion of  highland  and  peninsula,  thus  making  talent  an  attribute 
of  race.  But  the  Po  valley  of  northern  Italy,  whose  population 
contains  a  strong  infusion  of  this  supposedly  stultifying  Alpine 
blood,  and  the  neighboring  lowlands  and  hill  country  of  Tus- 
cany show  an  enormous  preponderance  of  intellectual  and  artistic 
power  over  the  highlands  of  the  peninsula.  Hence  the  same 
contrast  appears  among  different  races  under  like  geographic 
conditions.  Moreover,  in  France,  other  social  phenomena,  such 
as  suicide,  divorce,  decreasing  birth-rate,  and  radicalism  in 
politics,  show  this  same  startling  parallelism  of  geographic 
distribution;  and  these  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  stimulat- 
ing or  depressing  effect  of  natural  scenery  on  the  human 
mind. 

Mountain  regions  discourage  the  budding  of  genius  because 
they  are  areas  of  isolation,  confinement,  remote  from  the  great 
currents  of  men  and  ideas  that  move  along  the  river  valleys. 
They  are  regions  of  much  labor  and  little  leisure,  of  poverty 
today  and  anxiety  for  the  morrow,  of  toil-cramped  hands  and 
toil-dulled  brains.  In  the  fertile  alluvial  plains  are  wealth, 
leisure,  contact  with  many  minds,  large  urban  centers  where 
commodities  and  ideas  are  exchanged.  The  two  contrasted  en- 
vironments produce  directly  certain  economic  and  social  results, 
which  in  turn  become  the  causes  of  secondary  intellectual  and 
artistic  effects.  The  low  mountains  of  central  Germany  which 
von  Treitschke  cites  as  homes  of  poets  and  artists,  owing  to 
abundant  and  varied  mineral  wealth,  are  the  seats  of  active  in- 
dustries and  dense  populations,  while  their  low  reliefs  present  no 
serious  obstacle  to  the  numerous  highways  across  them.  They, 

therefore,  afford  all  conditions  for  culture — ELLEN 

CHURCHILL  SEMPLE,  The  Influence  of  Geographic  Environment: 
On  the  Basis  of  Ratzel's  System  of  Anthropo- geography.  Chap.  i. 
Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.  [In  press.] 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  55 

[INFLUENCE  OF  A  DESERT  ENVIRONMENT] 

I 

Great  interest  attaches  to  the  Papago  Indians  as  the  inhab- 
itants of  a  desert;  yet  the  extent  of  the  interest  can  be  appre- 
ciated only  when  the  exceeding  rigor  of  their  environment,  as 
manifested  by  the  flora  of  the  district,  is  understood.  Even  if 
the  Papago  were  not  interrelated  with  the  flora,  as  will  appear 
later,  it  would  be  desirable  to  consider  their  relations  to  an  en- 
vironment which  transforms  the  stabler  organisms  of  the  earth. 

Although  the  animals  and  plants  of  Papagueria  display  pro- 
nounced individuality,  and  although  some  of  their  most  promi- 
nent features  are  adaptive  devices  for  securing  independence, 
a  striking  peculiarity  of  the  region  is  the  cooperation  among  liv- 
ing things.  Along  the  lines  of  groundwater  the  species  are 
measurably  or  wholly  antagonistic  to  their  neighbors  of  distinct 
species;  but  over  the  arid  uplands  and  in  the  broad  waterless 
valleys  all  plants  cooperate,  not  only  with  plants  of  distinct  species 
but  with  animals,  for  the  maintenance  of  common  existence. 
Sometimes  the  cooperation  involves  little  modification  and  no 
loss  of  individuality  on  the  part  of  the  agents;  this  type  may 
be  called  communal:  in  other  cases  the  cooperation  is  so  intimate 
that  animals  and  plants  are  not  only  mutually  helpful  but  so 
closely  interdependent  that  neither  could  exist  without  the  aid 
of  the  other ;  this  type  may  be  called  commensal. 

Communality. — A  mesquite  springs  up  on  the  plain;  within 
two  or  three  years  the  birds  resting  in  its  branches  drop  the 
seeds  of  cacti,  some  of  which,  like  vines,  are  unable  to  stand 
alone ;  and  the  cactus  and  the  mesquite  combine  their  armature  of 
thorns  for  mutual  protection.  Then  wind-blown  grass  seeds 
lodge  about  the  roots,  and  grasses  grow  and  seed  beneath  the 
sheltering  branches ;  and  next  small  mammals  seek  the  same  pro- 
tection and  dig  their  holes  among  the  roots,  giving  channels  for 
the  water  of  the  ensuing  rain  and  fertilizing  the  spot  with  re- 
jectamenta. Meantime  the  annual  and  semi-annual  plants 
which  maintain  a  precarious  existence  in  the  desert  take  root  in 
the  sheltered  and  fertilized  soil  beneath  the  growing  cactus  and 


56  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

mesquite,  and  in  season  it  becomes  a  miniature  garden  of  foliage 
and  bloomage.  Then  certain  ants  come  for  the  seeds,  certain 
flies  and  wasps  for  the  nectar,  and  certain  birds  to  nest  in  the 
branches.  In  this  way  a  community  is  developed  in  which  each 
participant  retains  individuality,  yet  in  which  each  contributes 
to  the  general  welfare.  So  advantageous  is  the  communal  ar- 
rangement that  few  organisms  of  the  dryer  portions  of  Papa- 
gueria  pursue  independent  careers;  the  vast  plains  are  dotted 
with  communities  or  colonies  from  a  few  rods  to  some  furlongs 
apart,  while  the  intermediate  stretches  are  practically  lifeless; 
and  the  very  soil  is  molded  into  a  succession  of  hillocks  with 
bare  glades  between,  which  persist  even  after  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  colonies  through  climatal  change  or  through  human 
intervention.  Thus  do  a  large  part  of  the  plants  and  animals  of 
the  desert  dwell  together  in  harmony  and  mutual  helpfulness; 
for  their  energies  are  directed  not  so  much  against  one  another 
as  against  the  rigorous  environmental  conditions  growing  out  of 
dearth  of  water. 

This  communality  does  not  involve  loss  of  individuality, 
which  prevails  throughout  Papagueria — indeed  the  plants  and 
animals  are  characterized  by  an  individuality  greater  than  that 
displayed  in  regions  in  which  perpetuity  of  the  species  depends 
less  closely  on  the  persistence  of  individuals.  By  reason  of  this 
individuality  there  is  a  certain  enmity  between  the  animal  and 
vegetal  colonists.  The  small  birds  devour  the  seeds  of  the 
cactus  and  the  squirrels  nibble  the  beans  of  the  mesquite,  yet 
not  all  of  the  seeds  are  eaten,  else  a  succeeding  generation  of 
birds  and  squirrels  would  starve;  the  spiders  suck  the  blood  of 
the  flies  and  the  wasps  paralyze  the  spiders  to  serve  as  food  for 
their  young,  yet  not  all  of  the  flies  and  spiders  are  slain,  else 
their  enemies  would  famish ;  the  hawks  and  eagles  rend  the  small 
birds  and  squirrels,  yet  not  all  of  the  peaceful  creatures  are  rent, 
else  the  birds  of  prey  would  perish ;  deer  and  antelope  and,  since 
the  coming  of  white  men,  burros  and  kine  crop  the  grass  and 
browse  on  the  tender  twigs,  yet  not  all  the  grass  and  young 
shoots  are  consumed,  else  the  herbivores  would  suffer  and  die. 
In  some  respects  the  enmity  of  the  colonists  is  more  bitter  than 
that  of  antagonistic  species  in  humid  lands;  yet  it  is  adjusted 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  57 

and  developed  into  a  marvelous  solidarity  under  which  the  sum 
of  possible  vitality  is  increased  apparently  to  a  maximum ;  singly 
or  collectively  the  colonies  support  more  plants  than  they  would 
be  able  to  support  without  the  aid  of  their  animal  associates 
in  the  distribution  of  germs  and  in  fertilization;  they  support 
more  insects  than  could  live  with  a  sparser  flora;  they  support 
more  herbivores  than  could  be  kept  on  a  flora  not  fertilized  by 
insects ;  collectively  the  colonies  support  a  carnivorous  fauna 
which  could  not  exist  if  either  the  herbivorous  things  or  the 
plants  on  which  they  live  were  destroyed.  If  the  vitality  of  the 
desert  were  limited  to  any  one  type  the  sum  would  be  reduced 
nearly  or  quite  to  nothingness,  for  few  of  the  plants  and  none  of 
the  animals  are  independent  of  their  communal  associates.  The 
solidarity  of  life  in  the  desert  is  far-reaching  and  rises  above 
the  antagonism  of  individuals  and  species,  for  its  strength  is 
directed  against  the  hard  inorganic  environment. 

Commensality. — Over  the  great  alluvial  aprons  and  in  other 
tracts  of  firm  but  not  too  stony  soil  the  fields  of  the  farmer  ant 
abound.  Where  the  soil  is  particularly  suitable  the  farms  adjoin 
and  cover  most  or  all  of  the  surface  over  scores  of  square  miles. 
Each  farm  includes  a  clean  and  well-kept  threshing-floor  and 
drying-ground  5  to  30  feet  across,  with  the  passageway  to  the 
subterranean  habitation  in  the  center,  and  an  annulus  3  to  20 
feet  wide  of  luxuriant  grass,  on  whose  seeds  the  ants  subsist. 
Across  these  annuli  run  great  turnpikes  often  a  foot  wide,  con- 
necting farm  with  farm,  sometimes  for  furlongs.  In  such  a 
farming  district  there  is  practically  no  vegetation  except  the 
cultivated  grass ;  not  only  are  other  grasses  and  weeds  kept  down, 
but  even  the  relatively  mighty  cactus,  greasewood,  and  mes- 
quite  are  apparently  exterminated — certainly  the  prevailing 
plants  of  the  region  are  absent  from  the  most  extensive  and  best 
cultivated  farming  districts.  Thus  the  tiny  formic  farmers  have 
developed  an  art  of  agriculture,  have  made  conquest  of  the  land 
for  their  needs,  and  have  artificialized  a  plant  apparently  as  com- 
pletely as  man  has  artificialized  corn  and  rice ;  and  in  the  process 
they  have  increased  and  multiplied  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
would  die  of  famine  in  millions  if  their  crop  should  fail,  while 
it  seems  almost  certain  that  their  crop-plant  would  quickly  die 


58  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

out  if  the  cultivation  and  perhaps  fertilization  by  the  animals 
were  withdrawn.  Thus  the  rigorous  environment  of  the  desert 
has  developed  one  of  the  most  remarkable  intelligences  of  the 
world,  and  has  rendered  two  widely  different  organisms  inter- 
dependent. 

To  the  traveler  the  saguaro  is,  partly  by  reason  of  its  loftiness, 
the  most  prominent  element  in  the  flora.  Now  the  young  stem 
of  this  cactus  shoots  with  considerable  rapidity. as  a  rather  slen- 
der column,  at  first  without  flower  or  fruit.  After  a  period  said 
to  range  from  5  to  10  years,  and  after  a  height  varying  from 
about  5  to  15  or  more  feet  has  been  attained,  the  plant  begins  to 
bear  and  the  rate  of  upward  growth  diminishes.  Thereafter  it 
slowly  thickens  and  still  more  slowly  increases  in  height ;  and  in 
time  branches  start  out  at  right  angles  to  the  trunk  and  soon  turn 
upward  to  form  a  giant  candelabrum.  Now  it  is  noteworthy 
that  the  height  at  which  the  saguaro  begins  to  flower  and  fruit 
varies  from  district  to  district  with  the  height  of  the  local  flora; 
in  a  district  of  greasewood  and  scrubby  chaparral  the  flowering 
may  begin  at  a  height  of  only  5  to  8  feet,  while  in  a  district  of 
vigorous  mesquite  the  flowering  may  not  begin  until  the  stem 
is  10  feet  higher.  It  is  noteworthy  also  that  in  the  typical  dis- 
tricts the  branches,  if  not  more  than  3  to  5  in  number,  usually 
spring  from  just  below  the  height  at  which  flowering  began 
(the  supernumerary  branches  spring  either  sporadically  or  above 
the  ordinary  level  of  the  tops  of  the  first  crop),  and  that  the 
branches  always  grow  more  slowly  than  the  youthful  trunk,  per- 
haps no  more  rapidly  than  the  well-grown  trunk  from  which  they 
spring.  Thus  the  saguaro  would  appear  to  be  in  some  way  cor- 
related with  the  surrounding  vegetation,  and  while  the  correla- 
tion might  be  ascribed  to  soil  differences  it  seems  probable  that 
the  connection  is  more  complex.  On  examining  a  large  number 
of  examples  in  many  districts  the  impression  is  produced  that  the 
mindless  aim  of  the  saguaro,  through  the  survival  of  the  fittest, 
is  first  to  rise  above  its  neighbors  as  rapidly  as  possible  before  ex- 
pending energy  in  reproduction;  that  it  then  rests  from  the  ac- 
tivity of  stem-growth  and  divides  its  energy  between  gradual 
expansion  and  strengthening  of  the  trunk  on  the  one  hand  and 
reproduction  on  the  other,  yet  continues  slowly  pushing  upward 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  59 

until  it  dominates  the  landscape ;  and  that  when  the  main  stem  be- 
comes extravagantly  high  the  branches  consume  most  of  the 
energy  of  growth.  A  reason  for  this  erratic  behavior  is  found 
when  it  is  observed  that  the  flowers  are  fertilized  by  insects 
and  that  the  seeds  are  distributed  by  birds ;  for  it  is  manifest  that 
the  finding  of  the  plants  by  flying  things  is  facilitated  by  their 
great  stature.  Moreover  the  flowers  are  brilliantly  white  in 
color  and  attractive  in  perfume,  while  the  fruit  is  gorgeously 
red  and  sweetly  sapid.  Still  further  it  is  manifest  that  the  typical 
placing  of  branches  is  the  most  economical  possible  at  once  for 
the  pumping  of  water  from  below  and  for  bringing  the  flowers 
and  fruits  at  the  extremities  within  easy  sight  of  the  cooperating 
insects  and  birds.  So  it  would  appear  that  the  saguaro  is  a 
monstrosity  in  fact  as  well  as  in  appearance — a  product  of  mis- 
cegenation between  plant  and  animal,  probably  depending  for 
its  form  and  life-history,  if  not  for  its  very  existence,  on  its 
commensals.  Whether  the  small  black  insects  that  suck  the 
flowers  and  distribute  pollen  are  wholly  dependent  on  the  saguaro 
for  existence,  like  the  yucca  moth  on  the  yucca  (as  shown  by  the 
lamented  Riley),  is  questionable;  and  it  is  hardly  probable  that 
the  birds  that  consume  the  saguaro  fruit  are  so  dependent  on  it 
as  to  have  undergone  actual  differentiation  of  characters  fitting 
them  to  the  commensality. 

• 

The  lesson  of  cooperation  among  subhuman  organisms  in 
Papagueria  is  the  solidarity  of  life  to  the  extent  that  the  vital 
energies  of  plants  and  animals  are  directed  primarily  against  the 
inorganic  environment,  rather  than  against  kindred  and  alien 
organisms,  while  one  of  the  results  of  this  solidarity  is  the  de- 
velopment of  strong  individuality.  By  reason  of  this  cooperation 
the  desert  was  in  part  reclaimed  and  a  series  of  superorganic 
organizations — unconscious  and  undesigned  but  none  the  less 
beneficial — was  developed  before  the  advent  of  man.  In  general, 
social  and  other  institutions  are  a  product  of  human  intelligence 
alone;  and  it  is  of  interest  to  the  anthropologist  to  learn  of  the 
growth  of  organizations  among  lower  organisms,  and  of  special 
interest  to  study  the  effect  on  mankind  of  an  environment  so  pe- 
culiar as  to  produce  subhuman  communality. 


60  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Characteristics  of  human  life. — The  Papago  Indians  are  the 
desert  people  of  North  America.  They  dwell  among  the  cacti, 
paloverdes,  mesquites,  and  barren  plains  of  a  region  in  which 
human  enemies  cannot  survive.  They  are  semi-nomadic  in  habit ; 
they  migrate  northward  in  spring,  southward  in  autumn,  with 
tolerable  regularity,  and  remove  their  rancherias  with  the  start- 
ing and  failing  of  springs  and  with  other  changes  in  water  sup- 
ply. In  the  wanderings  of  generations  they  have  acquainted 
themselves  with  meteorologic  conditions  and  with  every  constant 
and  inconstant  source  of  water;  thereby  they  have  acquired  an 
advantage  over  the  invader,  who  is  soon  fain  to  retire  or  famish. 

One  of  the  first  characteristics  of  the  Papago  to  strike  the 
observer  is  his  capacity  for  abstinence:  The  Papago  vaquero 
will  ride  one,  two,  or  even  three  days  without  drinking,  under  a 
sun  so  fierce  and  in  an  air  so  dry  that  the  tenderfoot  dies  of  thirst 
in  a  few  hours ;  and  a  family  of  a  dozen  often  confine  themselves 
for  weeks  to  the  contents  of  a  single  olla  daily  for  drinking, 
cooking,  and  all  other  purposes.  So,  too,  they  live  on  reduced 
rations  of  solid  food  for  considerable  periods  without  incon- 
venience; indeed  their  habitual  diet  is  moderate;  even  allowing 
for  the  condensed  and  nutritious  character  of  some  of  their  foods. 
When  the  interpreter  was  asked  how  the  people  of  a  rancheria 
were  able  to  subsist  for  a  winter  on  a  certain  limited  supply  of 
food,  he  replied,  "They  eat  only  twice  a  day,  and  if  there  is  not 
enough  they  eat  only  once."  The  abstinence  from  solid  food  is 
in  a  measure  apparent  only,  for  the  Indians  are  disposed  to  glut- 
tonize  in  idleness  when  opportunity  arises,  when  their  capacity 
for  consuming  is  no  less  striking  than  their  power  of  abstaining. 
This  characteristic  of  the  tribe  is  possessed  by  other  primitive 
peoples,  perhaps  in  nearly  equal  degree;  yet  it  is  noteworthy 
as  displayed  among  these  Indians. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Papago  is  strength  and  fleet- 
ness:  A  withered  crone  (shown  in  the  photographs  of  the  ex- 
pedition), weighing  apparently  not  more  than  80  or  90  pounds, 
arose  from  the  ground  with  a  kiho  containing  a  stone  mortar 
196  pounds  in  weight,  carried  this  burden  more  than  half  a  mile 
over  a  sandy  road,  and  then  let  it  down  from  her  back,  and  this 
without  perceptible  exhaustion  or  attracting  particular  attention 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  6 1 

among  her  neighbors.  Many  equally  noteworthy  feats  of 
strength  and  endurance  might  be  enumerated.  Fleetness  is  dis- 
played in  the  tribal  game  of  kashaneku,  or  football,  in  which  it 
is  not  unusual  for  contestants  to  run,  kicking  the  ball  before 
them,  30  or  40  miles  in  an  afternoon.  It  should  be  observed  that 
fleetness  has  apparently  declined  among  the  Papago  since  the 
introduction  of  the  horse;  yet  they  and  other  desert  tribes  have 
always  been  noted  as  runners :  Bartlett  found  the  Opata  couriers 
to  run  40  or  50  leagues  (105  to  131  miles)  in  24  hours,  and  Lum- 
holz  mentions  that  a  Tarahumari  Indian  has  been  known  to  carry 
a  letter  nearly  800  miles  in  5  days  (these  tribes  belong  to  the 
same  family  as  the  Papago),  while  the  Seri,  who  have  never 
acquired  the  horse,  are  noted  as  the  runners,  par  excellence,  of 
this  region  of  runners.  Thus,  although  perhaps  not  especially 
distinguished,  the  Papago  Indians  are  noted  for  strength,  celer- 
ity, and  endurance. 

A  third  characteristic  is  apparent  longevity.  In  every  ran- 
cheria  wrinkled  and  gray  grandames  and  grandsires  are  found, 
generally  in  considerable  numbers,  and  usually  engaged  in  ardu- 
ous labors ;  it  is  the  aged  woman  who  bears  the  heaviest  burden, 
and  her  consort  who  performs  the  hardest  field  task,  for  the 
family.  It  is  impossible  to  obtain  exact  figures  concerning  the 
age  of  the  old  people,  but  the  proportion  of  the  active  aged  is 
manifestly  much  larger  than  among  civilized  peoples.  In  this  re- 
spect, too,  the  Papago  is  more  or  less  like  neighboring  tribes, 
all  of  whom  claim  patriarchs  and  matriarchs  who  have  far  out- 
lived the  normal  span  of  life. 

Combining  these  and  other  characteristics  of  the  desert  tribe, 
it  appears  that  they  are  in  harmony  with  the  characteristics  of 
the  animals  and  plants;  yet  they  are  not  so  well  developed  as 
to  clearly  distinguish  the  Papago  from  other  tribes,  especially 
from  those  of  other  portions  of  the  arid  regions.  When  the 
physiologic  or  biotic  characteristics  of  plants,  animals,  and  men 
are  compared  it  appears  that  the  plants  are  most  and  mankind 
least  modified  in  the  direction  of  fitness  to  environment,  the  sub- 
human animal  occupying  an  intermediate  position. 

Turning  to  the  institutional  or  social  aspect  of  the  tribe, 
certain  fairly  distinctive  characteristics  are  found,  yet  they  are 


62  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

measurably  masked  by  reason  of  the  transition  from  the  primitive 
state  to  the  accultural  condition  initiated  with  the  introduction 
of  European  crop-plants  and  stock.  Fortunately  there  is  a  suf- 
ficient vestige  of  primitive  culture  to  indicate  many  of  the  prim- 
itive customs.  The  Papago  combined  the  chase  for  animal  quarry 
with  the  search  for  vegetal  foods;  he  gathered  the  fruits  of 
various  cacti  and  mesquite  beans  in  season ;  he  collected  indurated 
pericarps  and  berries  for  beads ;  in  his  southward  migrations  he 
obtained  seeds  of  corn  and  pumpkin  as  well  as  native  beans — 
indeed  it  is  probable  that  the  primary  purpose  of  the  migration 
was  the  collection  of  seeds, — and  on  his  return  in  the  rainy  sea- 
son these  were  planted  about  the  water  holes  and  arroyo  deltas, 
and  in  time  the  crop  was  gathered.  There  are  indications  that  a 
tribal  organization  grew  out  of  these  customs;  but  this  question 
need  not  now  be  pursued.  It  suffices  to  note  that,  as  a  consumer 
of  seeds  and  fruits  and  as  a  distributer  of  seeds,  the  Papago 
entered  into  the  vital  solidarity  of  the  desert  and  contributed 
toward  the  perpetuation  of  species  that  were  good  in  his  sight. 
In  this  way  he  made  partial  conquest  of  the  soil  and  the  pro- 
ductions thereof  for  his  own  behoof,  and  still  further  increased 
the  sum  of  desert  life;  yet  his  conquest  of  the  land  at  the  time 
of  the  coming  of  the  Spaniard  was  far  from  complete,  apparently 
less  complete  than  the  conquest  made  by  the  farmer  ant ;  and  the 
historical  Papago  has  never  controlled  the  scant  waters  of  his 
domain,  but  sought  them  where  they  chanced  to  occur  in  the 
hazard  of  storm  and  sun,  just  as  he  chased  game  and  hunted 
wild  fruits. 

For  three  and  a  half  centuries  the  Papago  has  been  in  con- 
tact with  an  alien  culture,  and  there  is  evidence  that  during  a 
preceding  century  or  more  he  suffered  through  the  repeated  in- 
vasion of  his  borders  by  his  hereditary  enemy,  the  Apache; 
thus  the  indigenous  Papago  culture  can  hardly  be  considered  as 
independently  autochthonous  or  indigenous — the  process  of  cul- 
ture development  was  undoubtedly  effected  by  external  influence. 
Fortunately  the  prehistoric  remains  of  Papagueria  throw  light  on 
an  antecedent  culture  which  appears  to  have  been  essentially  in- 
digenous; and  there  is  reason  for  opining  that  the  prehistoric 


63 

peoples  were  the  direct  ancestors  of  the  Papago  and  certain  other 
southwestern  tribes. 

The  prehistoric  remains  comprise  greatly  reduced  ruins  of 
villages  and  irrigation  works,  as  well  as  "las  trincheras"  (or  in- 
trenched mountains),  with  included  or  associated  pottery  of 
fine  texture  and  finish,  and  highly  polished  stone  implements ; 
these  relics  being  abundant  and  distributed  over  a  considerable 
part  of  Papagueria.  Now,  on  comparing  the  ruins  with  modern 
artificial  works  (including  those  of  the  sedentary  Mexicans  who 
have  pushed  far  into  the  arid  district)  certain  important  differ- 
ences are  found :  In  the  first  place  the  ancient  villages  were  much 
larger  than  the  modern  rancherias  of  the  Papago;  in  the  second 
place  the  ruins  are  much  more  numerous  than  the  Papago  ran- 
cherias and  Mexican  settlements  combined ;  again  the  ancient  irri- 
gation works  (of  which  the  Papago  have  none)  are  much  more 
extensive  than  the  modern  acequias,  dams,  and  reservoirs  of  the 
Mexicans;  and  finally  the  trincheras  are  unique.  The  great  ex- 
tent of  the  prehistoric  irrigation  works  is  especially  impressive; 
the  ancient  acequia  in  Arivaca  valley  was  raised  above  the  flood- 
plain  and  150  feet  in  width,  the  confining  banks  being  occupied 
by  nearly  continuous  rows  of  habitations,  while  the  modern  ace- 
quia, put  in  through  American  enterprise,  is  a  simple  ditch  8  to 
10  feet  wide;  and  a  single  one  of  the  many  prehistoric  villages 
in  the  valley  comprised  130  habitations,  or  fully  twice  as  many  as 
those  of  the  modern  American,  Mexican,  and  Indian  inhabitants. 
It  may  be  noted  also  that  a  village  in  this  valley  and  one  or  two 
others  elsewhere  have  remains  of  what  appear  to  be  corrals  con- 
taining tanques  for  water,  indicating  the  domesticating  of  a  rather 
small  animal  (perhaps  the  vicuna).  Viewed  collectively,  the  pre- 
historic remains  indicate  an  ancient  population  much  more  exten- 
sive than  that  of  the  present ;  for  the  great  number  of  the  villages 
may  not  be  ascribed  to  successive  occupation,  since  the  irrigation 
ditches  are  so  large  and  carried  so  far  up  the  valley  sides  as  to  be 
adequate  for  the  supply  of  a  large  contemporaneous  population 
and  at  the  same  time  to  be  inconceivably  extravagant  if  only  a 
small  population  were  to  be  supplied  at  a  given  time.  It  is  of 
course  possible  that  the  prehistoric  precipitation  was  greater  than 
that  of  the  historical  period,  but  there  is  no  special  warrant  for 


64  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

this  supposition,  which  is  moreover  inherently  improbable  and 
also  unnecessary.  It  may  be  observed  summarily  that  the  arche- 
ologic  and  ethnologic  data  in  the  region  indicate  a  numerous 
and  peaceful  agricultural  population  at  a  period  probably  between 
two  and  five  centuries  before  the  Spanish  invasion,  and  suggest 
(i)  that  this  population  began  to  suffer  from  forays  by  a  pred- 
atory enemy  dwelling  in  the  high  Sierra,  (2)  that  the  system 
of  forays  gradually  grew  into  warfare  for  vengeance  and  re- 
prisal, (3)  that  the  peaceful  folk  found  a  temporary  refuge  in 
the  trincheras,  and  (4)  that  the  irrigation  works  were  finally 
destroyed,  whereby  the  valley  tribe  was  all  but  annihilated  and 
driven  partly  into  the  remoter  desert  fastnesses,  partly  into  the 
more  northerly  valleys  tributary  to  the  Colorado — the  desert 
remnant  being  the  immediate  ancestors  of  the  Papago.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  dwell  on  the  details  of  this  succession  or  even  to 
affirm  its  verity  beyond  the  trustworthiness  of  a  good  working 
hypothesis;  the  essential  point,  which  seems  to  be  indisputable, 
is  that  the  district  supported  a  numerous  agricultural  or  largely 
agricultural  population,  who  were  able  to  maintain  themselves, 
despite  the  prevailing  aridity,  by  means  of  an  elaborate  system 
of  irrigation.  This  population  and  culture  seem  to  have  been 
essentially  indigenous,  and,  up  to  the  time  of  decadence,  not 
greatly  influenced  by  external  conditions.  Accordingly,  during 
the  prehistoric  period  represented  by  the  ruins,  the  indigenes  of 
Papagueria  made  conquest,  not  only  of  the  soil  as  do  the  modern 
Papago,  but  of  the  waters;  and  thereby  their  culture  rose  to  a 
higher  plane,  yet  a  plane  which  may  justly  be  regarded  as  normal 
to  the  desert. 

The  lesson  of  human  life  in  the  desert  is  found  in  the  co- 
operation between  men,  animals,  and  plants  in  such  wise  that 
the  sum  of  vitality  is  multiplied  and  at  the  same  time  subordinated 
to  intelligence :  Man  consumes  fruits  and  seeds,  yet  distributes 
the  germs  of  plants  useful  to  him;  as  he  advances  in  culture  he 
conserves  the  germs  unto  the  season  of  germination;  he  either 
neglects  or  directly  destroys  useless  and  noxious  plants ;  and  in 
all  these  ways  he  improves  the  flora.  Man  subsists  in  part  on 
game,  yet,  under  the  economy  of  solidarity,  he  does  not  ex- 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  65 

terminate  the  game  animals  and  thereby  cut  off  a  supply  at  its 
source;  but  rather  cooperates  with  them  in  a  communajity  anal- 
ogous to  that  between  the  animals  and  plants ;  he  aids,  albeit  un- 
consciously, the  herbivores  in  escaping  the  carnivores,  and  for 
this  service  they  pay  tithes  in  flesh;  he  even  enters  into  coopera- 
tion with  carnivores,  such  as  the  coyote,  which  he  spares  to  be- 
come his  scavengers,  and  they  reciprocate  by  forming  a  semi- 
conscious cordon  of  protectors  about  the  camp  or  village;  and 
in  these  and  other  ways  a  partial  cultivation  of  plants  and 
domestication  of  animals  is  brought  about  collectively,  and  man 
enters  into  and  dominates  the  solidarity  of  desert  life.  Then 
if  peace  persists  he  begins  to  transport  and  preserve  water,  and 
this  is  the  germ  of  irrigation  by  which  the  wilderness  is  made  to 
blossom  and  by  which  both  plants  and  animals  are  multiplied  and 
artificialized. 

Interrelations  of  life. — When  the  plants,  animals,  and  men 
of  the  desert  are  compared  with  respect  to  physiologic  or  onto- 
genic  characters,  it  is  found  that  the  stationary  plants  have  suf- 
fered greatest  modification,  the  environment-driven  animals  less, 
and  the  environment-molding  humans  least  of  all ;  but  when  they 
are  compared  with  respect  to  collective  or  demotic  modification, 
it  becomes  manifest  that  the  moveless  plants  are  least,  the  mov- 
ing animals  more,  and  prevising  men  most  profoundly  modified. 

When  the  life  of  the  desert  is  compared  with  the  vital  phe- 
nomena of  humid  regions,  it  is  found  that  under  the  pressure 
against  an  adverse  inorganic  environment,  the  beginning  of  the 
control  of  environment  springs  lower  on  the  stem  of  phylogenic 
development — that  the  desert  species,  genera,  and  orders  enter 
into  a  mutually  beneficial  cooperation  while  yet  the  rain- fed  or- 
ganisms are  frittering  energy  in  internecine  strife.  Thus  it  would 
appear  that  among  plants  and  animals,  as  among  men,  hard  neces- 
sity is  the  mother  of  progress.  It  would  also  appear  that  among 
plants  and  animals,  as  among  men,  strength  lies  in  union;  and 
progress  in  combination  leads  to  solidarity. 

The  great  lesson  of  plants,  animals,  and  men  in  the  desert 
is  found  in  the  modification  of  organisms  and  the  development 
of  organizations:  Under  the  hard  environment,  organisms  cease 
to  strive  against  one  another  and  each  strives  against  inorganic 


66  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

nature;  under  the  common  pressure  they  are  forced  into  union, 
and  thus  cooperation  is  initiated.  Now  there  are  three  stages  in 
cooperation ;  the  first  stage  is  that  in  which  the  organisms  merely 
stand  together  for  mutual  protection,  but  retain  undiminished  in- 
dividuality— this  is  communality;  the  second  stage  is  that  in 
which  individualities  blend  through  miscegenation  between  unlike 
organisms,  as  between  the  yucca  and  yucca  moth — this  is  com- 
mensality;  the  third  stage  is  that  of  voluntary  inclusion  and 
exclusion  of  organisms  for  the  common  welfare  of  the  solidarity 
or  for  the  especial  weal  of  the  dominant  organism,  whether  ant 
or  man — this  is  the  stage  unwittingly,  yet  not  unhappily,  called 
agriculture. 

The  lesson  of  life  in  Papagueria  may  easily,  and  within  limits 
safely,  be  extended  to  other  regions ;  for  the  phenomena  and 
relations  are  more  or  less  closely  paralleled  elsewhere.  It  may 
appear  paradoxical  to  affirm  that  it  is  in  arid  districts,  where 
agriculture  is  most  arduous,  that  agriculture  began;  yet  the 
affirmation  is  not  gainsaid  but  rather  supported  by  history,  and 
is  established  beyond  reasonable  doubt  by  the  evidence  of  the 
desert  organisms  and  organizations. 

So,  whatever  its  last  estate,  in  its  beginning  agriculture  is 
the  art  of  the  desert. — W.  J.  McGEE,  "The  Beginning  of  Agri- 
culture," American  Anthropologist,  8:362-75  [whole  paper, 
350-75]- 

II 

....  Throughout  much  of  Papagueria  the  people  are 
pastoral  and  their  largest  herds  are  of  kine.  These  are  of  course 
domesticated,  the  descendants  of  European  stock;  yet  their  con- 
dition is  by  no  means  that  of  the  thoroughly  domesticated  cow 
of  the  dairy  farm  or  cottage,  not  even  that  of  the  animals  on 
the  ordinary  stock  ranch  of  the  western  states;  they  are  wild 
and  vicious,  fearful  of  men,  especially  strangers,  absolutely  un- 
controlled in  respect  to  breeding,  and,  except  for  the  annual 
rodeo,  often  nearly  as  free  from  human  constraint  as  the  bura 
deer  of  the  mountain-sides.  They  are  held  in  contact  with  man 
chiefly  by  the  need  for  water,  preferably  taken  from  tinaja  or 
barranca  far  from  human  habitation,  but  from  well  or  tanque 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  67 

during  the  drier  months.  The  well  may  be  remote  from  habita- 
tion, save  perhaps  an  adobe  house  in  which  two  or  three  vaqueros 
exist  to  draw  the  water  (in  a  rawhide  bag  by  means  of  a  riata 
laid  over  a  beam  and  snubbed  to  the  saddle-horn)  ;  the  tanque 
may  be  a  dozen  or  a  score  of  miles  from  the  nearest  rancheria. 
Hither  the  cattle  repair  daily,  or  bi-daily,  about  sunset,  in  herds 
of  a  score  or  possibly  a  hundred,  each  led  by  a  powerful  bull 
continuously  bellowing  defiance  as  he  approaches 

On  the  whole,  the  kine  are  sullenly  tolerant  of  mankind 
through  the  constraint  of  thirst  and  the  restraint  of  defeat  in 
conflict ;  while  the  men  tolerate  and  constantly  strive  to  sub- 
jugate the  unwilling  animals  only  for  the  sake  of  food,  clothing, 
and  saddlery.  The  toleration  is  the  unkindest  of  the  desert,  and 
is  maintained  only  because  of  its  mutual  beneficence — without  the- 
kine  the  rancheros  would  be  impoverished,  and  without  the  arti- 
ficial wells  and  tanques  most  of  the  cattle  would  famish 

There  are  relations  between  men  and  other  animals  in  the 
deserts  of  Papagueria,  but  those  of  the  vulture,  the  dove,  the 
quail,  the  coyote,  and  the  cow  are  representative.  In  each  case 
there  is  an  intimate  association  which  is  commonly  more  or  less 
antagonistic,  yet  mutually  beneficial.  The  vulture  is  a  scavenger, 
the  dove  is  a  pet  and  the  quail  a  gleaner  while  both  are  food- 
sources,  the  coyote  is  a  tutelar  guardian  and  scavenger,  and  the 
cow  is  a  source  of  wealth.  Associations  of  the  sort  are  not,  in- 
deed, confined  to  Papagueria ;  visitors  to  the  ancient  city  of 
Charleston  are  familiar  with  the  buzzards  roosting  on  the  market- 
house,  petted  by  the  people  and  protected  by  ordinance  in  recom- 
pense for  their  services  as  public  scavengers;  on  many  eastern 
farmsteads  the  common  quail  is  a  family  protege  and  wanders  at 
will  about  fields  and  granaries ;  in  some  cities,  like  the  Moslem 
capital  on  the  Bosporus,  ownerless  dogs  take  the  place  of 
Charleston's  vultures,  and  are  guarded  by  popular  sentiment  and 
public  law,  as  in  the  days  of  Willis'  "Pencilings  by  the  Way," 
when  the  citizen  who  slaughtered  one  of  the  vicious  curs  of 
Constantinople  was  fined  in  a  quantity  of  wheat  sufficient  to 
bury  the  beast  when  suspended  by  the  hind  feet  with  nose  touch- 
ing the  ground ;  yet  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  relations  are  closer 
and  more  numerous  in  the  deserts,  where  the  antagonistic  ele- 


68  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

ments  of  environment  are  few  and  fierce,  than  beneath  softer 
skies.  It  is  significant,  too,  that  in  all  of  these  cases  the  relations 
are  alike  in  one  respect — they  are  essentially  collective,  not  only 
on  the  part  of  the  men,  but  on  the  part  of  the  animals ;  the  pri- 
mary relation  is  not  between  individual  man  and  individual  ani- 
mal as  in  perfect  ownership,  nor  between  a  single  individual  of 
the  one  and  a  group  of  the  other  as  in  ordinary  domestication, 
but  between  a  group  of  the  one  and  a  group  of  the  other 

On  considering  the  several  cases  of  relation  between  ani- 
mals and  men,  they  are  found  to  present  certain  similarities ;  yet 
there  are  differences.  The  relations  of  mankind  with  quail  and 
coyote  are  wholly  collective,  and  there  is  no  definite  ownership 
(save  in  the  rare  cases  in  which  individual  animals  are  re- 
strained) ;  in  the  case  of  the  vulture  the  relation  is  also  wholly 
collective  and  the  ownership  shadowy ;  in  the  case  of  the  dove  the 
relation  is  collective  and  not  at  all  proprietary,  save  in  the  pets; 
while  in  the  case  of  the  cow  the  relation  is  collective  only 
in  a  general  way,  which  is  qualified  by  ownership  of  the  entire 
herd  by  the  patriarch — yet  even  this  ownership  is  much  less 
definite  than  in  civilization,  e.  g.,  in  that  it  is  understood  that 
any  hungry  traveler  is  entitled  to  kill  such  stock  as  he  may  need 
for  his  own  consumption.  Although  the  cow  alone  is  classed  as 
domestic  and  was  imported  into  the  country  for  man's  behoof, 
the  other  animals  are  hardly  less  dependent  on  man  for  con- 
tinued existence.  If  a  migration  of  the  nomadic  type  were  made 
by  Mexicans,  or  more  especially  by  the  Papago  Indians,  the  herd 
would  be  driven  slowly,  consuming  such  pasture  as  might  be 
found  on  the  way;  undoubtedly  the  vultures  and  coyotes  would 
follow  the  clan  and  herd ;  a  part  of  the  doves  would  be  carried  in 
cages,  some  others  would  follow,  and  those  that  stupidly  remained 
behind  would  doubtless  die,  while  the  short-sighted  quails  would 
probably  remain  to  suffer  decreased  food-supply  and  increased 
predation. 

On  considering  the  several  aspects  of  the  relation  between 
animals  and  men,  it  is  found  easy  to  arrange  the  series  in  the 
order  of  intimacy.  In  the  Mexican  villages  the  order  is  un- 
doubtedly, first,  kine;  second,  vultures;  third,  coyotes;  fourth, 
doves,  and,  finally,  quails — i.  e.,  the  relation  runs  down  from 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  69 

domestication  to  simple  association  enforced  by  the  hard  environ- 
ment. Among  the  Indians  the  order  appears  to  be,  first,  kine, 
acquired  'from  the  Spaniards;  second,  coyotes;  third,  vultures, 
and,  fourth,  doves,  for,  so  far  as  observed,  the  quail  and  Indian 
can  hardly  be  said  to  be  cooperative.  Now  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  the  relations  exemplified  in  these  cases  are  veritable 
and — save  perhaps  in  the  case  of  Indian  and  quail — represent 
mutual  adjustment  on  the  part  of  both  the  associates ;  the  habits 
of  each  copartner  would  be  modified  by  the  removal  of  the  other; 
and  the  several  associates,  with  others,  combine  to  form  a  simi- 
larly interdependent  assemblage,  or  a  solidarity. 

On  considering  the  degree  of  relation  it  is  found  that  the 
clearest  line  of  demarcation  is  between  that  of  the  kine  and 
those  of  the  lowlier  animals,  and,  partly  in  deference  to  common 
usage,  the  cases  may  be  classified  with  respect  to  this  line. 
Under  such  classification  the  kine  alone  represent  domestication; 
the  others  are  essentially  alike  in  that  they  are  characterized  by 
mutual  toleration  between  men  and  the  respective  animals  with- 
out definite  ownership  or  purposive  control  on  the  part  of  the 
former.  There  is  a  third  class  of  relations  between  men  and 
animals,  which  it  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  discuss,  represented 
by  previsional  breeding,  or  stirpiculture,  or  artificialization.  So 
the  effective  relations  between  animals  and  men,  in  which  the 
former  always  yield  eventually  to  the  dominant  intellect  of  the 
latter,  may  be  called  sooculture,  and  may  be  seriated  in  three 
great  classes,  which  also  represent  stages  in  development,  as 
follows : 

Artificialization 


Zooculture 


Domestication 


Toleration 

One  who  observes  the  several  cases  of  mutual  toleration  be- 
tween animals  and  men  in  Papagueria  can  hardly  fail  to  inquire 
why  simple  toleration  has  not  passed  into  complete  domestica- 
tion. The  inquiry  is  not  altogether  fruitless.  It  is  found  that 
vultures  are  on  such  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  residents  of  the 
rancherias  that  they  might,  with  a  little  effort,  be  coaxed  into  the 
domicils,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  trained  to  return  to 
them  like  domestic  poultry;  this  is  not  done,  as  is  evident,  and 


yo  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

indeed  as  the  rancheros  explain,  only  because  they  are  unclean 
and  foul-smelling  birds,  attractive  enough  at  a  little  distance, 
but  repulsive  on  nearer  approach.  Among  the  Indian  villages  it 
is  found  that  the  coyote  is  repelled  from  the  firesides  and  plazas 
only  by  the  fully  domesticated  dogs  of  European  descent;  and, 
as  the  shaman  at  Poso  Verde  explained,  the  coyote  is  too  inde- 
pendent in  spirit  (i.  e.,  too  fractious  and  petulant  in  disposition) 
to  associate  or  compete  with  the  common  dog  about  the  house- 
hold; yet  the  Indians  have  traditions  of  a  golden  past  in  which 
coyotes  and  men  associated  freely,  and,  in  view  of  the  domesti- 
cation of  the  animal  among  scores  or  hundreds  of  tribes,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  tradition  contains  a  grain  of  truth.  Among 
both  Mexicans  and  Indians  it  is  found  that  the  dove  is  so  familiar 
with  the  human  folk  as  to  suggest  that  it  might  be  completely 
domiciliated,  as  it  is  in  small  part — indeed,  when  one  of  an  adult 
pair  is  caged  the  mate  voluntarily  takes  up  its  abode  on  or  along- 
side the  cage,  which  it  leaves  only  for  food  or  water,  or  on  too 
close  approach  of  the  somewhat-feared  human  associate;  and, 
so  far  as  can  be  judged,  complete  domestication  is  neglected  only 
because  the  bird  is  too  small  to  be  valuable  as  poultry,  and  too 
easily  taken  to  demand  culture  in  confinement.  It  is  found,  too, 
that  the  more  wary  quail  is  regarded  as  too  small  and  trifling 
for  serious  attention.  So  adequate  reasons  appear  for  the  re- 
tention of  the  several  animals  in  the  lower  stage  of  zooculture. 
When  the  inquiry  is  pushed  into  the  past  and  extended  to 
other  animals  it  is  still  found  fruitful.  Evidently  the  present 
reasons  for  failing  to  domesticate  the  coyote  did  not  apply  before 
the  importation  of  the  European  dog,  and  it  is  accordingly  easy 
to  understand  how  he  was  brought  into  domestication  through 
the  antecedent  stage  of  collective  toleration ;  the  conditions  being 
especially  favorable  when  the  habitat  of  the  coyote  was  shared 
by  the  wolf  which  drove  the  smaller  animal  to  human  shelter, 
where  his  presence  gave  notice  of  the  more  dangerous  enemy, 
so  that  the  human  and  bestial  copartners  were  both  benefited. 
It  is  evident,  too,  that  the  present  reasons  did  not  apply  to  the 
peaceful  and  toothsome  turkey,  which  must  have  sought  refuge 
about  the  prehistoric  rancherias  just  as  the  dove  does  now;  so 
it  is  easy  to  see  how  this  animal  became  domesticated  so  com- 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  71 

pletely  as  to  be  guarded  by  night  in  corrals  and  covered  shelters 
by  the  ancients  of  both  Sonora  and  Arizona.  It  is  equally  evi- 
dent that  the  reasons  did  not  apply  to  the  timid  guanaco  or 
vicuna,  whose  useful  pilage,  edible  flesh,  and  capacity  for  bur- 
den-bearing must  have  attracted  the  cupidity  as  well  as  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  and  led  to  that  domestication 
which  is  recorded  in  prehistoric  corrals  as  well  as  in  petroglyphs 
and  paintings.  The  modern  association  is  essentially  collective, 
and  owes  its  intimacy  to  the  mutual  acquaintance  of  the  animals 
and  men  and  to  the  toleration  by  each  of  the  presence  and  move- 
ments of  the  other;  and  the  occasional  capture  and  confinement 
of  individuals  is  a  relatively  unimportant  factor.  The  character 
of  the  prehistoric  association  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  antiquity, 
yet  it  may  safely  be  inferred  from  that  of  the  present,  and  the 
only  reasonable  inference  is  that  the  course  of  natural  develop- 
ment has  been  uniform,  and  that  the  prehistoric  association  was 
also  collective  and  arose  in  mutual  toleration;  and  this  inference 
is  checked  and  verified  by  the  fact  that  it  was  those  species  (and 
those  alone)  best  adapted  to  mutual  toleration  with  agricultural 
man  that  were  brought  into  domestication  on  the  western  hemi- 
sphere before  the  advent  of  the  Caucasian 

Observation  in  all  lands  shows  that  plants,  animals,  and  men 
are  dependent  on  their  physical  environment  in  varying  degrees. 
The  stationary  plant  lives  at  the  mercy  of  sun  and  storm,  mois- 
ture and  soil;  the  moving  animal  seeks  shelter  from  cold,  heat, 
and  wind,  journeys  to  water,  and  migrates  in  search  of  food ; 
thinking  man  builds  habitations  and  manufactures  clothing  for 
protection  against  the  elements,  and  stores,  manufactures,  and 
transports  food  and  drink.  So  the  living  things  of  the  earth 
may  be  arranged  in  an  order  of  emancipation  from  physical 
conditions,  and  this  arrangement  is  found  to  represent  also  the 
order  of  self-activity  or  spontaneity — the  plant  adjusts  itself 
to  conditions,  the  animal  seeks  or  flies  conditions,  the  man  modi- 
fies conditions 

Observation  shows,  in  like  manner,  that  plants,  animals,  and 
men  are  mutually  helpful  in  varying  degrees :  The  apathetic 
plant,  in  so  far  as  constrained  by  the  cruel  law  of  the  survival 
of  the  fittest,  strives  against  its  alien  fellows  and  even  its  own 


72  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

kind  for  stature,  length  of  life,  and  abundance  of  seed;  its 
strength  is  against  its  neighbor,  and  it  combines  slowly  and  im- 
perfectly with  other  organisms  of  its  own  grade,  preferably  of 
its  own  species;  yet  it  is  ready  to  profit  selfishly  by  the  labors 
of  pollen-bearing  bee,  seed-distributing  bird,  or  cultivating  man. 
The  sentient  animal  enters,  partly  by  planetary  chance  and  partly 
through  instinct,  into  combination  with  its  fellows  and  also  with 
the  plants  and  other  animals  on  which  it  subsists;  if.it  selfishly 
destroys  the  living  things  forming  its  own  food-supply  it  pays 
capital  penalty,  while  if  it  improves  the  creatures  constituting  its 
provender  it  reaps  due  reward;  and  the  species  that  most 
effectively  contribute  toward  the  improvement  and  perpetuation 
of  food-yielding  organisms  survive  longest  and  flourish  most 
exuberantly.  Inventive  man,  realizing  at  once  what  the  beast 
learns  only  through  the  extinction  of  numberless  species,  pre- 
serves the  stock  and  next  the  seed  of  useful  plants,  and  then 
learns  to  sow,  harvest,  and  garner;  at  the  same  time  he  warms 
toward  tolerant  animals,  and  in  time  protects  them  from  enemies 
and  succors  their  young ;  but  he  wages  war  on  intolerant  animals 
and  useless  plants,  and  gradually  exterminates  their  species; 
and  in  these  and  in  other  ways  he  exalts  his  own  kind,  aids  the 
good  among  plants  and  fosters  the  good  among  animals,  and 
multiplies  both  vitality  and  mentality.  So  the  living  things  of 
the  earth  may  be  arranged  in  an  order  of  helpfulness  to  con- 
temporary organisms,  and  this  arrangement  will  be  found  to 
represent  also  the  order  of  domination — the  plant  mechanically 
antagonizes  contemporaries,  the  animal  instinctively  encourages 
certain  contemporaries  and  discourages  others,  the  man  recreates 
and  harmonizes  the  good  and  destroys  the  evil  among  contem- 
poraries. The  arrangement  serves  to  contrast  egoism  and  al- 
truism ;  the  selfishness  and  cruelty  of  the  living  world  culminate 
in  the  lower  stages  of  vitality,  while  beneficent  altruism,  at  first 
the  offspring  of  intellect,  gradually  rises  to  crown  and  dominate 
the  parent. 

The  various  observations  show  that  the  progress  of  life  on 
the  earth  is  from  relative  inaction  to  external  and  internal  ac- 
tivity, from  mindlessness  to  instinct  and  intellect,  from  barren 
egoism  to  cooperation  and  altruistic  motive.  Various  stages  in 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  73 

this  comforting  and  promising  course  of  development  are  repre- 
sented by  different  groups  of  plants,  animals,  and  men,  whether 
considered  severally  or  collectively ;  and  in  all  cases  the  stages  are 
found  to  reflect  physical  conditions  with  considerable  fidelity. 
The  cases  are  too  many  and  too  infinitely  varied  for  enumera- 
tion; but  it  may  be  noted  that  vitality  and  mentality  are  of  a 
higher  order  on  land  than  in  the  sea,  in  the  temperate  zones  than 
in  the  tropics,  in  arid  regions  than  in  humid  lands ;  or,  in  general 
terms,  that  the  excellence  of  life  culminates  where  the  physical 
conditions  are  such  as  to  demand  exercise  of  faculty,  whether  in 
the  form  of  self-activity,  mentality,  or  beneficent  domination. 
The  general  course  of  life  on  the  earth  is  in  harmony  with  the 
portion  of  the  course  represented  in  Papagueria  and  other  deserts 
where  the  plants  and  animals  are  characterized  by  a  vigorous 
prepotency — where  the  genetic  tree  of  organic  relation  is  so  suc- 
cessfully forced  that  the  plants  display  the  germ  of  instinct, 
the  animals  the  germ  of  reason,  while  both  are  forced  into  the 
earlier  stages  of  altruistic  organization  through  the  stress  of 
strife  against  a  common  enemy;  and  here  it  is  that  the  dominant 
intelligence  of  man  is  specially  fitted  to  enter  into  and  control  the 
incipient  organization  of  his  subhuman  contemporaries.  So, 
while  it  may  not  be  denied  that  the  stage  in  collective  cooperation 
among  living  things  represented  by  the  beginning  of  zooculture 
might  originate  in  humid  areas,  it  must  be  considered  infinitely 
more  probable  that  the  stage  was  reached  first  in  the  arid  lands 
of  the  continents. 

The  lessons  of  the  relations  between  animals  and  men  in 
Papagueria  are  simple  and  easily  read;  the  first  lesson  is  that 
the  relations  are  collective;  the  second  lesson  is  that  there  is  a 
stage  of  mutual  toleration  of  presence  and  movements  anterior 
to  domestication  proper;  the  third  lesson  is  that  the  relations 
are  forced  in  rate  of  growth  and  in  intimacy  by  a  rigorous  en- 
vironment. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  agriculture  was,  in  its  begin- 
ning, an  art  of  the  desert ;  it  may  now  be  affirmed  that  the  sister 
art,  zooculture,  is  also  a  child  of  sun  and  sand. — W.  J.  McGEE, 
"The  Beginning  of  Zooculture,"  American  Anthropologist,  10: 
221-30  [whole  paper,  215-30]. 


74  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

[SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  AN  ARCTIC  ENVIRONMENT] 

The  Yakuts  inhabit  a  territory  in  North-east  Siberia  which  is 
roughly  1,300,000  square  miles  in  area,  equal  to  about  two-fifths 
of  the  area  of  the  United  States  without  Alaska.  It  all  lies 
north  of  the  parallel  of  60  and  is  colder  than  any  other  part  of 
the  inhabited  globe.  The  Yakuts  number  a  little  over  220,000. 

The  economic  unit  amongst  the  Yakuts,  taking  the  whole  terri- 
tory into  account,  consists  of  four  persons — two  grown  labourers, 
one  youth,  and  one  boy  or  old  man  incompetent  to  do  full  work. 
Ten  head  of  cattle  are  regarded  as  indispensable  for  the  main- 
tenance of  such  a  group.  Above  that  norm  the  Yakuts  think  that 
comfort  begins,  and  below  it,  poverty.  In  those  districts  where 
fish  can  be  obtained  as  an  adjunct,  those  who  have  ten  head  of 
cattle  are  well  off;  but  where  neither  hunting  nor  fishing  offers 
additional  resources,  fifteen  or  twenty  head  of  cattle  are  indispen- 
sable to  secure  the  existence  of  a  family.  The  latter  is  the  case  in 
the  north,  on  account  of  the  duration  of  the  winter  and  the  bad- 
ness of  the  meadows In  the  south  where  tillage  is  available 

as  an  important  subsidiary  industry  to  maintain  life,  and  where 
-it  is  easy  to  find  wages  occupations  in  winter,  the  limit  of  inde- 
pendent means  of  existence  falls  to  one  and  a  half  head  of  cattle 
per  soul.  In  spite,  therefore,  of  the  wide  difference  between 
the  absolute  amounts  of  wealth  indicated  by  these  limits — from 
six  to  twenty  head  of  cattle,  i.  e.,  from  120  to  400  rubles  ($60  to 
$200)  of  capital — all  the  households  that  are  at  the  limit  stand 
on  the  verge  of  distress.  The  least  accident  overthrows  the 
security  of  their  existence,  and  the  least  subsidiary  resource 
gives  them  a  chance  to  live  and  grow.  Such  households  consti- 
tute the  great  mass  of  the  population.  In  one  Nasleg  taken  as  a 
specimen,  of  248  households,  101  are  at  the  limit ;  10  have  no 
cattle ;  74  have  one  head,  or  one  and  a  fraction,  per  soul ;  54  have 
from  3  to  9  head  per  soul,  that  is,  are  well-to-do  in  different 
grades;  one  has  12  and  one  has  18  head  for  each  soul  in  the 
household.  The  author  knows  only  one  man  in  the  whole  Yakut 
territory  who  has  500  head  of  cattle.  There  are  but  two  or 
three  persons,  in  the  whole  country  who  have  at  their  disposition 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  75 

from  100,000  to  200,000  rubles  of  capital.  Such  persons  have 
won  their  wealth  by  trade,  and  their  capital  consists  in  wares, 
money,  and  various  credits. 

The  limit  is  set  to  the  growth  of  households  which  depend 
on  herding  alone.  In  the  first  place  by  the  small  supply  of  wages- 
labourers,  and  secondly  by  the  communal  ownership  of  land. 
The  point  is  that  the  family  consisting  of  four  or  five  souls,  of 
whom  three  are  productive  labourers,  with  a  subsistence  capital 
of  three  head  of  cattle  per  soul,  constitutes  an  organisation  which 
can  maintain  itself  with  hired  labour.  The  best  Yakut  mower 
and  two  female  rakers  can  make  in  a  summer  from  1,200  to  1,800 
puds  (22  to  32  tons)  of  hay,  according  to  the  season.  This 
amount  is  sufficient  to  carry  through  the  winter  from  twelve  to 
fifteen  head  of  cattle.  Any  household  in  which  the  above- 
described  organisation  is  incomplete  must  hire  labourers,  or  buy 
hay,  or  keep  its  cattle  in  a  half-starved  condition.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  who  have  less  than  one  head  of  cattle  per  soul  must 
hire  themselves  out  for  wages.  Under  this  organisation  the  most 
common  and  striking  phenomenon  is  that  the  more  independent 
ones  get  a  higher  price  for  their  time  and  their  products  than 
those  who  are  in  distress. 

The  rate  of  wages  is  almost  everywhere  nominally  the  same. 
The  men  get  from  35  to  40  rubles  per  annum  with  board,  if  they 
are  able-bodied  mowers;  and  women  who  rake,  or  tend  cows, 
get  from  20  to  24  rubles,  with  board.  The  rations  are  deter- 
mined by  custom ;  those  of  the  men  are  better  than  those  of  the 
women.  Only  a  small  part  of  the  wages  is  paid  in  money ;  gen- 
erally the  employers  give  wares,  sometimes  such  as  the  employe 
does  not  need  and  which  he  must  sell  at  a  loss.  It  is  still 
more  customary  to  pay  with  cattle,  especially  with  horses,  either 
slaughtered  or  living.  The  employers  try  to  keep  the  employed 
in  debt  to  themselves,  and  to  this  end  even  encourage  them  in 
vice — for  instance  in  gambling.  Often  an  employer  retains  a 
portion  of  the  wages  and  threatens  not  to  pay  it  at  all  if  the 
labourer  does  not  consent  to  work  for  him  still  another  year.  It 
is  not  difficult  for  rich  men  to  execute  such  an  injustice  as  this, 
on  account  of  the  power  which  they  possess  in  all  Yakut  com- 
munities. The  scarcity  of  labourers  is  the  cause  of  this  con- 


76  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

duct  of  the  employers,  but  it  also  causes  them,  when  once  they 
have  hired  persons  to  treat  them  well.  In  families  in  moderate 
circumstances  employes  are  taken  in  on  an  equal  footing.  In 
the  north,  even  in  the  richest  households,  if  no  strangers  are 
present,  the  employe  sits  at  table  with  the  family.  He  takes 
part  in  the  conversation  and  in  household  proceedings.  His 
intercourse  with  the  members  of  the  family  is  simple  and  free 
from  constraint.  The  Yakuts  are  generally  polite  in  their  inter- 
course and  do  not  like  haughtiness.  Employes  expect  the  cus- 
tomary courtesy. 

The  favourite  form  of  labour  contract,  from  the  side  of  the 
labourers,  is  piece-work  with  payment  in  advance,  although  the 
rate  of  discount  for  this  advance  is  very  excessive.  They  think  it 
a  disgrace  to  lend  money  on  interest.  Probably  these  prejudices 
are  due  to  ancient  customs  touching  economic  relations,  such  as 
lending  out  cattle  to  be  fattened  upon  a  contract,  or  lending  out 
milch  cows  and  mares  for  a  milk  return. 

The  Yakuts  dislike  to  hire  themselves  out  for  wages.  They 
return  to  independence  if  the  least  possibility  offers.  For  those 
who  are  poor  the  struggle  for  independence  is  so  hard  that  it  is 
useless  to  talk  about  their  laziness  or  lack  of  forethought.  If 
they  have  less  than  one  and  a  half  head  of  cattle  per  soul,  they 
suffer  from  hunger  nearly  all  their  lives.  When  dying  of 
hunger,  they  refrain  from  slaughtering  an  animal,  from  fear  of 
losing  their  independence.  The  author  knows  of  cases  in  which 
the  authorities  have  forced  people  to  slaughter  their  cattle  that 
they  might  be  saved  from  death  by  starvation.  Hunger  periods 
occur  in  every  year,  during  which  two-thirds  of  the  Yakut  popu- 
lation suffers  from  semi-starvation  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time. 
This  period  is  not  longer  than  a  few  weeks  for  those  whose 
cattle  during  the  winter  were  tolerably  well  nourished,  so  that 
in  spring  they  quickly  recovered  their  vigour,  or  for  those  who 
have  such  a  number  of  cows  that  the  latter  produce  calves 
at  different  times.  The  poor,  however,  suffer  hunger  for  months, 
during  which  they  live  by  tfye  alms  of  their  more  fortunate 
neighbours.  For  them  the  most  interesting  subject  of  conver- 
sation is,  Whose  cow  has  calved  ?  or,  Whose  cow  will  soon  do  so  ? 
Sometimes  it  happens  that  all  the  cows  in  a  certain  neighbour- 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  77 

hood  calve  at  the  same  time;  then,  if  there  is  in  that  district  no 
tillage,  or  if  the  grain  harvest  has  failed,  famine  ensues.  Poor 
people  when  asked  how  they  manage  to  live  through  those  fright- 
ful months  said,  "We  go  to  bed  and  cover  ourselves  with  the 
coverlet."  They  drink  brick-tea  and  a  decoction  of  various  herbs, 
and  eat  splinters  of  larch  and  pine,  if  they  still  have  a  stock  of 
them.  They  cannot  obtain  them  in  winter.  No  axe  could  then 
split  the  wood,  which  is  frozen  to  the  hardness  of  stone.  Where 
they  plant  grain,  and  the  harvest  is  fair,  the  circumstances  are  less 
stringent.  On  the  whole  therefore,  the  dependence  on  chance 
is  almost  tragical.  If  things  that  must  be  purchased  rise  in  price 
to  the  slightest  degree,  if  one  neighbour  has  deceived  another, 
or  the  merchant  has  cheated  in  weight,  or  if  calves  have  died,  any 
of  these  incidents  come  as  heavy  blows  upon  the  barely  estab- 
lished equilibrium  of  the  family  budget.  A  few  such  blows 
throw  the  household  into  the  abyss  of  debt,  from  which  it  rarely, 
or  with  great  exertion,  emerges.  Two-thirds  of  the  families  are 
in  debt;  one  half  of  them  for  small  amounts  which  can  be  re- 
paid, but  the  other  half  are  hopelessly  indebted,  the  debts  consum- 
ing the  income  year  by  year.  Even  amongst  those  who  are  called 
rich,  the  expenditure  rarely  surpasses  two  or  three  hundred  rubles 
per  year,  and  this  they  cannot  win  without  hired  labour,  because 
the  care  of  the  herds  which  are  large  enough  to  produce  this  net 
amount  far  surpasses  the  power  of  an  average  Yakut  family ; 
therefore,  only  a  large  one,  with  well  combined  forces,  can  get 
along  without  hired  labour.  There  are  but  few  such  families, 
and  any  co-operative  organisation  is  strange  to  the  Yakuts.  They 
prefer  to  work  individually  at  their  personal  risk  and  chances. 
Even  individual  handicraftsmen  do  not  organise  regular  artels 
on  the  Russian  type. 

....  The  size  of  the  sib  group  has  always  been  determined 
by  economic  facts.  By  virtue  of  an  economic  shock  only  does 
the  sib  begin  to  split  up,  and  then  first  do  the  notions  about  blood 
tie  make  themselves  felt  to  an  appreciable  degree.  This  they  do 
in  the  following  manner : — Two  brothers,  and  still  more,  a  father 
and  son,  cannot  fall  into  two  different  sibs;  nor  can  grandfather 
and  grandson,  or  uncle  and  nephew  in  the  male  line  and  the  first 
degree,  do  so  during  the  life  of  the  elder.  But  grandsons  in  the 


78  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

male  line  may  belong  to  different  sibs,  especially  if  the  grand- 
father is  dead.  We  have  an  especially  good  opportunity  to 
observe  the  significance  of  economic  motives  in  dividing  up  the 
sibs,  and  also  to  observe  the  insignificance  of  kin  motives  in  the 
case  of  the  sibs  that  are  still  complete,  but  in  which  new  sib 
centres  can  already  be  perceived.  These  new  centres  are  defined 
by  the  relations  which  are  forming  about  them,  although  they 
have  not  yet  acquired  new  names.  They  are  all  separated  from 
each  other  by  greater  or  less  distances  in  space,  and  their  terri- 
torial advantages  vary.  Also  an  important  part  of  the  property 
in  these  new  group  centres  (house,  garden,  stock  of  hay,  petty 
household  wares  and  furniture),  in  case  of  the  death  of  the  own- 
ers, have  no  value  except  for  members  of  the  group  in  which  they 
are.  It  is  impossible,  or  not  worth  while,  to  transport  them,  and 
it  is  not  possible  to  sell  them,  since  there  is  no  market. 

In  former  times,  when  the  chief  wealth  of  the  Yakuts  con- 
sisted in  droves  of  horses,  the  size  and  the  conditions  of  subdi- 
vision or  combination  of  the  sib  groups  were  entirely  different. 
In  that  distant  time  we  must  believe  that  the  consumption  on 
the  spot  of  products  which  had  been  obtained  from  the  droves,  or 
from  hunting,  served  as  the  external  condition  of  the  existence 
and  size  of  a  sib  group.  Many  traditions  point  to  this  fact.  For 
instance,  they  tell  us  that  if  a  Yakut  slaughters  an  animal,  the 
viscera,  fat,  and  entrails  are  divided  into  portions  of  different 
size  and  worth,  and  distributed  to  the  neighbours,  who,  having 
learned  that  the  slaughtering  was  to  take  place,  generally  take 
turns  in  visiting  the  owner.  To  fail  to  give  any  neighbour  a 
share  is  to  make  an  enemy.  To  pass  anyone  over  purposely  is 
equivalent  to  a  challenge,  and  will  put  an  end  to  friendly  relations 
between  families.  We  are  convinced  of  the  antiquity  of  this 
custom  by  tradition,  and  by  its  dying  out  nowadays.  In  the 
places  where  civilisation  has  advanced  the  most  it  has  lost  much 
of  its  power.  That  it  was  a  sib  custom,  we  are  convinced  by  cer- 
tain usages  at  marriages  and  ceremonies  of  reconciliation.  Dis- 
tributions of  meat  are  now  a  part  of  marriage  ceremonies,  and 
the  chief  dishes  served  at  marriages  consist  of  meat.  The  formu- 
las of  language  employed  in  connection  with  this  use  of  meat  are 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  79 

reminders  that  the  ceremony  has  created  relationships  between 
the  participants. 

The  strength  of  this  custom  was  proved  by  a  case  observed 
by  the  author,  who  saw  the  gladness  of  a  good-for-nothing  fel- 
low, who  up  to  that  time  had  done  nothing  but  receive  large 
shares,  but  who  suddenly,  by  chance,  drove  a  fat  wild  reindeer 
into  a  swamp,  and  so  in  his  turn  was  enabled  to  make  presents  to. 
his  neighbours  of  portions  of  meat.  No  comparison  would  do 
justice  to  the  self-satisfaction  of  this  individual,  when  he  at  last 
served  up  the  game  which  he  had  won.  He  reserved  for  him- 
self almost  nothing.  Other  things  which  are  subject  to  immedi- 
ate consumption,  and  can  be  distributed  into  small  portions,  are 
shared  in  the  same  way,  especially  dainties,  like  sugar,  cookies, 
or  other  rarity.  Vodka  is  always  divided  amongst  all  who  are 
present,  even  the  children  getting  a  drop.  Tobacco  also  is  sub- 
ject to  this  custom.  It  is  not  degrading  but  honourable  to  receive 
a  gift  of  food  from  one  who  is  eating,  especially  if  he  is  an 
honoured  person.  It  is  a  violation  of  etiquette  to  give  little  to 
a  rich  man  and  much  to  a  poor  man.  The  opposite  is  the  rule. 
If  one  man's  cow  calves  earlier  than  those  of  the  others,  custom 
requires  that  he  shall  share  cream  and  milk  with  those  neigh- 
bours who  at  that  time  have  none.  This  explains  the  interest  with 
which,  in  the  spring  time,  when  the  cows  give  no  milk,  the 
Yakuts  calculate  arid  distribute  information  about  anyone  of  the 
rich  whose  cow  is  about  to  calve.  This  also  explains  how  the 
poorest  people  live  through  the  starvation  months.  When  the 
population  is  substantially  equal,  it  is  evident  that  these  customs 
are  not  burdensome,  and  this  is  why  they  prevail  especially 
amongst  people  of  a  middle  class.  The  Yakuts  would  not  believe 
the  author  when  he  told  them  that,  in  his  country,  there  were 
rich  and  populous  cities  in  which  people  sometimes  died  of  star- 
vation. They  asked  why  anyone  should  die  when  he  could  go  to 
eat  with  his  neighbours? 

The  circumstances  are  in  all  respects  more  archaic  in  the 
northern  provinces  and  more  advanced  in  point  of  culture  in  the 
southern.  In  the  latter  the  custom  is  already  coming  in  to  sell 
food  to  travellers,  and  even  to  neighbours,  but  in  many  parts  of 
the  north  they  consider  it  a  shame  to  trade  with  food.  Even  the 


8o  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

poorest  think  it  an  offence  if  it  is  proposed  to  them  to  take  money 
for  lodgings  or  food.  Travellers  in  winter  take  hay  from  the 
stacks  on  the  meadows,  with  which  to  feed  their  animals,  and  it 
is  regarded  as  right.  These  customs  all  give  some  coherence  and 
permanence  to  the  petty  groups  of  the  Yakuts  which  wander  in 
the  woods.  When  travelling,  so  long  as  they  are  in  inhabited 
districts,  th'ey  need  not  fear  hunger,  though  they  take  no  pro- 
visions with  them.  The  custom  constitutes  a  system  of  mutual 
insurance  against  the  misfortunes  of  life. 

....  Care  for  the  poor  and  unfortunate  has  always  been 
regarded  as  an  obligation  of  the  sib.  Impoverished  families  are 
cared  for  in  their  houses,  while  the  helpless  and  paupers  go  about 
amongst  the  householders  and  take  their  places  at  the  table  with 
the  members.  Trifling  tasks  are  given  them  to  perform.  The 
author  found  that  the  poor  and  middle  class  people  treated  them 
better  than  the  rich  did.  According  to  the  notions  of  the  people, 
it  is  sinful  to  despise  the  unfortunate,  who  are,  however,  dis- 
tinguished from  professional  beggars  living  on  alms.  The  latter 
often  are  not  poor,  and  it  is  the  belief  of  the  people  that  the  beg- 
gars often  beg  out  of  greed.  The  provision  for  the  poor,  how- 
ever, is  of  a  very  wretched  kind,  for  the  object  of  the  sib  is  to 
organise  persons  of  equal  power  and  equal  right,  and  not  to 
provide  charity. 

....  The  custom  of  distributing  fresh  meat,  and  other 
things,  which  has  been  described,  was  convenient  and  perhaps 
necessary  in  a  certain  state  of  the  society.  The  groups  remained 
in  close  neighbourhood  in  order  to  realise  those  advantages 

The  kumiss  is  spoiled  in  winter  by  the  frost  and  in  summer 
by  the  heat,  and  it  does  not  bear  transportation.  The  Yakuts 
have  never  known  how  to  preserve  meat  by  drying  or  smoking. 
Hence  it  was  in  the  highest  degree  convenient  for  them  to  live  in 
groups  of  such  a  size  that  the  kumiss  and  the  meat  obtained  from 
the  cattle  and  horses  could  be  used  as  soon  as  possible.  They  even 
have  a  tradition  that  horse  thieves  in  ancient  times  tried  to  organ- 
ise themselves  into  bands  large  enough  to  divide  and  eat  up,  in  a 
night,  the  animals  they  had  stolen.  We  must  believe  that  in 
ancient  times  the  fundamental  grouping  of  the  people  consisted 
of  bodies  constituted  upon  the  basis  of  a  convenient  consumption 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  81 

of  the  product  of  a  proportionate  number  of  animals 

Hence  the  distribution  of  kumiss  and  meat  served  as  a  symbol 
of  peace,  friendship,  and  union  in  the  sib. 

....  Right  of  private  property  in  the  house  evidently  did 
not  exist  amongst  the  ancient  Yakuts.  Even  now  they  are  inclined 
to  regard  the  dwelling  as  a  common  good.  Anyone  who  enters 
may  stay  as  long  as  he  will.  A  traveller  has  a  right,  according 
to  their  notions,  to  enter  any  house  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or 
night,  and  establish  himself  so  as  to  drink  tea  or  cook  food,  or 
pass  the  night.  The  master  of  the  house  does  not  dare  to  drive 
out,  without  some  important  and  adequate  reason,  even  one  who 
is  offensive  to  him.  In  former  times  they  had  scarcely  any  per- 
manent dwellings.  They  were  nomadic,  and  carried  with  them  all 
of  the  house  but  the  framework,  which  later  comers,  in  their  turn, 
might  use.  The  land  belonged  to  nobody.  The  herds  were  con- 
sidered the  property  of  each  separate  nomadic  group.  The  nomi- 
nal owner  was  the  head  of  the  group. 

....  When  the  Russians  first  came  in  contact  with  the 
Yakuts,  the  sib  organisation  had  reached  its  highest  development, 
and  the  headship  of  the  sib  was  a  dignity  exclusively  for  war  and 
the  administration  of  justice.  The  groups  were  then  just  about 
what  we  now  see.  The  elected  government  was  even  more 
nominal  than  it  is  now.  All  questions,  as  well  economic  as 
jural,  were  decided  by  a  council  of  the  elders.  Even  now  the 
most  independent  individuals  avoid  making  any  important  changes 
in  their  industry  or  sales  or  expenditures,  without  taking  the 
advice  of  older  relatives.  Such  conduct  is  approved. 

....  The  subdivision  of  property,  and  its  consequence,  the 
internal  subdivision  of  the  sib  groups,  became  possible  with  the 
gradual  introduction  of  horned  cattle,  which  could  be  kept  inde- 
pendently and  in  small  groups.  A  drove  of  two  or  three  head  of 
horses  had  no  sense ;  horses  must  be  united  into  droves  which 
could  roam  about  the  neighbourhood.  No  distance  and  no  care 
could  prevent  them  from  roaming.  Therefore  no  Yakut  family 
of  four  individuals,  at  the  minimum,  could  tend  a  drove  of  ten 
horses,  which  we  may  regard  as  the  minimum.  Moreover,  the 
time  necessary  for  the  constant  changes  of  position,  protection, 
and  care  of  such  a  petty  drove  is  not  a  bit  less  than  for  one,  two 


82  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

or  three  times  as  large.  We  may  take  it  as  a  rule  that  the  larger 
the  drove,  the  more  the  power  of  the  group  which  owns  it  is  set 
free  for  subsidiary  occupations,  hunting,  fishing,  and  handicraft, 
and  the  better  they  are  provided  with  food  and  implements.  The 
social  habits  of  the  horses,  which  love  to  live  in  large  droves, 
were  a  natural  cause  of  the  union  of  their  keepers.  The  size  of 
the  droves  depends  at  last  on  the  size  of  the  pastures,  which 
vary  much  in  these  districts.  Hence  the  differences  in  size  of 
the  sib  groups  amongst  the  Yakuts,  as  they  are  described  in 
the  traditions,  consequences  of  which  are  not  to  be  found,  and 
which  astonish  us  by  their  apparent  arbitrariness.  The  case 
was  changed  when  they  moved  from  the  grand  and  unbroken 
steppes  to  the  small  expanses  broken  by  forests,  their  dwell- 
ing of  to-day.  In  the  latter  places,  the  droves  are  compara- 
tively broken  up.  Hence  the  unions  of  the  men  cannot  endure. 
This  difficulty  is  intensified  by  the  necessity  of  speed  in  changing 
position,  and  of  frequency  in  movement  from  meadow  to 
meadow,  when  the  herds  are  large.  Consequently  the  economic 
arrangements  come  into  strife  with  the  traditional  instincts  of 
the  sib  and  the  community.  We  may  take  a  drove  of  ten  or  fif- 
teen head,  consisting  of  five  mares,  one  stallion,  one  two-year- 
old,  one  one-year-old,  and  two  suckling  colts,  for  the  minimum 
unit  herd  of  horses.  We  may  take  for  the  maximum  herd,  for  a 
district  amongst  the  Yakuts,  from  three  hundred  to  five  hun- 
dred head.  The  minimum  would  hardly  suffice  to  keep  from  dis- 
tress a  family  of  four  souls.  The  maximum  would  allow  a  com- 
munity of  fifty  souls  to  live  in  comparative  ease.  Within  these 
limits,  the  effort  of  the  Yakuts  to  sub-divide  and  scatter  over  the 
country  must  be  bounded.  Some  of  their  traditions  and  cus- 
toms lead  us  to  think  that  once  there  was  a  much  greater  concen- 
tration of  people  and  accumulation  of  wealth  amongst  them  than 
now,  and  that  they  were  spread  over  the  country  even  less  regu- 
larly than  they  are  now.  In  their  legends,  large  expanses  of  ter- 
ritory are  spoken  of  as  being  empty,  while  in  others  large  num- 
bers of  people,  with  their  cattle,  are  described  as  existing. 

Out  of  the  minimum  unit  drove  of  horses  consisting  of  five 
mares,  one  stallion,  one  two-year-old,  one  one-year-old,  and  two 
suckling  colts,  only  one  grown  horse  could  be  killed  per  annum, 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  83 

and  the  kumiss  would  not  suffice  for  four  souls.  The  require- 
ment of  kumiss  is  from  15  to  20  litres  per  person  per  day;  one 
mare  gives  that  quantity  only  in  summer,  and  then  she  is  con- 
sidered a  very  select  specimen ;  a  middling  one  gives  only  half  so 
much.  In  winter  many  are  for  a  time  not  milked,  and  older  ones, 
even  if  the  food  is  adequate,  give  in  winter  not  more  than  3  or  4 
litres  a  day.  Consequently  each  person  needs  in  a  year  from 
5475  to  7,300  litres  of  kumiss.  One  mare  gives  in  a  year  from 
2,000  to  2,500  litres,  if  she  is  milked  the  whole  year  around. 
Hence  there  is  needed  for  a  grown  person  two  and  a  half  milch 
mares,  and  for  the  three  grown  persons  in  a  Yakut  family,  seven 
and  a  half  milch  mares. 

The  largest  number  of  settlements  contain  four  or  five  huts, 
with  twenty  or  thirty  souls.  Occasionally  one  is  met  with  in 
which  there  are  forty  or  fifty  huts,  and  some  hundreds  of  souls. 
The  winter  houses  for  the  most  part  stand  separately,  and  at  some 
distance  from  each  other,  but  near  to  the  hay-stacks.  In  this  de- 
tail the  influence  of  the  later  economic  system  dependent  upon 
hay  is  to  be  seen.  The  summer  dwellings,  on  the  other  hand, 
seem  to  represent  more  nearly  the  ancient  mode  of  life.  The 
summer  group  consists  of  many  huts  which  stand  quite  close  to- 
gether, although  not  apparently  in  order,  but  distributed  accord- 
ing to  the  convenience  of  water  and  the  pleasantness  of  the  place. 
They  are  distributed  so  that  the  sibs  stand  together,  which  is 
probably  an  ancient  feature. 

In  the  populous  nomadic  settlements  of  ancient  times,  whether 
in  the  south  or  the  north,  the  Yakuts  arrived  at  the  basis  on  which 
their  civil  existence  is  based.  This  basis  was  the  breeding  of 
horses.  There  their  best  instincts  were  nourished ;  arts  and  handi- 
crafts took  their  origin ;  songs  and  legends  were  composed ;  the 
system  of  their  group-life  was  developed  and  strengthened. 
There  they  acquired  the  custom  of  enduring  misfortune  and 
conquering  hardships  in  friendship  and  in  common. 

In  everything  that  they  did  in  those  times  we  seem  to  see  a 
reflection  of  the  character  of  the  powerful  animals  which  then 
constituted  their  chief  wealth  and  the  basis  of  their  existence. 
The  breeding  of  horses  demands  special  qualities  of  mind  and 
special  knowledge,  especially  knowledge  of  geography  and 


84  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

physiography,  very  careful  power  of  observation,  and  sagacity 
in  the  selection  of  places  and  in  the  regulation  of  the  wanderings, 
so  as  to  secure  good  adaptation  to  the  facts  of  climate,  season  of 
the  year,  distribution  of  water,  and  depth  of  snow.  It  demands 
of  the  drovers  cleverness,  courage,  decision,  and  a  knowledge 
how  to  execute  quick  and  complicated  evolutions,  so  as  to  direct, 
arrest,  or  drive  on  to  the  proper  place  the  obstreperous  herds. 
Hence  the  custom  of  discipline  and  of  group-wise  action,  which 
is  to  this  day  observable  amongst  the  Yakuts. 

....  In  all  their  legends  and  traditions,  the  stealing  of 
women  and  cattle  is  presented  as  the  cause  of  war.  Not  less  fre- 
quently the  occasion  was  the  obligation  of  blood-revenge.  The 
blood  of  a  man,  if  spilt,  required  atonement.  The  children  of 
the  murdered  took  vengeance  on  the  children  of  the  murderer  to 
the  ninth  generation.  In  ancient  times  the  responsible  person  hav- 
ing been  captured,  was  not  killed  at  once,  but  horribly  tortured. 

The  Yakut  meeting,  with  ceremonies  for  reconciling  quar- 
rels, has  to  this  day  a  sib  character.  Gifts  are  made  for  the  en- 
tertainment of  the  blood  relatives,  a  small  part  of  which  comes 
into  the  hands  of  the  injured  party.  Many  surviving  customs 
show  how  strong  was  once  the  solidarity  of  the  sibs,  and  how 
deeply  the  feeling  of  responsibility  for  the  conduct  of  its  mem- 
bers had  penetrated  into  the  sentiments  of  the  sib.  The  Yakuts 
are  very  zealous  for.  the  honour  of  their  sib  comrades.  They  like 
to  hear  the  praises  of  their  tribe,  sub-tribe,  or  sib.  When  they 
hear  blame  of  the  same,  they  feel  sorrow.  Hence  the  wonderful 
righteousness  of  the  Yakuts  within  the  sib,  which  often  excites 
the  astonishment  of  the  observer.'  A  man  who  is  entirely  in- 
different when  he  sees  quarrelling,  cheating,  robbery,  oppression 
and  extortion,  will  take  them  very  seriously  to  heart  if  he  sees 
them  happen  within  the  sib,  or  so  that  a  sib  comrade  is  the  vic- 
tim, especially  if  the  guilty  person  belongs  to  another  sib;  on 
the  other  hand,  they  will  often  shield  evident  wrong-doing  by  sib 
comrades.  Their  tribunals  are  comparatively  just  in  sib  affairs, 
but  between  members  of  their  own  and  another  sib  they  decide 
on  behalf  of  their  comrade.  One  of  them  explained  this  very 
easily  by  saying  that,  in  a  certain  case,  the  thing  at  stake  should 
have  been  divided  equally,  but  that  one  of  the  parties  belonged 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  85 

to  another  tribe:  "Could  we,  for  his  sake,  harm  one  of  our 
own?"  In  modern  times,  however,  in  the  same  measure  as  the 
sib  groups  have  broken  up  the  convenience  of  tending  herds, 
and  have  scattered  themselves  more  widely,  the  active  exchange 
of  mutual  services  between  the  members  has  declined.  The 
need  of  mutuality  has  disappeared;  they  have  come  in  contact 
more  rarely;  their  feelings  have  become  hardened,  and  there 
remains  only  a  dim  reminiscence  of  a  common  origin. 

....  Mass  meetings,  or  popular  assemblies,  are  held,  in 
summer,  in  the  open  air,  not  far  from  the  meeting-house  of  the 
sib.  The  oldest  and  most  influential  sit  in  the  first  rank,  on  the 
bare  ground,  with  their  legs  crossed  under  them.  In  the  second 
rank  sit  or  kneel  the  independent  but  less  wealthy  heads  of  house- 
holds. In  the  third  rank  are  the  youth,  children,  poor  men,  and 
often  women,  for  the  most  part  standing,  in  order  the  better  to 
see  and  hear.  In  general  it  is  the  first  row  which  decides  affairs ; 
the  second  row  sometimes  offers  its  remarks  and  amendments, 
but  no  more.  The  third  rank  listens  in  silence.  Sometimes  the 
passions  are  aroused,  and  they  all  scream  at  once;  but  the  de- 
cision of  the  question  is  always  submitted  to  the  first  rank.  It 
conducts  the  deliberation.  The  orators  come  from  its  ranks. 
Oratory  is  highly  esteemed,  and  they  have  some  talented  orators. 
The  first  rank  are  distinguished  for  riches  and  energy.  They 
can  submit  or  withhold  questions;  but  decisions  are  never  con- 
sidered binding  until  confirmed  by  a  mass  meeting.  According 
to  their  traditions,  in  ancient  times,  a  promient  role  in  these  as- 
semblies was  played  by  old  men,  who  must,  however,  have  dis- 
tinguished themselves,  and  won  prestige,  by  good  sense,  knowl- 
edge, and  experience.  They  decided  questions  according  to  the 
customs,  and  gave  advice  when  the  sib  was  in  any  difficulty. 

....  The  divisions  of  the  Yakuts  are  the  Ulus,  the  Nasleg, 
and  the  aga-ussa  (=  sib}.  Taking  into  account  three  provinces 
or  districts,  the  author  shows  that  two  Naslegs  consist  of  only 
one  aga-ussa,  fourteen  of  two,  fifty-eight  of  three,  fifty-nine  of 
four,  seventeen  of  five.  The  number  of  those  that  contain  more 
aga-ussa  is  small,  but  there  is  one  each  containing  thirteen,  four- 
teen, nineteen,  thirty-four,  and  forty-three. 

....  Re-allotments  of  land  between  the  Naslegs  within  the 


86  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

same  Ulus,  occur  frequently;  between  the  aga-ussa  of  the  same 
Nasleg,  still  more  frequently ;  and  between  the  allotments  of  the 
same  aga-ussa  almost  every  year,  with  the  purpose  of  equalisa- 
tion. There  is  in  every  aga-ussa  a  sworn  functionary,  chosen 
for  a  number  of  years,  whose  name  is  a  corruption  of  the  word 
deputy.  Anyone,  rich  or  poor,  may  be  deputy,  if  he  is  a  just  and 
sensible  man.  He  must  understand  all  about  the  advantages  and 
disadvantages  of  land.  He  has  the  difficult  task  of  equalising 
the  allotments.  If  he  is  incompetent,  he  makes  mistakes.  Some- 
times he  cheats  intentionally,  whence  arise  quarrels  and  fights. 
Sometimes  the  deputies  fight,  if  they  meet  to  decide  a  question 
between  the  aga-ussa  of  a  Nasleg.  Each  Nasleg  selects  an  officer, 
who  has  the  oversight  over  the  deputies  in  order  to  allay  their 
disputes.  The  Yakuts  say  that  the  allotments  to  the  Naslegs, 
within  a  Ulus,  ought  to  be  readjusted  every  forty  years.  The 
allotment  is  made  by  an  assembly  of  all  the  officers  and  head  men. 
Within  the  Naslegs  the  re-allotment  takes  place  at  undefined 
periodsr  when  some  new  necessity  arises ;  for  instance,  from  the 
necessity  of  setting  off  a  glebe  for  the  church,  or  when  meadows 
have  been  spoiled  by  a  freshet.  Nowadays  the  deputies  act  only 
administratively  to  execute  the  decisions  of  the  sib  assembly. 
Individuals  are  constantly  asking  for  a  readjustment  of  allot- 
ments, upon  all  sorts  of  pleas.  Leaving  out  of  account  the  bits 
thus  added  or  subtracted,  it  may  be  said  in  general  that  indi- 
viduals dispose  of  their  allotments  without  limit  of  time,  and 
even  give  them  in  inheritance.  In  the  north,  a  certain  part  of  the 
meadows  is  apportioned  to  certain  homesteads.  These  are  re- 
garded as  the  inalienable  property  of  the  householder.  Only 
gores  and  strips  which  lie  further  off,  or  are  purposely  left  for 
that  purpose,  are  subject  to  division.  By  means  of  them  equali- 
sation is  brought  about. 

....  Pastures  and  woods  almost  everywhere  are  in  the  un- 
divided use  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  locality,  without  regard 
to  the  aga-ussa  or  Nasleg  to  which  they  belong.  It  is  true  that 
rich  men  in  many  places  have  divided  amongst  themselves  sep- 
arate cattle  ranges  out  of  the  common  lands,  and  have  fenced 
them,  but  their  sib  comrades  look  upon  such  land-grabbing  with 
disfavour,  and  if  the  rich  man  dies  or  loses  influence,  they  try  to 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  87 

break  down  his  enclosures  and  throw  open  the  land  again. 
There  is  a  strife  of  interest  between  cattle  owners  and  tillers; 
the  latter  enclose  their  lands;  the  former  drive  their  cows  home 
three  times  in  the  day.  The  enclosures  make  this  journey  longer. 
In  general  the  sib  group  reconciles  itself  to  the  individual  dis- 
posal of  a  plot  of  land  which  has  been  won  by  clearing  woods 
or  meadows,  or  of  mowing  lands  obtained  by  drying  up  swamps 
and  ponds,  when  it  has  been  established  by  prescription,  and  even 
if  the  appropriated  land  is  made  inheritable,  provided  that  the 
plot  is  not  large  and  is  all  utilised  by  the  owner.  But  if  the  size 
is  great,  or  the  owner  rents  any  of  it,  the  sib  asserts  its  rights. 
The  only  question  then  is  whether  the  owner  has  won  back  from 
the  land  a  remuneration  for  the  labour  and  capital  expended  by 
him  upon  it.  Often  they  undertake  large  clearings  or  drainages 
communally.  Those  who  have  a  share  in  the  land  thus  won  are, 
first,  those  who  lived  there  before ;  then  all  the  aga-ussa  of  a  Nas- 
leg  in  proportion  to  their  share  in  the  work,  and  their  need  of 
land 

....  It  is  established  beyond  a  doubt  that  when  the  Russians 
tame  in  contact  with  the  Yakuts,  polygamy  existed  amongst  the 
latter.  They  had  a  word  for  all  the  offspring  of  one  man,  and 
another  for  his  offspring  by  a  particular  wife,  if  the  interpreta- 
tion is  correct.  If  it  is  it  would  entail  the  inference  that  once 
the  mother  family  existed  amongst  the  Yakuts.  This  is  con- 
firmed by  the  tradition  that  many  sibs  with  father  descent,  and 
even  whole  Naslegs,  got  their  names  from  women.  The  Yakuts 
have  no  special  word  for  the  precise  designation  of  a  family 
group  consisting  of  a  man,  with  his  wife  and  his  children.  The 
current  word  is  Kergen,  but  this  is  an  ambiguous  word;  most 
probably  it  means  dwellers.  In  answer  to  inquiries,  the  most 
various  statements  were  given.  The  author  heard  this  word  used 
in  the  sense  of  all  those  whom  the  head  of  the  household  was 
bound  to  maintain,  including  temporary  inmates. 

The  son  of  the  house  was  no  longer  considered  a  Kergen 
when  he  married  and  established  a  house  of  his  own,  but  all  in- 
mates and  labourers,  no  matter  what  their  status  or  relationship, 
are  considered  Kergen.  [The  author  so  uses  the  word;  he  does 
not  say  members  of  the  Kergen.]  The  marriage  customs  and 


88  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

legends  in  which  there  is  reference  to  the  stealing  of  wives  in 
no  distant  past,  seem  to  point  to  an  origin  of  this  house-group 
from  slavery.  There  are  even  direct  evidences  of  this,  for  an 
ancient  word,  synonym  of  Kergen-Chahar,  meant  slave  or  cow- 
boy, and  seems  to  have  gone  out  of  use  on  that  account.  In  the 
Kergen,  the  younger  are  subjected  to  the  elder,  and  all  are  sub- 
ject to  the  head,  whether  it  be  a  father,  older  brother,  grown-up 
son,  or,  in  rare  cases,  a  mother,  if  she  is  a  clever  and  energetic 
widow.  Custom  does  not  seem  to  admit  sisters  or  aunts.  The 
head  can  give  away  and  squander  everything,  if  he  chooses.  He 
can  even  give  away  his  children  as  labourers  to  outside  persons. 
....  Such  is  the  declaration  of  all  Yakuts;  nevertheless,  at 
the  present  time,  these  statements  describe  only  a  fictitious  sys- 
tem. In  fact,  the  Yakut  family  presents  now  a  different  picture. 
The  subjection  of  the  young  and  of  women  comes  under  a  more 
general  law;  the  subjection  of  the  weak  to  the  strong,  and  of 
those-who-have-not  to  those-who-have.  The  author  knows  of 
many  cases  in  which  the  father,  older  brother,  or  the  uncle  forced 
the  younger  members  of  the  family  into  marriage,  or  put  them 
out  to  work  for  others  under  very  hard  conditions,  taking  to  him- 
self all  the  payment,  and  also  other  cases  in  which  the  father 
disposed  of  the  property  of  the  son,  took  away  from  him  his  axe 
and  canoe,  and  sold  hay,  mown  and  saved  by  him,  completely 
independently.  The  son  complained  of  his  hard  fate,  but  could  do 
nothing.  He  also  knows  of  a  case  in  which  parents  sold  their 
eight-year-old  daughter  to  a  Russian  official  who  was  travelling 
through.  He  saw  and  heard  of  many  cases  in  which  elders 
cruelly  beat  members  of  the  household,  especially  women  and 
children,  yet  he  knows  of  an  equal  number  of  cases  of  an  op- 
posite character, — cases  in  which  younger  brothers  played  a  more 
important  role  in  the  family  than  older  brothers,  in  which  a  wife, 
unrestrained  by  the  presence  of  strangers,  behaved  rudely  to  her 
sick  husband,  even  beat  him,  and  openly  kept  a  lover  in  the 
house ;  in  which  a  daughter,  knowing  that  she  was  the  only  one 
in  the  house  able  to  labour,  did  not  obey  her  parents,  did  whatever 
she  chose,  refused  an  advantageous  marriage,  and  went  about 
with  the  young  men  before  the  eyes  of  all;  in  which  old  people 
did  not  dare  to  sell  a  pound  of  butter  or  a  load  of  hay,  or  to  buy 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  89 

anything  for  themselves,  without  asking  the  consent  of  a  grown 
son.  All  these  cases  were  not  considered  by  anybody  unusual, 
and  did  not  call  forth  from  the  community  any  more  con- 
demnation than  cruel  or  unjust  treatment  of  children. 

....  There  is  no  such  thing  as  any  strictly  patriarchal  rela- 
tionships, or  any  deep-rooted  or  cultivated  feeling  of  respect 
for  the  old,  amongst  the  Yakuts.  A  young  Yakut  said :  "They 
not  only  do  not  feed,  nor  honour,  nor  obey,  but  they  scold  and 
often  beat  the  old  people.  With  my  own  eyes,  I  have  more  than 
once  seen  Yakuts,  poor  and  rich,  bad  and  good,  beat  their 
fathers  and  their  mothers."  They  behave  especially  badly  with 
decrepit  and  feeble-minded  parents.  Their  chief  object  in  deal- 
ing with  such  is  to  wrest  from  them  any  bits  of  property  they 
may  still  retain.  Thus,  as  the  old  people  become  more  and  more 
defenceless,  they  are  treated  worse  and  worse.  It  was  no  better 
in  ancient  times.  Force,  the  coarse  force  of  the  fist,  or  the  force 
of  hunger,  rules  in  the  modern  Yakut  family,  and  seems  to  in- 
dicate the  servile  origin  of  that  family.  Once  the  author  saw  how 
a  weak  old  man  of  seventy  beat  with  a  stick  his  forty-year  old 
son,  who  was  in  good  health,  rich,  and  a  completely  independent 
householder,  who  had  just  been  elected  to  an  office  in  the  sib. 
The  son  stood  quietly  and  did  not  dare  even  to  evade  the  blows, 
but  that  old  man  still  had  an  important  amount  of  property  at 
his  disposition,  and  he  ruled  the  family  by  fear  that  he  could 
deprive  any  recalcitrant  one  of  a  share  in  the  inheritance. 

....  In  well-to-do  families,  where  there  is  a  great  quantity 
of  cattle,  or  where  the  right  to  large  advantages  from  land,  or 
the  possession  of  well-established  trade,  provides  an  opportunity 
to  win  from  hired  labour,  and  so  an  important  revenue  is  ob- 
tained, independently  of  personal  labour,  the  rule  of  the  father 
and  mother  as  proprietors,  especially  the  rule  of  the  father, 
is  strengthened  and  maintained  for  a  long  time,  namely,  to  the 
moment  when  the  old  people  become  decrepit  and  lose  the  ca- 
pacity to  comprehend  the  simplest  things.  Generally  they  die 
before  that  time.  This  state  of  things  is  maintained  by  the 
spread  of  Russian  ideas  and  laws.  In  the  old-fashioned  Yakut 
family,  the  economy  of  which  is  founded  almost  entirely  on 
cattle-breeding,  and  in  which  constant  personal  supervision  is  re- 


90  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

quired,  thus  making  personal  strength  and  initiative  indispen- 
sable, the  moment  of  the  transfer  of  rule  into  the  hands  of  the 
son  is  reached  much  earlier.  It  occurs  still  earlier  in  poor  fam- 
ilies which  live  exclusively  by  hand-labour  and  by  the  industry  of 
the  strongest  and  best  endowed.  The  old  people  strive  against 
this  tendency  in  vain.  The  young  people  naturally  strive  to  avail 
themselves  as  fully  as  possible  of  the  results  of  their  labour,  and 
as  soon  as  they  feel  strong  enough,  they  begin  to  struggle  for 
their  rights.  The  parents  are  dependent  on  the  sons,  who  could 
go  away  to  earn  wages.  Hence  they  say:  "It  is  more  advanta- 
geous for  us  Yakuts,  in  this  frozen  country  of  ours,  to  have  many 
children  than  to  have  much  money  and  cattle.  Children  are  our 
capital,  if  they  are  good.  It  is  hard  to  get  good  labourers,  even 
for  large  wages,  but  a  son,  when  he  grows  up,  is  a  labourer  who 
costs  nothing;  nevertheless,  it  is  hard  to  rear  children."  The 
author  knew  of  cases  in  which  wives  put  up  with  the  presence  of 
mistresses  in  the  house,  considering  that  an  inevitable  consequence 
of  their  own  childlessness.  The  death  of  children  is  accepted 
coldly  in  populous  districts,  but  in  the  thinly  settled  ones  is  sin- 
cerely bewailed.  Sometimes  they  take  to  drink  or  to  idleness 
when  they  have  lost  their  children. 

The  greatest  number  of  suicides  are  old  people  who  fear  a 
lonely  old  age.  The  treatment  they  receive  fully  accounts  for 
this. 

If  the  parents,  on  account  of  their  own  deficiencies,  or  the  ex- 
ceptional hard-heartedness  of  a  son,  have  not  been  able  to  disci- 
pline him,  then  sooner  or  later  a  strife  arises  in  the  family.  The 
women  are  in  such  cases  more  yielding.  They  are  physically 
weaker  and  have  scarcely  any  rights.  As  members  of  the  sib, 
they  have  no  rights  to  land,  property,  or  independent  existence. 
They  surrender  very  soon.  Most  frequently  they  make  no  at- 
tempt to  resist :  there  is  no  place  for  them  outside  of  the  family. 
It  is  another  matter  for  the  boys.  They  accustom  themselves  to 
form  judgments  on  communal  questions;  they  quickly  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  the  rights  of  men,  and  become  saturated  with  the 
communal  spirit  which  refuses  to  acknowledge  any  privileges 
except  personal  superiority  and  work.  In  proportion  as  the 
quantity  of  labour  accomplished  by  them  increases,  and  in  that 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  91 

way  their  cleverness  and  skill  in  the  arts  of  life  are  proved, 
they  demand  more  confidently  and  persistently  that  attention 
shall  be  given  to  their  voices  in  the  family,  and  that  their  wishes 
shall  be  fulfilled.  If  not  they  are  not  willing  to  perform  the 
labour  which  is  required  of  them,  or  do  it  so  negligently,  while 
tormenting  their  elders  with  constant  reproaches,  that  the  latter 
gradually  yield.  As  soon  as  a  father  perceives  this  disposition 
in  his  son,  he  hastens  to  give  him  a  separate  allotment,  if  his 
own  circumstances  will  possibly  admit  of  it;  otherwise  the  power 
inevitably  goes  over  to  the  son.  Sometimes  the  elders  continue  to 
hold  a  nominal  authority;  sometimes  the  son  allows  this  con- 
solation, as  long  as  they  live ;  but  nothing  is  really  done  without 
the  sanction  of  the  actual  sovereign  of  the  family.  The  young 
man  takes  the  place  of  the  old  one  as  the  object  of  attention  and 
obedience,  and  he  makes  himself  master,  as  well  of  the  parents 
as  of  the  labourers  who  are  without  rights  or  voice  in  the  family. 
A  man  who  was  reproached  for  his  behaviour  to  his  mother, 
said :  "Let  her  cry ;  let  her  go  hungry.  She  made  me  cry  more 
than  once,  and  she  begrudged  me  my  food.  She  used  to  beat 
me  for  trifles." 

....  In  a  family  in  which  the  rights  and  powers  have  beon 
reduced  to  equilibrium,  so  that  all  the  relations  of  the  members 
are  established,  the  dominion  of  the  head,  whoever  he  is,  over  the 
labour  and  the  property  of  the  members  is  unlimited.  The  organ- 
isation is  really  servile.  Especially  pitiful  is  the  position  of  the 
women  who  play  no  role  in  the  sib,  and  therefore  can  expect  no 
protection  from  anybody.  The  author  advised  a  woman  to  ap- 
peal to  the  sib,  when  she  complained  that  her  husband  exploited 
her  labour  and  that  of  her  half-grown  son:  that  he  was  extrava- 
gant and  wasteful,  so  that  he  was  likely  to  reduce  them  to  pau- 
perism. "The  head !"  said  she,  "how  often  I  have  complained  to 
him !  he  listens  and  says  nothing,  and  after  that  my  husband  is 
still  more  quarrelsome  and  more  perverse."  Another  woman 
said :  "The  man  is  the  master ;  it  is  necessary  to  obey  him ; 
he  works  abroad  and  we  at  home."  This  work  abroad  consists 
for  the  most  part  in  taking  part  in  the  village  assemblies  and  in 
constant  loafing  from  house  to  house.  It  is  true  that  the  man 
acquires  information  about  wages  and  prices;  but  he  also  keeps 


92  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  himself  the  monopoly  of  all  external  relations,  and  even  for 
the  absence  of  any  of  the  housemates  without  his  consent  he  de- 
mands a  strict  account.  To  acquire  an  extra  gain,  win  food  or 
money,  or  earn  something  by  outside  work  is  considered  more 
desirable  than  to  follow  heavy  daily  labour  which  would  maintain 
the  life  of  the  family  from  day  to  day.  If  the  head  of  the  house- 
hold has  grown-up  children,  the  amount  of  work  which  he  does  is 
very  insignificant.  He  works  like  the  others  only  at  the  hay- 
harvest;  the  rest  of  the  time  he  wanders  about,  looking  out,  it 
is  true,  for  the  external  interests  of  the  family  to  which  his  care 
is  now  restricted,  although  formerly  it  extended  to  the  sib.  In- 
side the  house  he  is  treated  with  almost  slavish  respect  and  con- 
sideration. His  presence  puts  an  end  to  cheerfulness,  the  excuse 
for  which  is  that  he  must  maintain  respect. 

It  is  a  custom,  the  reason  for  which  seems  to  be  the  desire 
of  the  father  not  to  lose  power  in  the  house,  that  he  often  gives 
allotments  to  his  sons  and  takes  into  the  house  in  their  place 
a  grandson,  or  a  nephew,  or  a  hired  man.  These  persons,  after 
they  have  lived  some  years  in  the  house,  and  worked  in  the 
family  acquire  the  same  right  to  a  part  of  the  inheritance  as  if 
they  had  been  children.  The  Yakuts  say  that  a  father  may  de- 
prive a  son  of  his  inheritance,  but  the  author  never  knew  an  ex- 
ample of  it.  He  knew  of  cases  in  which  sons  sued  fathers, 
alleging  that  the  allotments  which  they  received  after  many 

years'  labour  were  not  as  large  as  they  should  have  been 

— W.  J.  SUMNER,  "The  Yakuts,"  Journal  of  the  Anthropological 
Institute,  31:65-78  [whole  paper,  65-110],  Abridged  from 
the  Russian  of  Sieroshevski.  (  Yakuty,  published  by  the  Imperial 
Russian  Geographical  Society,  St.  Petersburg,  1896,  1 '.720  ff.) 

AGRICULTURE  AND  CATTLE-BREEDING 

....  When  man  sets  to  work  to  add  something  from  his 
own  resources  to  what  Nature  does  for  him,  a  simple  solution 
of  the  problem  lies  in  an  attempt  to  bottle  up  as  it  were  the 
sources  of  his  food  supply.  Even  now  many  of  those  Australian 
races  whom  we  regard  as  standing  on  the  lowest  step  of  civiliza- 
tion, strictly  prohibit  the  pulling-up  of  plants  which  have  edible 
fruit,  and  the  destruction  of  birds'  nests.  They  are  content 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  93 

simply  to  let  Nature  work  for  them,  only  taking  thought  not  to 
disturb  her.  Wild  bees'  nests  are  often  emptied  with  such  regu- 
larity that  a  kind  of  primitive  bee-keeping  grows  up.  So  with 
other  animals:  man  allows  them  to  lay  up  the  provision  which 
he  subsequently  takes  away,  and  thus  is  led  in  another  direction 
to  the  verge  of  cultivation.  Drege  instances  the  case  of  Arthra- 
therum  brevifolium,  a  grain-bearing  grass  in  Namaqua-land,  the 
seed  of  which  the  Bushmen  take  from  the  ants. 

Here  Nature  frames  a  check  for  man,  and  teaches  him  thrift 
On  the  other  side,  the  tendency  to  settlement  is  encouraged. 
Where  large  provision  of  fruits  is  found  whole  tribes  come  at  the 
gathering  time  from  all  sides,  and  remain  as  long  as  the  food 
lasts.  Thus  to  this  day  the  Zanderillos  of  Mexico  come  to  the 
sandy  lowlands  of  the  Coatzacoalco  when  the  melons  are  ripe; 
or  the  Ojibbeways  assemble  round  the  marshes  where  the 
Zizania,  or  water-rice,  grows ;  or  the  Australians  hold  a  kind 
of  harvest  festivity  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  marsileaceous 
plants  which  serve  them  for  grain.  Thus  on  two  sides  the  bar- 
riers of  savage  nature  are  broken  down.  The  son  of  the  desert  is 
beginning  to  look  ahead,  and  is  on  the  way  to  become  settled. 
From  this  stage  to  the  great  epoch-making  discovery  that  he 
must  commit  the  seed  to  the  earth  in  order  to  stimulate  Nature 
to  richer  performance,  may  in  point  of  time  have  been  far,  but 
as  we  think  of  it  the  step  does  not  seem  long. 

The  beginnings  of  cattle-breeding  show  yet  further  how 
man  succeeded  in  knitting  an  important  part  of  Nature  with  his 
own  fortunes.  The  roaming  barbarian,  who  for  certain  periods 
is  quite  away  from  mankind,  tries  to  get  from  Nature  either 
what  is  most  like  himself,  or  what  seems  less  likely  to  make  him 
conscious  of  his  own  weakness  and  smallness.  Now  the  animal 
world,  though  separated  by  a  deep  gulf  from  man  of  to-day,  in- 
cludes, in  its  gentler  and  more  docile  members,  the  natural 
qualities  with  which  he  likes  best  to  associate  himself.  The  de- 
light which  Indians,  or  Dyaks,  or  Nile-negroes  take  in  taming 
wild  animals  is  well  known.  Their  huts  are  full  of  monkeys, 
parrots,  and  other  playmates.  It  may  be  that  the  strong  impulse 
to  companionship  which  exists  in  man  may  have  had  more  to  do 
with  the  first  effective  step  towards  acquiring  domestic  animals 


94  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

than  any  eye  to  the  use  to  be  made  of  them.  Thus  we  find  no  less 
among  the  lowest  races  of  existing  mankind  than  in  the  remains 
of  civilization  anterior  to  the  introduction  of  domestic  animals 
and  cultivated  plants,  the  dog  as  the  sole  permanent  companion ; 
and  his  usefulness  is  limited  enough.  Generally,  indeed,  it  is 
difficult  to  draw  any  certain  conclusion  from  the  purpose  which 
an  animal  serves  in  our  civilization,  as  to  that  for  which  man 
first  associated  him  with  himself.  In  Africa  and  Oceania  the 
dog  is  used  for  food.  We  may  suppose  that  the  horse  and  the 
camel  were  in  the  first  instance  tamed,  not  so  much  for  the  sake 
of  their  speed  as  for  the  milk  of  their  females.  A  certain  friend- 
ship, even  in  more  civilized  countries,  attaches  the  shepherd  to 
the  members  of  his  flock.  Thus  cattle- farming  is  a  pursuit  which 
arouses  more  enthusiasm  than  agriculture.  It  is  more  often 
the  men's  work,  and  exercises  a  far  deeper  influence  on  all  pri- 
vate and  public  relations.  Nowhere  in  Africa  do  the  fruits  of  the 
field  form  to  the  same  extent  as  the  herds  the  basis  of  life,  the 
source  of  pleasure,  the  measure  of  wealth,  the  means  of  acquir- 
ing all  other  desirable  articles,  especially  women;  lastly  even 
currency,  as  when  pecus  gave  its  name  to  pecunia.  Many  a  race 
has  carried  this  identification  of  its  existence  with  its  favourite 
animal  to  a  dangerous  excess.  Even  when  their  stage  of  culture 
is  well  advanced  these  cattle- farming  peoples  suffer  from  the 
narrow  basis  in  which  their  livelihood  rests.  The  Basutos  are, 
all  things  considered,  the  best  branch  of  the  great  Bechuana 
stock,  but  the  theft  of  their  cattle  alone  was  enough  to  reduce 
them  to  impotence.  Similarly  the  rinderpest  of  recent  years  has 
ruined  the  Masai  and  Wagogo. 

But  the  great  influence  which  cattle-breeding  produces  upon  a 
race  is  to  make  it  restless.  Pastoral  life  and  nomad  life  are 
practically  synonymous.  Even  our  own  alp-system,  with  its 
changes  from  valley  to  mountain  pastures,  is  a  fragment  of 
nomadism.  Pastoral  life  requires  wide  spaces,  and  agrees  with 
the  restless  tendencies  of  the  more  forcible  races.  The  desert  is 
preferred  to  the  fertile  country,  as  more  spacious.  The  Rhenish 
missionaries  had  specially  to  undertake  the  task  of  inducing  some 
of  the  Namaqua  tribes  to  settle  on  fertile  oases.  How  little 
nomads  care  to  utilise  Nature  more  thoroughly  we  may  learn 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  95 

from  the  fact  that  as  a  rule  they  hoard  no  provision  for  the 
winter.  In  the  country  about  Gobabis  on  the  Nosob  River,  Chap- 
man found  the  grass  growing  a  yard  high,  and  so  thick  that  it 
would  have  been  easy  to  make  hay  in  abundance;  but  as  a  rule 
the  Namaquas  allowed  it  to  be  burnt  without  attempting  to  use 
it.  This  sort  of  indifference  tends  to  increase  the  contrast  be- 
tween nomadism  and  agriculture,  and  assumes  the  character  of 
a  great  obstacle  to  civilization.  Prjewalski,  in  his  account  of 
his  first  journey,  has  described  this  boundary,  the  boundary  of 
both  Nature  and  culture,  between  steppe  and  farm  land,  between 
"the  cold  desert  plateau  and  the  warm,  fertile,  and  well-watered 
plain  of  China,  intersected  by  mountain-chains,"  as  marked  with 
wonderful  sharpness.  He  agrees  with  Ritter  that  this  question 
of  situation  is  what  decides  the  historic  fortunes  of  races  which 
inhabit  countries  closely  bordering  on  each  other.  When  he 
enters  the  Ordos  country — that  steppe  region,  so  important  in 
history,  which  lies  in  the  bend  of  the  upper  Hoangho, — he  says 
of  the  races  in  those  parts:  "Dissimilar  as  they  are,  both  in 
mode  of  life  and  in  character,  they  were  destined  by  Nature  to 
remain  alien  to  each  other,  and  in  a  state  of  mutual  hatred.  To 
the  Chinese,  a  restless  nomad  life,  full  of  privation,  was  incon- 
ceivable and  despicable;  the  nomad  looked  with  contempt  at  the 
life  of  his  agricultural  neighbour  with  all  its  cares  and  toils,  and 
esteemed  his  own  savage  freedom  the  greatest  happiness  on  earth. 
This  is  the  actual  source  of  the  distinction  in  character  between 
the  races :  the  laborious  Chinese,  who  from  time  immemorial  has 
attained  to  a  comparatively  high  and  very  peculiar  civilization, 
always  avoided  war,  and  looked  on  it  as  the  greatest  misfortune ; 
while  on  the  other  hand  the  active  and  savage  inhabitant  of  the 
Mongolian  desert,  hardened  against  all  physical  consequences, 
was  ever  ready  for  raiding  and  reiving.  If  he  failed  he  lost  but 
little,  while  in  the  event  of  success  he  secured  the  wealth  ac- 
cumulated by  the  labour  of  several  generations." 

Here  we  have  the  contrast  between  the  most  characteristically 
nomad  race  and  the  most  sedentary  agriculturists, — a  contrast 
with  whose  historical  results  in  many  gradations  we  shall  meet  as 
we  go  along,  in  the  chapters  of  this  book  which  describe  races. 
Only  we  must  not  forget  that  sedentary  life  in  this  degree  is 


96  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

found  in  a  race  of  ancient  civilization.  It  is  otherwise  with  the 
"natural"  races.  When  we  consider  the  position  of  agricultural 
barbarians,  we  shall  often  no  doubt  attach  less  weight  to  the 
difference,  in  other  respects  of  so  much  ethnographic  importance, 
between  nomadic  and  settled  races ;  for  what  is  the  significance  of 
a  sedentary  mode  of  life  if  its  great  civilizing  advantage,  con- 
tinuity, and  security  of  life,  and  if  possible  of  progress,  is  taken 
out  of  it  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact  even  the  best  cultivators  among  the 
African  races  are  astonishingly  movable;  and  the  majority  of 
villages,  even  of  the  smaller  races,  seldom  remain  for  many 
generations  in  the  same  spot.  Thus  the  distinction  between  pas- 
toral and  agricultural  life  becomes  much  smaller.  The  African 
Negro  is  the  finest  agriculturist  of  all  "natural"  races,  except 
perhaps  some  Malayan  tribes,  as,  say,  the  Battaks  of  Sumatra. 
He  contends  with  a  luxuriant  nature,  fells  trees,  and  burns  the 
coppice,  to  make  room  for  the  plough.  Round  the  hut  of  a  Bongo 
or  a  Musgu  you  will  find  a  greater  variety  of  garden  plants  than 
in  the  fields  and  gardens  of  a  German  village.  He  grows  more 
than  he  requires,  and  preserves  the  surplus  in  granaries  above 
or  under  the  ground.  But  the  force  of  the  soil  and  the  man  is 
not  utilised  to  the  full.  It  is  a  small  cultivation,  a  kind  of 
gardening.  Codrington's  expression,  "horticultural  people,"  used 
by  him  of  the  Melanesians,  may  be  applied  to  many  other  "nat- 
ural" races.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  the  man  does  not  in  many 
cases  devote  himself  wholly  to  agriculture,  imperfect  tools  tend 
to  perpetuate  the  lower  stage.  The  women  and  children,  with 
the  unpractical  hoes  shown  in  our  illustrations,  do  no  more  than 
scratch  the  surface.  The  plough,  not  to  mention  the  harrow,  has 
nowhere  become  customary  among  genuinely  barbarous  peoples; 
manuring,  except  for  the  ashes  of  the  burnt  brushwood,  just  as 
little.  One  much  more  often  comes  across  terracing  and  arti- 
ficial irrigation. 

Agriculture,  limited  in  the  tropics  by  the  hostility  of  the  forces 
of  Nature,  is  equally  so  in  the  temperate  zones  by  the  lesser 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  the  less  favourable  climate.  It  was  never 
carried  on  here  to  the  same  extent  as  in  the  tropics,  but  rather 
formed  a  subsidiary  branch  of  economy;  it  fell  mainly  into  the 
hands  of  the  women,  and  was  a  provision  only  for  the  utmost 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  97 

need.  In  contrast  to  the  wide  diffusion  which  newly-imported 
plants  obtained  among  the  Africans,  it  is  significant  that  the 
New  Zealanders,  though  they  were  from  the  first  very  fond  of 
potatoes,  never  planted  any  of  their  own  free  will,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  grubbed  up  almost  the  whole  of  the  ground  which 
Captain  Furneaux  had  tilled  for  their  benefit.  Still,  it  is  just  here 
that,  with  persistence,  agriculture  renders  possible  higher  de- 
velopments than  cattle-farming  can  do.  It  is  steadier,  and  forces 
on  a  man  the  wholesome  habit  of  labour.  In  Mexico  and  Peru 
it  is  followed  by  the  accumulation  of  capital,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  industry  and  trade;  and  therewith  by  the  occasion  for 
a  fuller  organisation  of  social  ranks.  European  cultivation  is  an 
entirely  new  system;  apart  from  its  more  effective  implements 
and  methods,  it  proceeds  on  broader  lines.  It  has  abandoned  the 
gardening  style  possessed  by  the  agriculture  of  Negroes  and 
Polynesians,  even  by  that  of  the  industrious  peoples  of  east  and 
south  Asia. 

This  kind  of  agriculture  does  not  make  the  daily  bread  secure. 
Even  the  most  active  cultivators  in  Africa  have  to  go  without 
security  against  changes  of  luck.  The  behaviour  of  the  elements 
cannot  be  reckoned  upon.  Drought  especially  does  not  spare  these 
tropical  Paradises;  and  famine  often  forms  a  scourge  of  the 
population  in  the  most  fertile  regions.  This  alone  is  sufficient  to 
prevent  these  races  from  passing  a  certain  line,  beyond  which 
their  development  to  a  higher  civilization  is  alone  possible.  All 
the  good  of  a  good  year  is  trodden  out  by  a  famine  year  with  its 
results  of  cannibalism  and  the  sale  of  children.  In  the  tropics, 
too,  damp  makes  the  storage  of  provisions  difficult.  In  Africa, 
again,  the  devastation  of  ants  and  weevils  makes  it  hard  to  keep 
the  chief  crop,  millet,  till  the  next  harvest.  However  much  they 
plant,  and  however  plentiful  the  harvest  turns  out,  everything 
must  be  consumed  in  the  year.  This  again  is  one  reason  why 
the  negroes  brew  so  much  beer.  Herein,  however,  whatever  may 
be  the  fault  of  the  climate,  undoubtedly  lies  one  of  the  imper- 
fections whereby  agriculture  will  necessarily  be  beset  among  a 
race  in  whose  customs  foresight  and  endurance  are  hardly  de- 
veloped, and  are  incapable  of  linking  the  activities  of  individual 
persons  and  individual  days  with  a  strong  thread  of  necessary 


98  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

interdependence.  And  here,  too,  human  foes,  those  "communists 
of  nature"  who  equalise  all  property,  take  good  care  that  the 
steady  prosperity  of  agriculture  shall  not  create  too  deep  a  gulf 
between  it  and  nomadism. 

In  the  matter  of  food,  "natural"  races,  even  when  they  carry 
on  agriculture,  strive  with  avidity  to  get  animal  adjuncts.  Con- 
trary to  our  physiological  notions,  fat  and  blood  are  consumed 
in  quantities  even  by  purely  tropical  races,  like  the  Polynesians; 
and  it  is  just  in  these  things  that  gluttony  is  practised.  The  near- 
est approach  to  vegetarianism  is  made  by  the  rice-planting  peoples 
of  east  Asia  and  the  banana-planting  negroes  of  the  forest,  as  for- 
merly by  the  civilized  races  of  America.  The  races  of  the  far 
north  eat,  no  doubt,  more  than  we  suppose  of  wild  plants ;  but 
they  rely  especially  on  the  fat  and  flesh  of  sea-mammals.  Some 
nomad  groups  support  themselves  with  superstitious  exclusive- 
ness  on  meat  and  milk.  Roots  are  eagerly  sought.  Salt  is  liked 
in  all  parts  of  the  earth,  and  the  fondness  for  meat  and  blood 
is  based  in  some  measure  on  the  craving  for  it.  By  rapid  and 
thorough  roasting  the  salts  of  the  meat- juices  are  rendered  more 
highly  serviceable.  Every  rsce  in  all  parts  of  the  earth  has  hit 
upon  some  means  of  enjoying  caffein  compounds  and  alcohol. 
Tobacco  is  not  the  only  narcotic  herb  that  is  smoked.  The 
methods  of  chewing  betel  and  coca  are  strikingly  alike.  The 
knowledge  of  many  poisons  has  come  to  civilized  races  from 
barbarians. — F.  RATZEL,  History  of  Mankind,  i :  88-93. 

ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  AGRICULTURE 

....  When  we  examine  the  intricate  conditions  under  which 
agriculture  is  carried  on  amongst  us  at  the  present  day,  it  becomes 
a  matter  of  no  small  difficulty  for  us  to  imagine  a  period  when 
man  should  have  raised  food  from  the  soil  without  any  of  the,  to 
us  apparently  essential,  pre-suppositions  having  been  complied 
with.  With  us,  apart  from  the  primary  indispensability  of  a  suita- 
ble climate  and  soil,  we  see  that  the  farmer  requires  security  from 
domestic  and  foreign  foes,  in  other  words  a  reliable  government, 
a  certain  amount  of  capital  and  labour,  freedom  from  animal 
pests,  a  fixed  settlement  and — that  primary  incentive  to  toil  in 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  99 

civilisation — want.  Eliminating  capital  and  labour,  we  will  pro- 
ceed to  ascertain  how  far  these  conditions  are  fulfilled  among 
agricultural  savages  at  the  present  day,  and  to  what  extent  they 
were  likely  to  have  been  fulfilled  at  the  period  when  man  dis- 
covered how  to  cultivate  the  soil,  or  when  circumstances  so 
developed  themselves  that  man  passed  insensibly  into  the  agri- 
cultural age.  If  we  begin  with  the  obstruction  to  cultivation 
caused  by  the  ravages  of  animals  and  vegetable  parasites  and 
thieves,  we  find  that  some  of  these  pests  can  be  overcome,  but 
that  in  the  presence  of  others,  man  appears  to  be  helpless. 
Caillee  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Foulahs,  an  advanced 
nation  of  husbandmen,  "bring  their  fowls  with  them  into  the 
fields  to  eat  up  the  insects."  E.  Dieffenbach  mentions  that  the 
Maories  collected  the  caterpillars  which  destroyed  their  crops, 
and  Captain  Speke  says  that  at  Karague  the  natives  in  order  to 
save  themselves  from  starvation  caused  by  the  depredations  of 
sparrows,  "were  obliged  to  grow  a  bitter  corn  which  the  birds 
disliked."  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  pests  which  savages  have 
not  been  able  to  overcome.  Dr.  H.  Barth  refers  to  the  destruc- 
tiveness  of  the  black  and  red  worms.  On  the  Amazons  the 
Saiiba  ants  are  so  destructive  that  the  inhabitants  said  "it  was 
useless  trying  to  grow  anything  thereabouts,"  and  Mr.  Thos. 
Belt  gives  a  similar  account  of  the  leaf-cutting  ant  at  St.  Do- 
mingo. Mice  are  also  heavy  tax-gatherers.  Rats  and  mice  are 
so  destructive  to  rice-fields  that  the  Dyaks  have  to  select  new 
ground  every  four  or  five  years.  Neither  is  man  free  from  the 
larger  pests.  At  Ehetilla,  Sir  S.  Baker  describes  how  the  ele- 
phants destroyed  the  dhourra  crops,  and  Capt.  Cameron  records 
that  where  a  "large  herd  of  elephants  had  passed,  the  scene  of 
destruction  was  amazing."  Finally  Bradley  tells  how  the  rhino- 
ceros, as  well  as  elephants  and  buffalo,  "often  nearly  ruin  the 
villagers  by  breaking  into  the  rice  and  maize  fields,"  and  he  also 
mentions  that  tigers  were  in  one  district  so  destructive  to  human 
life  as  to  drive  the  husbandmen  to  seek  fresh  quarters.  There  is 
no  end  to  examples  of  this  class,  and  as  these  hindrances  to 
agriculture  still  exist  in  semi-civilised  and  sparsely-populated 
countries,  as  well  as,  to  a  limited  extent,  with  us  at  home,  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  infer  that  the  efforts  of  man  from  the  time 


100  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  his  earliest  attempts  to  grow  crops  have  been  similarly  ob- 
structed. 

We  come  then  to  the  conditions  of  general  absence  of  security 
to  life  and  property  from  foreign  foes.  Throughout  the  early 
part  of  his  narrative  Captain  Speke  refers,  page  after  page,  to 
the  ravages  committed  by  the  Watuta ;  Bates  speaks  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  plantations  of  the  Mundurucus  by  the  Pararuates, 
and  Capt.  Bruce  tells  us  how  the  Abyssinian  agriculturists  had 
been  driven  to  the  mountain  tops.  Livingstone  describes  how  the 
agricultural  Bakalahari  were  hunted  south,  and  how  the  country 
was  destroyed  by  the  Ajawas.  Mungo  Park  refers  to  the  utter 
destruction  caused  by  African  wars,  and  Capt.  Cameron  tells  a 
similar  story.  Spencer  St.  John  refers  to  the  annihilation  of 
agricultural  districts  by  the  Kayan  head  hunters.  The  pages  of 
Dieffenbach's  'Travels  in  New  Zealand"  give  us  similar  pictures. 
In  Fiji  and  Tahiti  matters  were  not  much  better.  There  is,  in 
fact,  hardly  a  book  on  travels  in  savage  or  barbarous  countries 
which  does  not  bear  evidence  of  the  destruction  to  agriculture  by 
invading  tribes,  and  yet,  in  spite  of  them  all,  agriculture  has  con- 
tinued to  progress.  Indeed  Mr.  H.  H.  Johnston  gives  us  a 
graphic  description  of  the  manner  in  which  a  warlike  race,  the 
Masai,  after  turning  the  country  into  a  wilderness,  have  almost, 
in  spite  of  themselves,  taken  again  to  agriculture. 

With  regard  to  the  protection  afforded  to  private  property  as 
an  inducement  to  cultivate  the  soil,  this  is  a  question  which  hardly 
affects  our  inquiry,  for  in  early  days  it  is  doubtful  whether  there 
existed  an  individual  right  in  agricultural  produce.  "Judging  from 
the  evidences  in  so  many  countries  of  the  existence  of  village 
communities  holding  land  in  common,"  Sir  John  Lubbock  con- 
cludes that  "there  seems  strong  reason  to  suppose  that  in  the 
history  of  human  progress  the  individual  property  in  land  was 
always  preceded  by  a  period  in  which  movable  property  alone 
was  individual,  while  the  land  was  common.  It  is  difficult  to 
imagine  that  since  the  land  was  common,  that  the  produce  was 
not  likewise  common."  As  evidence  in  this  direction  we  may 
cite  the  case  of  the  Australians  who  divide  the  spoil  of  the  chase 
or  the  gin's  vegetable  collections  without  any  reference  to  the 
individuals  who  obtained  them.  The  North  American  Indians, 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  IOI 

the  Peruvians,  the  Chittagong  Hill  Tribes,  the  Borneans,  and 
the  South  Sea  Islanders,  all  appear  to  have  cultivated  in  com- 
mon and  to  have  possessed  common  rights  in  the  produce. 

Then  as  to  a  settled  abode.  When  we  look  into  history  we 
find  nations  were  apparently  ever  given  to  wandering.  After  a 
while  wanderings  become  restricted.  The  Khirghiz,  ancient 
nomads,  are  now  bound  in  the  steppes  by  certain  limits,  beyond 
which  they  cannot  roam  without  coming  into  collision  with 
other  hordes ;  they  have  also  fixed  summer  and  winter  quarters. 
Of  the  Kurdish  tribes  (the  Kochas)  Mr.  A.  H.  Layard  says  they 
change  encampments  according  to  season ;  they  go  to  high  peaks 
in  summer,  and  to  the  low  grounds  of  Tigris  and  Zab  in  the 
winter.  The  Wahumba,  a  branch  of  the  great  Masai  nation, 
move,  according  to  Capt.  V.  L.  Cameron,  "from  place  to  place  in 
search  of  pasture"  for  their  cattle.  Brough  Smyth,  in  his  work 
on  The  Aborigines  of  Victoria  says  "it  is  necessary  for  a  tribe 
to  move  very  frequently  from  place  to  place,  always  keeping 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  country  which  it  calls  its  own — 
now  to  the  spot  where  eels  can  be  taken,  often  to  the  feeding 
grounds  of  the  Kangaroo,"  &c.,  &c.,  and  Sir  George  Grey  in 
describing  the  roots  eaten  by  the  West  Australians  says,  "some 
of  these  are  in  season  in  every  period  of  the  year,  and  the  natives 
regulate  their  visits  to  the  different  districts  accordingly."  The 
Obongos  similarly  wander  in  search  of  vegetable  foods  and  wild 
animals.  The  Negritos,  the  supposed  aborigines  of  the  Philip- 
pines, have  no  fixed  abodes  "but  shift  from  place  to  place  within 
a  circumference  of  four  or  five  leagues."  In  Borneo  we  have  the 
wandering  Pakatau  and  Punau,  who  move  to  a  new  spot  "when 
they  have  exhausted  the  jungle  around  of  wild  beasts  and  other 
food."  To  go  to  the  New  World,  we  find  that  the  Abipones 
roam  from  one  district  to  another  accordingly  as  they  found  their 
food.  The  Nehannes  spend  the  summer  on  the  coast  and  the 
winter  inland.  The  Haidahs  have  temporary  dwellings  for  the 
summer,  besides  permanent  well-guarded  villages,  and  the  same 
may  be  said  of  the  Nootkas.  The  aborigines  of  Florida  were, 
according  to  De  Vaca,  great  wanderers,  and  Capt.  R.  W.  Cop- 
pinger  says  the  Fuegians  have  seasonal  changes  of  dwelling. 

In  all  the  above  cases — and  there  is  no  end  to  them — the 


102  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tribes  wander  either  for  the  sake  of  food  for  themselves  or  for 
their  flocks.  We  can  understand  their  doing  so  well  enough. 
But  it  astonishes  us  not  a  little  to  meet  with  tribes  who  culti- 
vate the  soil,  and  who  if  not  exactly  wanderers  like  the  Fuegians 
and  Australians,  are  at  least  wanting  in  what  we  call  fixed  settle- 
ments. J.  Pallme  tells  us  that  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  water 
"there  are  certain  districts  in  Kordofan,  the  agricultural  popu- 
lation of  which  inhabit  two  different  villages  in  the  year,"  one  in 
the  wet  season  for  cultivation,  and  one  in  the  dry  season  to  be 
near  the  wells,  and  Mr.  H.  M.  Jenkins,  F.G.S.  (privately  com- 
municated) informs  us  that  something  very  similar  to  this  exists 
in  Norway  and  Sweden  to  this  day.  The  Coroades  in  the  Brazils 
who  cultivate  the  soil,  "very  commonly  quit  their  abodes  and 
settle  where  new  fruits  are  ripening,  or  where  the  chase  is  more 
productive.  Mr.  Im  Thurn  refers  to  the  periodical  desertion  of 
their  fields  by  the  Indians,  and  which  movement  he  ascribes  to 
superstition.  According  to  D'Albertis  some  of  the  natives  of 
New  Guinea  on  the  death  of  the  head  of  the  family,  forsake  house 
and  plantation  and  build  a  new  house  and  prepare  a  new  planta- 
tion some  distance  away  from  the  old  home.  Some  of  the  Maories 
were  nomadic  agriculturists.  The  Ainos,  we  are  told  by  Miss  I. 
Bird,  are  continually  exhausting  and  clearing  fresh  land.  The 
Dyaks  do  not  desert  their  farms  because  the  land  is  exhausted, 
but  because  it  is  less  trouble  to  cut  down  fresh  jungle  than  to 
eradicate  the  weeds  which  have  sprung  up  after  the  padi  has  been 
gathered.  Sir  Emerson  Tennent  states  that  "the  Village  Veddahs, 
who  hold  a  position  intermediate  between  the  Rock-,  or  Wild-, 
and  the  Coast- Veddahs,  are  still  migratory  in  their  habits,  re- 
moving their  huts  as  facilities  vary  for  cultivating  a  little  corn 
and  yams."  Of  the  Chittagong  hill  tribes,  Capt.  T.  H.  Lewin 
tells  us :  "The  site  of  the  village  is  changed  as  often  as  the  spots 
fit  for  cultivation  in  the  vicinity  are  exhausted."  The  Tsawkoo 
Karens  abandon  both  villages  and  plantations  after  three  years' 
cultivation.  The  Lepchas  are  nomadic  agriculturists  who  remain 
as  long  as  three  years  in  the  same  locality.  The  Juangs  "are  still 
semi-nomadic  in  their  habits,  living  together  in  villages  during 
a  portion  of  the  year,  but  often  changing  the  sites,  and  occupy- 
ing huts  in  the  midst  of  their  patches  of  cultivation,  whilst  crops 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  103 

are  on  the  ground."  Finally,  the  Santals  are  so  fond  of  the 
chase  that  "when  through  their  own  labour,  the  spread  of  culti- 
vation has  effected  this  denudation  [of  the  forests]  they  select 
a  new  site,  however  prosperous  they  may  have  been  in  the  old, 
and  retire  into  the  backwoods." 

There  are  more  explanations  than  one  of  the  continued  exist- 
ence of  wandering  habits  among  semi-agriculturists.  The  roving 
disposition  may  be  due  in  part  to  the  old  customs  of  a  passing 
state  in  which  perhaps  search  for  food  and  superstition  in  con- 
nection with  death,  on  which  occasion  many  tribes  think  it  neces- 
sary to  shift  their  quarters,  may  have  much  to  do.  But  it  is 
probably  rare  that  cultivated  land  is  deserted  on  account  of  its 
arriving  at  the  state  described  as  "exhausted,"  i.  e.  when  crops 
can  no  longer  be  grown  in  consequence  of  the  withdrawal,  through 
too  much  cultivation,  of  their  food  constituents,  for  savages  do 
not  cultivate  on  such  an  intense  system  as  to  bring  about  that 
state  of  the  soil.  Indeed,  Sir  John  Lawes  says  well  when  he  tells 
us  that  exhaustion  means  more  particularly  that  weeds  have 
choked  the  growing  crop.  In  some  parts  of  Sumatra  it  would 
appear  that  the  alang-alang  grass  takes  possession  of  the  culti- 
vated ground,  and  drives  the  Lampongs  to  clear  forest  land  which 
does  not  give  such  good  crops  of  rice  as  the  other  level  lands. 
But  there  appears  to  us  to  be  considerable  justification  for  believ- 
ing that  savages  may  have  searched  for  fresh  lands  when  their 
soils  have  arrived  at  that  condition  which  farmers  express  by 
stating  that  for  particular  crops  the  soil  loses  its  productive 
power.  This  condition  is  due  to  unnatural  causes  brought  about 
by  cultivation,  and  which  a  brief  reference  to  Darwin's  Variation 
of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication  (2d  ed.,  1885)  may 
help  to  explain.  Darwin  has  pointed  out  that  in  natural  selec- 
tion the  variation  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  plant  or  animal  under- 
going change,  whereas  with  cases  of  selection  by  man  the  varia- 
tion is  brought  about  for  man's  benefit  and  not  for  that  of  the 
creature  that  man  for  the  time  being  is  tampering  with,  and  that 
as  a  consequence  a  weakened  constitution  may  attend  such  do- 
mestication. This  is  the  reason  why  at  the  present  day  crops  of 
turnips  or  clover  cannot  be  grown  consecutively  on  the  same 
land,  a  reason  which  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  agricultural 


104  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

chemists  do  not  consider  the  unsuccessful  continuous  growth  of 
these  crops  to  be  due  to  withdrawal  of  the  proper  food  constit- 
uents. It  may  be  objected,  how  is  it  then  that  wheat  can  be 
grown  tolerably  well  continuously  on  the  same  soil  ?  The  answer 
is  that  wheat,  having  been  cultivated  so  many  thousand  years — 
over  5000  at  least  (we  are  unable  to  trace  the  original  wild 
species) — has,  through  time,  to  a  considerable  extent  overcome 
this  weakness,  whilst  the  turnip,  which  has  barely  been  an  agri- 
cultural crop  for  two  hundred  years,  has  not  yet  had  time  to 
adapt  itself  in  the  same  degree  to  altered  circumstances  as  wheat 
has.  To  continue,  Darwin  was  inclined  to  think  that  when  cereals 
were  first  cultivated  the  ears  and  grain  may  have  "increased 
quickly  in  size  in  the  same  manner  as  the  roots  of  the  wild  carrot 
and  parsnip  are  known  to  increase  quickly  in  bulk  under  culti- 
vation." Therefore,  when  cultivation  had  already  become  a  fixed 
art,  the  crop  cultivated  improved  in  quality,  but  then  came  the 
weakened  stage  during  which  the  more  enlightened  savage  agri- 
culturist, giving  way  also  to  old  tradition,  forsook  the  old  soil 
and  searched  for  new. 

We  now  come  to  a  very  potent  factor,  and  one  to  which  most 
people  would  ascribe  the  savage's  first  attempt  at  cultivating  the 
soil — namely,  want  of  food.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  look  for- 
ward to  the  morrow  that  it  becomes  difficult  for  us  to  conceive 
the  existence  of  a  people  who  give  it  no  thought.  To  us  it 
seems  strange  that  any  man  knowing  he  has  no  food  for  the  next 
day  should  either  devour  the  whole  of  his  present  stock  or  not 
take  any  other  precaution  towards  securing  the  necessary  supply 
until  the  necessity  makes  itself  painfully  apparent. 

Whatever  may  be  our  preconceived  notions,  we  shall  now  see 
that  savage  man  does  not  trouble  about  his  to-morrow's  meals, 
any  more  than  does  a  beast  of  the  field.  Mr.  E.  M.  Curr,  who 
spent  some  twenty  years  in  daily  contact  with  native  Australians, 
emphatically  records  his  opinion  as  follows :  "It  is  a  noteworthy 
fact  connected  with  the  Bangerang,  and  indeed,  as  far  as  I 
am  aware,  with  the  whole  aboriginal  population  (notwithstand- 
ing what  Captain  Grey  asserts  to  the  contrary  in  connection  with 
the  blacks  of  West  Australia)  that  as  they  neither  sowed  nor 
reaped,  so  they  never  abstained  from  eating  the  whole  of  any 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  105 

food  they  had  got,  with  a  view  to  the  wants  of  the  morrow.  If 
anything  was  left  for  Tuesday,  it  was  merely  that  they  had  been 
unable  to  consume  it  on  the  Monday.  In  this  they  were  like  the 
beasts  of  the  forests.  To-day  they  would  feast — aye,  gorge — 
no  matter  about  the  morrow.  So  also  they  never  spared  a  young 
animal  with  a  view  to  its  growing  bigger."  Dr.  Robertson 
quoting  from  Dr.  Edward  Bancroft,  who  visited  Guiana  at  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  says  of  the  Indian,  who  then, 
as  now,  cultivated  yams,  "he  is  then  least  solicitous  about  supply- 
ing his  wants  when  the  means  of  satisfying  them  are  most  pre- 
carious and  produced  with  the  greatest  difficulty."  The  testi- 
mony of  a  traveller  two  hundred  years  later  proves  that  that 
Indian  is  still  the  same  improvident  being.  De  Vaca,  who  spent 
nine  years  among  the  savages  of  Florida,  describes  how  these 
wanderers  were  always  in  want  of  sufficient  food.  Of  the  Hot- 
tentots, who  had  been  taught  something  already  by  the  mission- 
aries, W.  J.  Burchell  complains,  "Some  of  the  people  cultivate 
a  little  corn,  but  so  foolish  and  improvident  are  they,  that  as 
soon  as  the  harvest  is  gathered  in,  they  eat,  I  may  almost  say, 
night  and  day,  till  the  little  they  have  is  devoured."  He  adds  that 
they  are  always  either  in  a  state  of  feast  or  fast.  Of  the  Bacha- 
pins  he  says,  "that  although  agriculture  is  considered  important, 
it  is  not  carried  far  enough  to  put  the  natives  in  plenty,  and  they 
often  suffer  want."  Speaking  of  an  agricultural  tribe  of  Arabs, 
James  Hamilton  bewails  a  similar  want  of  foresight.  In  a  de- 
scription of  the  Columbians  we  are  told,  "Life  with  all  these 
nations  is  but  a  struggle  for  food."  Yet  it  was  the  missionaries 
who  introduced  agriculture  among  them,  and  the  same  author 
in  an  account  of  the  wild  tribes  of  Central  America,  tells  us : 
"No  regularity  is  observed  in  eating,  but  food  is  taken  at  any 
hour,  and  with  voracity;  nor  will  they  take  the  trouble  to  pro- 
cure more,  until  the  whole  stock  is  consumed  and  hunger  drives 
them  from  their  hammocks.  The  Poyas  and  Guajiqueros  seem 
to  be  the  only  tribes  who  have  any  idea  of  providing  for  the 
future."  The  New  Mexicans  (Apaches  and  others)  making 
more  or  less  pretensions  to  agriculture,  seldom  "raise  a  sufficient 
supply  for  the  year's  consumption."  Even  the  Mexicans  were 
an  improvident  people  and  want  was  no  stranger  to  them.  Al- 


io6  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

though  agriculturists,  the  Malays,  "as  in  all  parts  of  the  interior, 
have  barely  enough  food  for  their  own  consumption."  Major 
W.  F.  Butler  reports  on  the  half-breeds  of  Manitoba:  "Even 
starvation,  that  most  potent  inducement  to  toil,  seems  powerless 
to  promote  habits  of  industry  and  agriculture ;"  he  refers  to  the 
great  privations  these  men  undergo,  and  adds  that  like  the 
Indians,  "they  refuse  to  credit  the  gradual  extinction  of  the 
buffalo,  and  persist  in  still  depending  on  that  animal  for  food." 
Although  the  dying  out  of  the  bread-fruit  trees  with  the  Tahi- 
tians,  their  staff  of  life,  was  pointed  out  to  the  natives  by  the 
missionaries,  the  Rev.  W.  Ellis  informs  us  that  they  could  not  be 
induced  to  plant  fresh  ones.  Finally  Livingstone,  records  how 
foolish  the  African  tribes  thought  him  when  he  occasionally 
deposited  "date  seeds  in  the  soil." 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  a  few  instances  where  a  mini- 
mum of  forethought  concerning  food  is  exhibited.  Mr.  Darwin 
noticed  "that  the  Fuegians  when  they  find  a  stranded  whale  bury 
large  portions  in  the  sand."  And  we  have  the  case  of  the  Poyas 
and  Guajiqueros  already  referred  to.  The  Esquimaux  store  up 
large  quantities  of  meat  for  winter's  use,  and  the  Wapato  and 
other  Hyperboreans  to  some  extent,  preserved  nuts,  berries,  &c., 
also  for  winter's  food.  The  Wild  Veddahs  were  said  to  preserve 
flesh  in  honey  in  hollow  trees  hermetically  sealed  with  clay.  Mr. 
Darwin  quotes  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  and  Sir  Andrew  Smith  in 
order  to  show  how  savages  occasionally  suffer  from  famine,  but 
there  is  no  instance  on  record  in  which  a  savage  race  was  driven 
to  cultivation  by  want  of  food,  nor  are  we  likely  to  discover  such 
an  instance. 

In  a  case  of  vegetable  and  fruit  famine,  when  the  otherwise 
neglected  wild  food  begins  to  affect  man  and  beast,  savages  com- 
mence to  poach  on  their  neighbours'  grounds,  and,  being  repulsed, 
take  to  eating  the  weaker  members  of  their  own  tribe,  as  is  done 
to  this  day  in  Australia.  A  succession  of  famines,  or  even  a  pro- 
longed one,  necessarily  leaves  more  available  food  afterwards  for 
the  survivors  and  hence  any  lurking  idea  that  there  exists  a 
necessity  to  cultivate  the  ground  would  be  successfully  dissi- 
pated. Allowing  that  a  savage,  wiser  than  the  rest,  had  an  ink- 
ling that  the  cultivation  of  vegetable  fruits  might  help  to  avoid 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  107 

disastrous  dearth,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  he  would  have  the 
power  to  enforce  his  views,  for,  after  all  the  chiefs  of  savage 
races  such  as  the  Australians,  Fuegians,  and  Bushmen,  can  exert 
little  influence  over  their  co-members  beyond  the  enforcement 
of  tribal  customs.  The  question  of  a  sudden  introduction  of 
agriculture  can  in  our  view  be  only  connected  with  a  state  of 
comparatively  high  mental  activity  in  the  savage.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  useful  to  glance  for  a  moment  at  his  mental  state. 

In  his  detailed  account  of  the  life  of  the  Fuegians  Darwin 
says:  "We  can  hardly  put  ourselves  in  the  position  of  these 
savages  to  understand  their  actions,"  the  difficulty  being  due 
partly  to  our  want  of  knowledge  of  these  people,  and  partly  to 
the  fact  that  they  apparently  cannot  or  do  not  reason.  We  are 
told  of  the  Bushmen  "that  whether  capable  of  reflection  or  not, 
these  individuals  never  exerted  it,"  and  Spix  and  Martius  say, 
unfortunately  the  Indian  is  so  unaccustomed  to  exercise  his  intel- 
lectual qualities  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  obtain  satisfactory 
information  from  him.  As  final  and  thoroughly  reliable  evidence 
regarding  the  inactivity  of  the  savage  intellect,  we  may  accept 
the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  Sir  John  Lubbock,  in  his  introduc- 
tory chapter  to  the  "Origin  of  Civilisation."  On  page  7  he  states, 
"Though  savages  always  have  a  reason,  such  as  it  is,  for  what 
they  do  and  what  they  believe,  their  reasons  often  are  very 
absurd ;"  and  on  page  9,  "Again,  the  mind  of  the  savage,  like 
that  of  a  child,  is  easily  fatigued,  and  he  will  then  give  random 
answers  to  spare  himself  the  trouble  of  thought."  Hence  a 
savage  mind  is  not  likely  to  grasp  the  real  position  which  would 
arise  from  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  which  would  be  the  induce- 
ment to  turn  to  husbandry.  So  that  if  we  allow  that  famine  or 
forethought  for  food  induced  the  savage  to  turn  agriculturist 
we  should  be  crediting  him  with  a  power  of  immediate  adapta- 
tion to  circumstances  which  he  does  not  possess. 

Amongst  the  rudest  tribes  we  find  a  well  defined  division  of 
labour  between  the  sexes.  The  men  do  the  hunting  and  fishing, 
and  the  women  the  cooking  and  the  general  work  which  goes 
under  the  name  of  drudgery.  The  women,  being  the  weaker  sex, 
are  also  terribly  knocked  about.  Sir  John  Lubbock,  in  summing 
up  the  evidence  of  travellers  on  the  position  of  the  women  says : 


io8  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

"Their  wives,  or  dogs,  as  some  of  the  Indians  [of  North  Amer- 
ica] call  them,  are  indeed  well  treated  as  long  as  they  do  all  the 
work  and  there  is  plenty  to  eat ;  but  throughout  the  continent,  as 
indeed  among  all  savages,  the  domestic  drudgery  falls  to  their 
lot,  while  the  men  hunt,  and  make  war,  &c.,"  and  ....  he 
refers  to  "the  harsh,  not  to  say  cruel  treatment  which  is  almost 
universal  among  savages."  There  are  a  few  exceptions  to  this 
rule.  The  Veddahs  appear  to  treat  their  women  with  some  sort 
of  decency,  and  the  Maori  women  held  a  not  unsatisfactory 
position.  Mr.  H.  Hale  says  that  the  Caroline  Islanders,  known 
for  their  peaceable  disposition,  treated  their  women  almost  as 
equals,  and  according  to  Serpa  Pinto  the  Ambuellas  treat  their 
women  with  some  consideration,  but,  he  adds,  that  as  a  rule 
among  other  tribes  the  women  are  the  most  abject  slaves  of  their 
husbands.  Mr.  H.  O.  Forbes  bears  witness  to  the  miserable 
position  of  the  women  among  the  Alefurus.  However,  the  con- 
sensus of  opinion  regarding  the  bad  treatment  and  the  slave-like 
position  of  the  women  among  savages  is  so  clear  that  we  need 
make  no  further  quotation. 

The  chase,  snaring,  and  fishing  are  undoubtedly  more  pleasant 
pastimes  than  digging  up  yams  or  diving  for  sea  eggs.  There  is 
an  important  savage  pastime  which  we  must  not  omit  to  men- 
tion. The  letting  of  blood  and  the  watching  of  the  wretched  vic- 
tim as  it  shivers  out  its  existence  are  pleasures  in  which  savages 
revel.  We  have  had  to  deal  with  aboriginal  Australians  and 
South  Sea  Islanders  in  Queensland,  and  have  caught  them  in  the 
act  of  playing  with  their  prey  in  a  very  much  crueller  manner 
than  a  cat  plays  with  a  mouse.  We  have  further  evidence  of  this 
love  for  blood  in  the  tortures  the  North  American  Indians  in- 
flicted on  their  prisoners ;  in  the  horrible  religious  rites  of  the 
Mexicans ;  in  the  Dyak  head  hunting  expeditions ;  in  the  cannibal 
feasts  of  Haitians,  Maories,  Fijians,  and  Tahitians,  and  in  the 
blood-thirstiness  which  is  met  with  in  all  parts  of  Africa.  The 
men,  being  the  stronger  sex,  reserve  these  pleasures  to  them- 
selves, and  to  the  women  is  thus  left  the  work  necessary  to  the 
welfare  of  the  tribe,  and  in  which,  according  to  the  men's  notions, 
there  is  no  fun.  In  one  of  his  numerous  works  on  the  North 
American  Indians,  Mr.  Schoolcraft  says :  "It  is  well  known  that 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  109 

corn  planting  and  corn  gathering-,  at  least  among  all  the  still 
uncolonised  tribes,  are  left  entirely  to  the  females  and  children, 
and  a  few  superannuated  old  men ;"  and,  he  adds,  that  this  labour 
is  not  compulsory,  but  is  looked  upon  as  a  just  equivalent  for 
man's  labour  in  the  chase  and  defence.  We  would,  however,  be 
inclined  to  think  that  the  men  had  very  much  the  better  part  of 
the  bargain.  When  a  party  or  tribe  of  blacks  on  the  coast  range 
of  Queensland  shift  camp,  the  men,  women,  and  children  spread 
out  in  a  long  line  or  semi-circle,  driving  all  before  them.  No 
woman,  excepting  perhaps  an  old  gin,  will  dare  to  throw  her 
waddy  at  a  started  wallaby  or  kangaroo-rat,  but  she  will  call  the 
attention  of  the  nearest  man  or  boy  to  its  presence ;  and  vice  versa 
if  a  man  pass  an  edible  root,  he  will  tell  the  woman  next  to  him 
to  dig  it  up.  A  man  will  pick  berries  to  eat  as  he  goes  by,  or 
climb  a  tree  after  an  opussum,  but  when  it  comes  to  touching 
the  soil,  that  is  the  woman's  work.  In  other  cases  the  women 
are  sent  out  alone  to  gather  vegetable  food,  while  the  men  go 
out  on  the  chase,  or  remain  at  their  ease  preparing  for  it,  i.  e., 
repairing  and  making  spears,  &c. 

As  the  women  appear  everywhere  with  the  savage  in  his  low- 
est known  stage  to  be  told  off  for  all  work  in  connection 
with  the  collection  of  vegetable  food,  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  they  rather  than  the  men  were  the  first  to  make  tenta- 
tives  towards  acts  which  may  be  regarded  as  originating 
agriculture. 

In  speaking  of  the  West  Australians,  Mr.  A.  C.  Gregory 
explains  that  in  digging  up  the  wild  yams,  the  natives  "invaria- 
bly re-insert  the  head  of  a  yam,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  a  future  crop, 
but  beyond  this  they  do  absolutely  nothing  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  tentative  in  the  direction  of  cultivating  plants  for 
their  use."  This  step  towards  cultivation  among  savages  is  the 
earliest  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  but  it  can  hardly  be 
considered  to  be  the  first  step.  How  the  women  discovered  that 
the  yam  heads  alone  would  suffice  for  propagation  is  left  open 
to  conjecture.  The  heads  might  not  have  been  so  palatable  as  the 
full  body  of  the  yam,  and  to  save  themselves  the  trouble  of  carry- 
ing the  whole  to  the  camps  the  women  probably  left  the  cut  off 
heads  on  the  ground  or  in  the  holes,  and  these  tops  have  then 


no  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

grown  into* good  edible  roots.  For  a  considerable  period,  doubt- 
less, the  women  would  not  take  much  notice  of  this  fact,  but 
(had  not  European  immigration  interfered)  it  is  easy  to  imagine 
how  to  save  themselves  the  further  trouble  of  having  to  hunt 
for  fresh  yam  fields,  they  would  have  poked  the  yam  head  into 
the  holes,  and  later  on  kicked  a  little  of  the  disturbed  soil  over 
them.  Some  of  the  Sakeys  of  the  Malay  Peninsula  have  arrived 
at  this  possible  stage.  They  content  themselves  with  poking  the 
tubers  of  the  various  vegetables  consumed  by  them  into  soil 
which  appears  propitious  without  any  previous  preparation.  In 
this  case  cultivation,  if  one  may  so  term  it,  has  already  become 
of  some  importance  and  the  sort  of  the  soil  has  become  a  con- 
sideration. These  people  have  maize,  which  they  do  not  appear 
to  cultivate,  and  it  is,  of  course — owing  to  maize  being  indigenous 
to  America — of  late  introduction. 

The  first  attempt  or  rather  step  towards  the  cultivation  of 
grain  may  have  arisen  in  a  similar  way  to  that  of  the  West 
Australian  yams.  It  is,  however,  probable  that  when  man  began 
to  harvest  and  carry  the  crop  to  the  camp  many  seeds  were 
scattered  on  the  track,  and  thus  there  would  be  some  foundation 
for  supposing  that  the  cultivation  of  the  edible  grasses  began 
near  the  home  for  the  time  being.  The  lowest  form  of  the  culti- 
vation of  seed-propagated  crops  is  to  be  found  among  the  Juangs, 
for  with  them  the  seed  is  "all  thrown  into  the  ground  at  once  to 
come  up  as  it  can."  But  this  stage  of  cultivation,  crude  as  it  is, 
records  already  considerable  progress.  In  the  harvesting  of  self- 
sown  edible  grasses,  many  of  the  seeds  would  be  trodden  slightly 
into  the  ground  or  covered  with  dust  and  being  thus  to  a  small 
extent  preserved  the  ensuing  crops  would  probably  be  improved 
ones,  if  not  in  quality  at  any  rate  in  quantity.  Later  on  the 
women  might  purposely  cover  up  the  seed  or  scratch  it  in  with 
their  digging  sticks.  And  still  later,  as  the  Borneans  do,  they 
would  go  a  step  further  and  put  the  seed  in 'a  hole  made  with  a 
pointed  stick,  which  act,  in  fact,  amounts  to  dibbling.  Further 
progress  is  exemplified  by  the  Lepchas,  who  already  scratch  the 
upper  layer  of  vegetable  mould  for  the  reception  of  the  seed,  and 
lastly  real  tillage  is  arrived  at  by  digging  the  ground  over,  as 
we  see  it  done  by  the  Mandans  with  their  hoes  made  of  buffalo 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  ill 

or  elk  shoulder  blades.  This  development  of  the  art  of  agricul- 
ture thus  appears  to  proceed  smoothly  enough,  but  in  practice  it 
must  have  been  an  exceedingly  slow  one,  for  every  progressive 
step,  from  the  sole  harvesting  of  the  seed  to  its  first  rude  sowing, 
means  an  advance  in  the  mental  powers  of  the  savage  adopting 
it.  To  this  day  some  of  the  North  and  West  Australians  reap 
annually  thousands  of  acres  of  panicum  and  grind  it  into  meal, 
but  they  do  not  in  any  way  cultivate  this  cereal.  Dr.  Ch.  Picker- 
ing was  astonished  that  "on  the  Sacramento  River  of  California, 
where,  by  a  singular  approximation  to  the  use  of  grain,  minute 
seeds  of  grasses  and  other  plants  constitute  an  article  of  food, 
the  natives,  nevertheless,  have  not  advanced  beyond  gathering  the 
spontaneous  crop."  The  Mongols  of  Ala-Shan  rely  for  a  very 
important  portion  of  their  sustenance  on  the  sulhir  grass  (Agrio- 
phyllum  Gobicuni),  which  grows  on  the  bare  sand,  and  which 
Prezhevalsky  calls  the  gift  of  the  desert,  but  it  is  not  cultivated. 
We  need  not  be  astonished  at  those  people  in  not  cultivating 
edible  grasses  which  are  of  such  great  importance  to  them,  for 
we  find  even  well  advanced  tribes  and  nations  relying  upon  simi- 
lar wild  growing  food.  Some  of  the  Maories  largely  consumed 
the  amylaceous  seed  covers  of  the  Elacocarpus  hinau  and  al- 
though agriculturists,  they  did  not  cultivate  the  plant,  and  Dr. 
H.  Earth  mentions  that  among  the  Bagirmi,  a  settled  agricul- 
tural nation,  "rice  is  not  cultivated,  but  collected,  in  great  quan- 
tities after  the  rains." 

Again  the  first  step  towards  tillage  of  the  soil  would  much 
depend  on  the  nature  of  the  plant  which  is  the  subject  of  the 
first  experiment,  if  one  may  so  term  it.  "When  portions  of  the 
stem  or  tubes  of  the  taro  (Arum  esculentum),  are  thrown  away 
by  the  side  of  streams,  they  naturalise  themselves  easily."  Cocoa 
nuts,  when  strewn  about  strike  root  and  thrive.  And  we  think 
a  curious  light  is  thrown  on  the  manner  in  which  plants  succes- 
sively became  cultivated,  by  the  Guiana  Indian's  statement  that 
When  cassava  was  originally  given  them  they  tried  at  first  to  grow 
it  by  sowing  the  seeds  and  planting  the  tubers,  and  only  suc- 
ceeded in  its  cultivation  by  discovering  at  last  that  cuttings  must 
be  stuck  into  the  ground.  From  this  account  we  may  infer  that 


112  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

these  Indians  had  already  cultivated  plants  propagated  by  their 

seed   or  their   tubers — H.   LING   ROTH,   Journal   of   the 

Anthropological  Institute,  16:109-22  [whole  paper,  102-36]. 

THE  ECONOMIC  LIFE  OF  PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE 

....  Decidedly  unclear  conceptions  are  widely  prevalent  as 
to  the  system  of  exchange  of  primitive  peoples.  We  know  that 
throughout  Central  Africa,  from  the  Portuguese  possessions  in 
the  west  to  the  German  in  the  east,  there  is  a  market-place  every 
few  miles  at  which  the  neighbouring  tribes  meet  every  fourth 
to  sixth  day  to  make  mutual  exchanges.  Of  the  Malays  in  Borneo 
we  are  told  that  each  larger  village  possesses  its  weekly  market. 
The  first  discoverers  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  give  us  reports 
of  distant  "trading  trips"  which  the  natives  undertake  from 
island  to  island  in  order  to  make  mutual  exchanges  of  their  wares. 
In  America  certain  products,  the  raw  material  for  which  is  to  be 
found  only  in  a  single  locality — for  example,  arrow-points  and 
stone  hatchets  made  of  certain  kinds  of  stone — have  been  met 
with  scattered  throughout  a  great  part  of  the  continent.  Even 
among  the  aborigines  of  Australia  there  are  instances  of  certain 
natural  products,  such  as  pitcher-plant  leaves  and  ochre  colour, 
which  are  found  in  but  one  place,  and  yet  circulate  through  a 
great  part  of  the  country.  In  such  phenomena  we  have  a  new 
and  interesting  proof  of  the  civilizing  power  of  trade;  and  in  the 
primeval  history  of  Europe  itself  this  power  has  everywhere  been 
assumed  as  operative  when  industrial  products  have  been  brought 
to  light  through  excavations  or  otherwise  far  from  their  original 
place  of  production.  Our  prehistoric  studies  have  woven  to- 
gether a  whole  spider's  web  of  suppositions  and  have  even 
brought  us  to  speak  of  prehistoric  "industrial  districts."  Our 
ethnographic  literature  speaks  similarly  of  industrial  localities 
for  the  manufacture  of  arms  and  the  plaiting  of  mats  in  Borneo, 
for  pottery  at  several  points  in  New  Guinea,  for  boat-building  in 
several  coast  districts  of  the  Duke  of  York  Archipelago,  for 
iron-working  in  negro  countries,  etc. 

In  opposition  to  this  it  must  be  asserted  positively  that  trade 
in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  regarded  by  national  economy — that 
is,  in  the  sense  of  the  systematic  purchase  of  wares  with  the  object 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  113 

of  a  profitable  re-sale  as  an  organized  vocation — can  nowhere  be 
discovered  among  primitive  peoples.  Where  we  meet  native 
traders  in  Africa,  it  is  a  question  either  of  intermediary  activity 
prompted  by  European  and  Arabian  merchants,  or  of  occurrences 
peculiar  to  the  semi-civilization  of  the  Soudan.  Otherwise  the 
only  exchange  known  to  the  natives  everywhere  is  exchange  from 
tribe  to  tribe.  This  is  due  to  the  unequal  distribution  of  the 
gifts  of  nature  and  to  the  varying  development  of  industrial 
technique  among  the  different  tribes.  As  between  the  members 
of  the  same  tribe,  however,  no  regular  exchange  from  one  house- 
hold establishment  to  another  takes  place.  Nor  can  it  arise, 
since  that  vocational  division  of  the  population  is  lacking  which 
alone  could  give  rise  to  an  enduring  interdependence  of  house- 
holds. 

One  fancies  the  genesis  of  exchange  to  have  been  very  easy 
because/  civilized  man  is  accustomed  to  find  all  that  he  needs 
ready  made  at  the  market  or  store  and  to  be  able  to  obtain  it  for 
money.  With  primitive  man,  however,  before  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  more  highly  developed  peoples,  value  and  price 
were  by  no  means  current  conceptions.  The  first  discoverers  of 
Australia  found  invariably,  both  on  the  continent  and  on  the 
neighbouring  islands  that  the  aborigines  had  no  conception  of 
exchange.  The  ornaments  offered  them  had  no  power  whatever 
to  arouse  their  interest;  gifts  pressed  upon  them  were  found 
later  on  strewn  about  in  the  woods  where  they  had  been  cast  in 
neglect.  Ehrenreich  and  K.  v.  den  Steinen  had  as  late  as  1887 
the  same  experience  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  Brazil.  Yet  there 
was  from  tribe  to  tribe  a  brisk  trade  in  pots,  stone  hatchets,  ham- 
mocks, cotton  threads,  necklaces  of  mussel-shells,  and  many  other 
products.  How  was  this  possible  in  the  absence  of  barter  and 
trade  ? 

The  solution  of  this  riddle  is  simple  enough,  and  has  now  been 
confirmed  by  direct  observation  on  the  spot,  while  previously  it 
could  only  be  assumed.  The  transfer  ensues  by  way  of  presents, 
and  also,  according  to  circumstances,  by  way  of  robbery,  spoils 
of  war,  tribute,  fine,  compensation,  and  winnings  in  gaming.  As 
to  sustenance,  almost  a  community  of  goods  prevails  between 
members  of  the  same  tribes.  It  is  looked  upon  as  theft  if  a 


114  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

herd  of  cattle  is  slaughtered  and  not  shared  with  one's  neigh- 
bour, or  if  one  is  eating  and  neglects  to  invite  a  passer-by.  Any- 
one can  enter  a  hut  at  will  and  demand  food;  and  he  is  never 
refused.  Whole  communities,  if  a  poor  harvest  befall,  visit 
their  neighbours  and  look  to  them  for  temporary  support.  For 
articles  of  use  and  implements  there  exists  the  universal  custom 
of  loaning  which  really  assumes  the  character  of  a  duty;  and 
there  is  no  private  ownership  of  the  soil.  Thus  within  the  tribe 
where  all  households  produce  similar  commodities  and,  in  case 
of  need,  assist  each  other,  and  where  surplus  stores  can  only  be 
utilized  for  consumption,  there  is  no  occasion  for  direct  barter 
from  establishment  to  establishment.  Exceptions  occur  when 
purchasing  a  wife  and  making  presents  to  the  medicine-man,  the 
singer,  the  dancer,  and  the  minstrel,  who  are  the  only  persons 
carrying  on  a  species  of  separate  occupations. 

From  tribe  to  tribe  there  prevail  rules  of  hospitality,  which 
recur  with  tolerable  similarity  among  all  primitive  peoples.  The 
stranger  on  arriving  receives  a  present,  which  after  a  certain 
interval  he  reciprocates ;  and  at  his  departure  still  another  present 
is  handed  him.  On  both  sides  wishes  may  be  expressed  with 
regard  to  these  gifts.  In  this  way  it  is  possible  to  obtain  things 
required  or  desired ;  and  success  is  the  more  assured  inasmuch  as 
neither  party  is  absolved  from  the  obligations  of  hospitality  until 
the  other  declares  himself  satisfied  with  the  presents. 

That  this  custom  of  reciprocal  gifts  of  hospitality  permits 
rare  products  of  a  land  or  artistic  creations  of  a  tribe  to  circulate 
from  people  to  people,  and  to  cover  just  as  long  distances  from 
their  place  of  origin  as  to-day  does  trade,  will  perhaps  become 
more  apparent  to  us  when  we  consider  how  legends  and  myths 
have  in  the  same  way  been  enabled  to  spread  over  half  the  world. 
It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  this  could  have  been  so  long  over- 
looked when  even  in  Homer  the  custom  of  gifts  of  hospitality  is 
attested  by  so  many  examples.  Telemachos  brings  home  from 
Sparta  as  present  from  Menelaos  a  bowl  of  silver  which  the 
latter  had  himself  received  in  Sidon  as  a  gift  of  hospitality  from 
King  Phaidimos,  and  his  father  Odysseus  receives  from  the 
Phaiakes  garments  and  linen  and  articles  of  gold  as  well  as  a 
whole  collection  of  tripods  and  basins.  All  this  he  conceals  on 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  115 

his  arrival,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  sacred  grove  of  the  nymphs 
in  his  native  rocky  island  of  Ithaca.  Think  of  the  poet's  narration 
as  an  historical  occurrence,  and  imagine  what  would  have  hap- 
pened had  Odysseus  been  recognised  by  the  wooers  at  the  right 
moment  and  slain;  the  presents  of  the  Phaiakes  would  have 
rested  well  concealed  in  the  grotto  of  the  nymphs  down  to  our 
own  times,  and  would  have  been  brought  to  light  again  by  a 
modern  archaeologist.  Would  he  not  have  explained  the  whole 
treasure  as  the  storehouse  of  a  travelling  merchant  of  the 
heroic  age  of  Hellas,  especially  as  he  could  have  appealed 
for  support  to  the  actual  barter  which  occurs  quite  extensively 
in  Homer? 

Among  many  primitive  peoples  peculiar  customs  have  been 
preserved  which  clearly  illustrate  the  transition  from  presents  to 
exchange.  Among  the  Dieris  in  Central  Australia,  for  instance, 
a  man  or  a  woman  undertakes  for  a  present  the  task  of  procuring 
as  reciprocal  gift  an  object  that  another  desires,  or  of  hunting 
for  him,  or  of  performing  some  other  service.  The  one  thus 
bound  is  called  yutschin,  and  until  the  fulfilment  of  the  obli- 
gation wears  a  cord  about  his  neck.  As  a  rule  the  desired  object 
is  to  be  procured  from  a  distance.  In  New  Zealand  the  natives 
on  the  Wanganui  river  make  use  of  parrots,  which  they  catch 
in  great  numbers,  roast,  and  preserve  in  fat,  in  order  to  obtain 
dried  fish  from  their  fellow-countrymen  in  other  parts  of  the 
island.  Among  the  Indian  tribes  of  Central  Brazil  trade  is  still 
an  interchange  of  gifts  of  hospitality ;  and  the  Bakairis  translate 
the  Portuguese  comprar,  to  buy,  by  a  word  signifying  'to  sit 
down,'  because  the  guest  must  be  seated  before  he  receives  his 
present.  In  the  countries  of  the  Soudan  the  constant  giving  of 
presents  frequently  becomes  burdensome  to  the  traveller  "since 
it  is  often  only  a  concealed  begging."  "The  gifts  of  hospitality 
that  are  received  in  the  camp,"  remarks  Staudinger,  "are  in  ac- 
cord with  good  custom  and  are  often  very  welcome.  But  with 
every  stop  in  a  larger  town  things  are  frequently  obtained  from 
high  and  low  which  are  ostensibly  given  as  a  mark  of  respect 
to  the  white  man ;  in  reality  they  arrive  only  because  the  donors 
expect  a  three-  or  four-fold  response  from  the  liberality  of  the 
European.  Indeed  I  am  convinced  that  many  a  poor  woman 


n6  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

has  herself  first  purchased  the  hen  or  duck  that  is  to  be  pre- 
sented in  order  to  do  a  profitable  piece  of  gift  business  with  it." 
The  Indians  of  British  Guiana  appear  to  stand  at  the  inter- 
mediate stage  between  gift-making  and  trading.  Im  Thurn 
reports  of'  them:  "There  exists  among  the  tribes  of  this,  as  of 
probably  every  other  similar  district,  a  rough  system  of  distribu- 
tion of  labour ;  and  this  serves  not  only  its  immediate  purpose  of 
supplying  all  the  tribes  with  better-made  articles  than  each  could 
make  for  itself,  but  also  brings  the  different  tribes  together  and 

spreads  among  them  ideas  and  news  of  general  interest 

Each  tribe  has  some  manufacture  peculiar  to  itself;  and  its  mem- 
bers constantly  visit  the  other  tribes,  often  hostile,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exchanging  the  products  of  their  own  labour  for  such  as 
are  produced  only  by  the  other  tribes.  These  trading  Indians 
are  allowed  to  pass  unmolested  through  the  enemy's  country. 
....  Of  the  tribes  on  the  coast,  the  Warraus  make  far  the  best 
canoes,  and  supply  these  to  the  neighbouring  tribes.  They  also 
make  hammocks  of  a  peculiar  kind,  which  are  not,  however, 
much  in  request  except  among  themselves.  In  the  same  way, 
far  in  the  interior,  the  Wapianas  build  boats  for  all  the  tribes 
in  that  district.  The  Macusis  have  two  special  products  which 
are  in  great  demand  amongst  all  the  tribes.  One  is  the  ourali, 
used  for  poisoning  arrows  and  the  darts  of  blowpipes,  the 
other  is  an  abundance  of  cotton  hammocks;  for,  though  these 
are  now  often  made  by  the  Wapianas  and  True  Caribs,  the 
Macusis  are  the  chief  makers.  The  Arecunas  grow,  spin,  and 
distribute  most  of  the  cotton  which  is  used  by  the  Macusis  and 
others  for  hammocks  and  other  articles.  The  Arecunas  also 
supply  all  blowpipes ;  for  these  are  made  of  the  stems  of  a  palm 
which,  growing  only  in  and  beyond  the  Venezuelan  boundary 
of  their  territory,  are  procured  by  the  Arecunas,  doubtless  by 
exchange,  from  the  Indians  of  the  native  district  of  that  palm. 
The  Tarumas  and  the  Woyowais  have  a  complete  monopoly  of 
the  manufacture  of  the  graters  on  which  Indians  of  all  the  tribes 
grate  their  cassava.  These  two  remote  tribes  are  also  the  great 

breeders  and  trainers  of  hunting-dogs The  True  Caribs, 

again,  are  the  most  skilful  potters ;  and  though  the  Arawaks 
frequently,  and  the  other  Indians  occasionally,  make  vessels  for 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  117 

their  own  use,  yet  these  are  by  no  means  as  good  as  those 
which,  whenever  possible,  they  obtain  from  the  Caribs.  The 

Arawaks  make  fibre  hammocks  of  a  kind  peculiar  to  them 

The  Ackawoi  alone,  so  far  as  I  know,  have  no  special  product 
interchangeable  for  those  of  their  neighbours.  These  Indians 
are  especially  dreaded  and  disliked  by  all  the  others;  and  it  is 
possible  that  the  want  of  intercourse  thus  occasioned  between 
this  tribe  and  the  others  forced  the  Ackawoi  to  produce  for 
themselves  all  that  they  required.  It  is  further  possible  that  to 
this  enforced  self-dependence  is  due  the  miserable  condition  of 
most  of  the  Ackawoi. 

"To  interchange  their  manufactures  the  Indians  make  long 
journeys.  The  Wapianas  visit  the  countries  of  the  Tarumas  and 
the  Woyowais,  carrying  with  them  canoes,  cotton  hammocks, 
and  now  very  frequently  knives,  beads,  and  other  European 
goods;  and,  leaving  their  canoes  and  other  merchandise,  they 
walk  back,  carrying  with  them  a  supply  of  cassava-graters,  and 
leading  hunting-dogs,  all  which  things  they  have  received  in  ex- 
change for  the  things  which  they  took.  The  Macusis  visit  the 
Wapiana  settlements  to  obtain  graters  and  dogs,  for  which  they 
give  ourali-poison  and  cotton  hammocks ;  and  they  again  carry 
such  of  these  graters  and  dogs  as  they  do  not  themselves  require, 
together  with  more  of  their  own  ourali  and  of  their  cotton  ham- 
mocks, to  other  Indians — to  the  Arecunas,  who  give  in  return 
balls  of  cotton  or  blowpipes;  or  to  the  True  Caribs,  who  pay  in 
pottery." 

Once  originated  exchange  long  retains  the  marks  of  its 
descent  in  the  rules  that  are  attached  to  it  and  which  are  taken 
directly  from  the  customs  connected  with  gifts.  This  is  mani- 
fested, in  the  first  place,  in  the  custom  of  payment  in  advance 
which  dominates  trade  among  primitive  peoples.  The  medicine- 
man does  not  stir  his  hand  to  help  the  sick  until  he  has  received 
from  the  sick  man's  relatives  his  fee,  which  in  this  case  closely 
resembles  the  present,  and  has  openly  announced  his  satisfaction. 
No  purchase  is  complete  until  buyer  and  seller  have  before  wit- 
nesses declared  themselves  satisfied  with  the  objects  received. 
Among  many  peoples  a  gift  precedes  or  follows  a  deal ;  the 
"good  measures"  of  our  village  storekeepers,  and  "treating"  are 


u8  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

survivals  of  this  custom.  To  decline  without  grounds  an  ex- 
change that  has  been  offered  passes  among  the  negroes  as  an 
insult,  just  as  the  refusal  of  a  gift  among  ourselves.  The  idea 
that  services  interchanged  must  be  of  equal  value  can  hardly  be 
made  intelligible  to  primitive  man.  The  boy  who  performs  a 
bit  of  work  expects  the  same  pay  as  the  man,  and  the  one  who 
has  assisted  for  one  hour  just  as  much  as  the  one  who  has 
laboured  a  whole  day;  and  as  the  greed  on  both  sides  knows 
no  bounds,  every  trading  transaction  is  preceded  by  long  nego- 
tiations. Similar  negotiations,  however,  are  also  the  rule  in  the 
discharge  of  gifts  of  hospitality  if  the  recipient  does  not  find 
the  donation  in  keeping  with  his  dignity. 

As  time  passes  exchange  creates  from  tribe  to  tribe  its  own 
contrivances  for  facilitating  matters.  The  most  important  of 
these  are  markets  and  money. 

Markets  are  uniformly  held  among  negroes,  East  Indians, 
and  Polynesians  in  open  places,  often  in  the  midst  of  the 
primeval  forests,  on  the  tribal  borders.  They  form  neutral  dis- 
tricts within  which  all  tribal  hostilities  must  cease;  whoever 
violates  the  market-peace  exposes  himself  to  the  severest  punish- 
ments. Each  tribe  brings  to  the  market  whatever  is  peculiar 
to  it:  one  honey,  another  palm-wine,  a  third  dried  meat,  still 
another  earthenware  or  mats  or  woven  stuffs.  The  object  of  the 
interchange  is  to  obtain  products  that  cannot  be  procured  in  one's 
own  tribe  at  all,  or  at  least  cannot  be  produced  so  well  and  so 
artistically  as  in  neighbouring  tribes.  This  must  again  lead  each 
tribe  to  produce  in  greater  quantities  than  it  requires  those  prod- 
ucts which  are  valued  among  the  tribes  not  producing  them, 
because  in  exchange  for  these  it  is  easiest  to  obtain  that  which 
one  does  not  possess  one's  self,  but  which  others  manufacture  in 
surplus  quantities.  In  each  tribe,  however,  every  household  pro- 
duces the  current  market  commodity  of  exchange  that  enjoys  this 
preference.  Hence  it  follows,  when  it  is  a  question  of  a  product 
of  house  industry,  such  as  earthenware  or  wares  made  of  bark, 
that  whole  villages  and  tribal  areas  appear  to  travellers  to  be 
great  industrial  districts,  although  there  are  no  specialized 
artisans,  and  although  each  household  produces  everything  that 
it  requires  with  the  exception  of  the  few  articles  made  only 


n9 

among  other  tribes  which  they  have  grown  accustomed  to  and 
which  exchange  procures  for  them  merely  as  supplements  to 
household  production. 

Such  is  the  simple  mechanism  of  the  market  among  primitive 
peoples.  Now  with  regard  to  money.  How  much  has  been  writ- 
ten and  imagined  about  the  many  species  of  money  among  primi- 
tive peoples,  and  yet  how  simple  the  explanation  of  their  origin ! 
The  money  of  each  tribe  is  that  trading  commodity  which  it  does 
not  itself  produce,  but  which  it  regularly  acquires  from  other 
tribes  by  way  of  exchange.  For  such  article  naturally  becomes 
for  it  the  universal  medium  of  exchange  for  which  it  surrenders 
its  wares.  It  is  its  measure  of  value  according  to  which  it  values 
its  property,  which  could  in  no  other  way  be  made  exchangeable. 
It  is  its  wealth,  for  it  cannot  increase  it  at  will.  Fellow  tribes- 
men soon  come  to  employ  it  also  in  transferring  values,  for  be- 
cause of  its  scarcity  it  is  equally  welcome  to  all.  Thus  is  ex- 
plained what  our  travellers  have  frequently  observed,  that  in  each 
tribe,  often  indeed  from  village  to  village,  a  different  money  is 
current,  and  that  a  species  of  mussel-shells  or  pearls  or  cotton 
stuff  for  which  everything  can  be  purchased  to-day  is  in  the 
locality  of  the  following  evening's  camp  no  longer  accepted  by 
anyone.  The  consequence  is  that  they  must  first  purchase  the 
current  commodities  of  exchange  before  they  can  supply  their 
own  needs  in  the  market.  In  this  way,  also,  is  to  be  explained 
the  further  fact,  which  has  come  under  observation,  that  ex- 
changeable commodities  naturally  scarce,  such  as  salt,  cauri  shells, 
and  bars  of  copper,  or  products  of  rare  skill,  such  as  brass  wire, 
iron  spades,  and  earthen  cups,  are  taken  as  money  by  many  tribes 
not  possessing  them ;  and  above  all  is  to  be  mentioned  the  well- 
known  circumstance  of  object j  of  foreign  trade,  such  as  Euro- 
pean calicoes,  guns,  powder,  knives,  becoming  general  mediums 
of  exchange. 

Certain  varieties  of  money  thus  secure  a  more  extensive  area 
of  circulation.  They  can  even  make  their  way  into  the  internal 
trade  of  the  tribal  members  through  employment  as  mediums  of 
payment  in  the  purchase  of  a  bride,  for  compensations,  taxes, 
and  the  like;  certain  kinds  of  contracts  are  concluded  in  them. 
But  there  is  no  instance  of  a  primitive  people,  in  the  absence  of 


120  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

European  influence,  attaining  to  a  currency  or  legal  medium  of 
payment  for  obligations  of  every  kind  and  extent.  It  is  rather 
the  rule  that  various  species  of  money  remain  in  concurrent  circu- 
lation ;  and  very  often  certain  obligations  can  be  paid  only  in 
certain  kinds.  Changes  in  the  variety  of  money  are  not  infre- 
quent; but  on  the  other  hand  we  sometimes  find  that  a  species 
will  long  survive  the  trade  of  the  tribes  from  which  it  has  gone 
forth,  and  will  continue  to  serve  in  the  inner  transactions  of  a 
tribe,  playing  a  singular,  almost  demoniacal,  role,  although,  as 
regards  their  means  of  sustenance,  the  members  of  the  tribe  have 
nothing  to  buy  and  sell  to  one  another.  From  an  old  interrupted 
tribal  trade  of  this  nature  is  to  be  explained  the  employment  as 
money  of  old  Chinese  porcelain  vessels  among  the  Bagobos  in 
Mindanao  and  the  Dyaks  in  Borneo,  the  shells  (dewarra)  of  the 
Melanesians,  and  the  peculiar  kinds  of  money  of  the  Caroline 
Archipelago,  for  which  special  laws  and  administrative  contri- 
vances are  necessary  in  order  to  keep  this  dead  possession  in 
circulation  at  all.  Otherwise  the  State  does  not  interfere  as  a 
rule  in  these  matters ;  and  in  the  large  territorial  formations  of 
Africa,  such  as  the  kingdom  of  Muata  Yam  wo,  for  instance, 
there  are  therefore  different  currencies  from  tribe  to  tribe.  But 
even  where  one  kind  of  money  gains  a  greater  area  of  circulation, 
its  value  fluctuates  widely  at  the  various  market-places ;  generally, 
however,  it  advances  in  proportion  to  the  distance  from  its  source. 
Markets  and  money  are  intimately  related  so  far  as  money  in 
its  character  as  a  medium  of  exchange  comes  under  considera- 
tion. But  not  every  individual  species  of  money  that  is  met  with 
among  a  primitive  people  has  necessarily  arisen  from  market 
trade.  In  its  full  development  money  is  such  an  involved  social 
phenomenon  that  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  various  influences 
associated  with  its  past  have  been  united  in  it.  Thus,  for  instance, 
the  origin  of  cattle-money  seems  to  be  bound  up  with  the  fact 
that,  among  the  peoples  referred  to,  the  domestic  animals  repre- 
sented the  wealth  and  the  means  of  gathering  wealth.  That  for 
the  purchase  of  a  bride  and  for  similar  ends  many  tribes  do  not 
receive  the  current  money,  but  for  such  purposes  prescribe  certain 
other  objects  of  worth,  appears  to  point  to  the  admissibility  of 
the  assumption  that  in  the  complete  development  of  money,  along 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  121 

with  the  main  current,  various  subsidiary  streams  may  have 
played  a  part. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  total  cultural  progress  of  mankind 
the  most  important  result  of  this  survey,  however,  remains,  that 
money  as  the  favourite  exchange  commodity  furnished  a  medium 
that  bound  together  men  from  tribe  to  tribe  in  regular  peaceful 
trade,  and  prepared  the  way  for  a  differentiation  of  tribes  in  the 
matter  of  production.  In  the  circumstance  that  all  members  of 
the  same  tribe  or  village  preferably  carried  on,  along  with  the 
earning  of  their  sustenance,  other  work  of  a  definite  type,  lay 
the  possibility  of  an  advance  in  technical  knowledge  and  dex- 
terity. It  was  an  international,  or  interlocal,  division  of  labour 
in  miniature,  which  only  much  later  was  succeeded  by  division 
of  labour  from  individual  to  individual  within  the  nation,  or 
the  locality.  Moreover  the  direct  importance  of  the  market 
for  personal  intercourse  at  this  stage  must  not  be  undervalued, 
especially  in  lands  where  trading  outside  the  market  is  so  un- 
usual that  even  travellers  wishing  to  buy  something  direct  are 
regularly  refused  with  the  words  "come  to  market."  In  this  one 
is  involuntarily  reminded  of  the  prominent  position  that  the 
market  occupied  in  the  social  and  political  life  of  the  peoples 
of  classical  antiquity. 

But  it  is  always  a  very  one-sided  development,  permitting  only 
to  individual  tribes  the  organization  .of  production  and  trade  just 
described.  In  this  way  is  to  be  explained  that  most  extraordinary 
phenomenon  that  in  the  interior  of  continents  where  no  diffi- 
culties in  communication  oppose  the  passage  of  certain  attain- 
ments in  technical  skill  from  tribe  to  tribe,  it  has  been  possible 
for  peoples  of  very  primitive  economic  stamp  to  remain  un- 
changed by  the  side  of  others  of  higher  development  throughout 
thousands  of  years.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  of 
this  nature  is  offered  in  Central  Africa  by  the  pigmy  race  of  the 
Batuas  or  Akkas,  still  standing  at  the  stage  of  the  lower  nomads, 
which  keeps  strictly  within  the  zone  of  the  primitive  forest,  but 
on  definite  days  appears  at  the  market-places  of  the  surrounding 
negro  tribes  to  exchange  its  chief  economic  product,  dried  meat 
of  animals  killed  in  the  hunt,  for  bananas,  ground-nuts,  maize, 
and  the  like.  In  fact  in  some  parts  even  a  more  primitive  form 


122  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  trading  has  been  maintained  between  these  pigmy  people  and 
their  neighbours,  in  that  at  the  period  when  the  fruit  is  ripe  the 
Batuas  break  into  the  fields  of  the  negroes,  steal  bananas,  tubers, 
and  corn,  and  leave  behind  an  equivalent  in  meat.1  The  fact 
that  the  Batuas  are  clever  hunters  appears  here  to  have  caused 
the  neighbouring  tribes  to  neglect  the  production  of  meat 
through  hunting  and  cattle-raising.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  said 
that  the  pigmies  do  not  even  make  their  own  weapons,  but  pro- 
cure them  in  trade  from  the  Monsus  and  other  tribes. 

vOf  this  one-sided  development  another  and  much  more  wide- 
spread example  is  offered  by  the  smitlis,  who  not  merely  among 
many  tribes  of  Africa  but  sporadically  in  Asia  and  in  south- 
eastern Europe  form  a  hereditarily  distinct  caste,  whose  mem- 
bers, whether  regarded  with  bashful  awe  or  contempt,  can  neither 
enter  into  a  marital  nor  other  social  alliance  with  the  rest  of  the 
people.  This  strange  phenomenon  has  hitherto  been  explained  as 
a  matter  of  remnants  of  subject  tribes  preserving  to  their  con- 
querors the  art  of  metal-working,  which  had  otherwise  perished, 
because  the  victorious  race  was  ignorant  of  it.  It  is,  however,  also 
conceivable  that  a  voluntary  dispersal  of  such  tribes  took  place 
and  that  the  very  difference  of  nationality,  coupled  with  the 
carrying  on  of  an  esoteric  art,  placed  them  wherever  the) 
settled  outside  the  community  of  the  people. 

In  individual  instances  the  carrying  on  of  such  a  tribal  in- 
dustry in  this  exclusive  manner  leads  to  the  rise  of  what  trav- 
ellers usually  designate  now  as  industrial  peoples,  because  they 
do  work  for  all  their  neighbours ;  now  as  trading  peoples,  because 
one  meets  them  in  all  the  markets  of  a  more  extensive  district, 
and  because  they  monopolize  the  trade  in  certain  wares.  We 

1  "The  method  by  which  the  Veddah  is  able  to  procure  his  arrow-points — 
which  he  does  not  make  himself — is  interesting.  He  betakes  himself  under 
cover  of  night  to  the  dwelling  of  a  Singhalese  smith,  and  places  in  front  of 
it  a  leaf  to  which  the  desired  shape  is  given.  To  this  he  adds  a  present  of 
some  kind,  wild  honey,  the  skin  of  an  animal,  or  something  similar.  Dur- 
ing one  of  the  following  nights  he  returns  and  expects  to  find  the  object 
ordered  finished.  If  he  is  satisfied,  he  will  deposit  another  special  gift. 
The  smiths  never  refuse  to  execute  the  orders  at  once.  If  they  do,  they  may 
be  certain  at  the  next  opportunity  to  be  made  the  target  for  an  arrow.  More- 
over their  labour  is  abundantly  rewarded  by  what  the  Veddah  gives  in  return." 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  123 

have  an  instance  of  the  former,  when  the  consumers  resort  to 
the  district  where  a  special  tribal  industry  flourishes,  in  order 
to  get  the  desired  wares  at  the  seat  of  manufacture;  of  the 
latter,  when  the  producers  bring  to  the  tribes  lacking  them  such 
wares  as  they  produce  beyond  their  own  requirements. 

As  an  example  of  the  first  form  of  this  evolution,  the  little 
tribe  of  the  Osakas  may  be  cited,  which  has  its  home  in  the 
valley  of  the  Ogowe  to  the  east  of  the  Lolo  River.  Lenz  reports 
concerning  it:  "The  Osakas  are  divided  into  five  or  six  villages, 
each  of  which  contains  sixty  to  a  hundred  huts;  compared  with 
their  numerically  so  important  neighbours,  such  as  the  Fans  and 
the  Oshebo-Adumas,  they  are  thus  destined  to  play  an  altogether 
passive  role  in  the  history  of  those  countries.  In  spite  of  this, 
however,  the  Osakas  appear  to  be  not  altogether  insignificant ; 
for  among  them  I  found  many  individuals  belonging  to  the  most 
widely  different  tribes,  frequently  from  regions  quite  far  dis- 
tant. The  Osakas  are  recognised  as  the  best  smiths,  and  all 
the  surrounding  tribes, — the  Oshebo-Adumas,  the  Akelles,  the 
Awanshis  and  even  the  Fans, — buy  of  them  a  great  part  of  their 
implements  for  hunting  and  war,  although  the  last-named  tribe 
itself  excels  at  this  handicraft.  By  the  Oshebo-Adumas  the  iron 
wares  of  the  Osakas  are  then  brought  down  to  the  Okandes  and 
to  the  Apinshis  and  Okotas  dwelling  between  the  rapids  of  the 
Ogowe,  these  last  tribes  on  their  part  being  but  little  skilled  in 
iron-work  and  devoting  themselves  exclusively  to  the  slave- 
trade.  From  there,  through  the  medium  of  the  Iningas  and 
Galloas,  weapons  of  this  kind  find  their  way  as  far  as  the  sea- 
coast." 

"The  Oshebo-Adumas  generally  pay  for  these  weapons  with 
palm-oil  and  ground-nuts,  while  the  Fans,  who  are  the  most 
expert  huntsmen  of  all  these  various  tribes,  give  in  exchange  for 
the  spears  and  swordlike  knives  dried  and  smoked  meat,  chiefly 
of  the  antelope,  the  wild  boar,  the  porcupine,  the  field  rat  and 
the  monkey.  In  all  the  Osaka  villages  I  saw  a  bustling  life.  As 
must  always  be  the  case  where  such  widely  different  tribes  meet 
together,  quarrelings  were  extremely  frequent  there  and  often  as- 
sumed great  proportions." 

A  typical  example  of  the  second  form  is  offered  by  the  Kiocos 


124  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  the  Kan j ocas  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Congo  basin.  Of 
the  latter  Wissmann  reports :  "The  Kan  j  oka  country  is  par- 
ticularly rich  in  iron,  and  there  are  some  excellent  smiths  there. 
Salt  also  is  produced,  so  that  the  Kan  j  okas,  with  the  products 
of  their  country  and  their  iron  manufacture,  undertake  commer- 
cial expeditions  to  the  south  as  far  as  the  Lunda  country."  The 
Kiocos  dwell  in  the  kingdom  of  Lund  itself,  dispersed  among 
the  Kalundas,  but  have  their  own  chiefs  who  are  tributary  to  the 
Muata  Yamwo.  The  Kiocos  are  partial  to  placing  their  vil- 
lages in  the  woodland,  for  they  are  preeminently  excellent 
hunters,  gather  gum  from  their  forests,  and  to  obtain  wax  carry 
on  a  species  of  wild-bee  keeping.  They  are  also  clever  smiths, 
and  not  only  make  good  hatchets,  but  can  also  repair  old  flint- 
locks and  even  fit  them  with  new  mounts  and  stocks.  They 
clothe  themselves  in  animal  skins ;  the  art  of  making  vegetable 
cloth  is  little  known  to  them.  Their  women  plant  chiefly  manioc, 
maize,  millet,  ground-nuts,  and  beans.  The  products  that  the 
Kiocos  obtain  from  the  exploitation  of  their  forests  they  ex- 
change on  the  west  coast  for  wares,  chiefly  powder,  with  which 
they  then  betake  themselves  into  the  far  interior  in  order  to  buy 
ivory  and  slaves.  The  ivory  obtained  through  trade  they  dispose 
of,  while  the  slaves  they  procure  they  incorporate  with  their 
household.  The  Kiocos  esteem  slaves  above  all  as  property.  They 
treat  the  slave  women  as  they  do  their  wives,  and  the  men  as 
members  of  the  household,  and  part  from  them  so  very  un- 
willingly that  in  the  Kioco  country  it  is  quite  exceptional  for 
travellers  to  be  offered  slaves  for  sale.  On  their  hunting  voyages 
they  have  penetrated  farthest  towards  the  east ;  and  there,  before 
entering  upon  their  journey  homewards,  they  usually  barter  a 
part  of  their  weapons  for  slaves.  Then  for  the  time  being 
they  arm  themselves  again  with  bow  and  arrow.  They  rightly 
enjoy  the  reputation  of  being  as  good  hunters  as  they  are  crafty 
and  unscrupulous  traders ;  and  in  a  masterful  manner  they  un- 
derstand how  to  overreach  and  dispossess  the  better-natured  and 
more  indolent  Kalundas. 

This  picture  is  often  repeated  in  the  negro  countries.  One 
readily  sees  that  it  does  not  adapt  itself  to  any  of  the  usual  cate- 
gories of  economic  history.  The  Kiocos  are  no  hunting  people, 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  125 

no  nomads,  no  agriculturalists,  no  industrial  and  trading  nation; 
they  are  all  these  at  once.  They  act  as  intermediaries  for  a  part 
of  the  trade  with  the  European  factories  on  the  coast.  At  the 
same  time  they  carry  on  some  mediary  traffic  of  their  own  in 
which  they  display  the  peculiar  aptitude  of  the  negro  for  barter, 
but  nevertheless  gain  most  of  their  living  directly  from  hunting 
and  agriculture. 

Both  forms  of  development  are  met  with  in  the  two  pottery 
islands  of  New  Guinea,  Bilibi  and  Chas.  The  manufacture  is 
in  both  places  in  the  hands  of  the  women.  The  natives  of  the 
islands  round  about,  and  even  of  the  more  distant  ones,  come  to 
Chas  to  barter  their  products  for  the  earthenware;  in  Bilibi  the 
men  take  whole  boatloads  to  sell  along  the  coast.  Every  woman 
makes  a  special  mark  on  the  pottery  she  produces ;  but  whether 
with  one  European  observer  we  are  to  regard  this  as  a  trade- 
mark seems  very  doubtful. 

In  order  to  leave  untouched  no  important  part  of  the  eco- 
nomic life  of  primitive  peoples,  let  us  take  a  rapid  glance  at  their 
commercial  contrivances  and  public  administration.  Both  are 
intimately  connected.  For  commerce  is  essentially  a  public  mat- 
ter; there  are  no  private  commercial  arrangements  whatever 
among  these  peoples.  Indeed  one  can  claim  frankly  that  at  this 
stage  trade  scarcely  displays  an  economic  character  at  all. 

In  the  first  place  as  concerns  commercial  routes,  there  are 
overland  trade  routes  only  when  they  have  been  tramped  by  the 
foot  of  man;  the  only  artificial  structures  to  facilitate  land  trade 
are  primitive  bridges,  often  consisting  merely  of  a  single  tree- 
trunk,  or  ferries  at  river  fords,  for  the  use  of  which  the  traveller 
has  to  pay  a  tax  to  the  village  chief.  These  dues  as  a  rule 
open  the  door  to  heavy  extortions.  On  the  other  hand  the 
natural  waterways  are  everywhere  diligently  used,  and  there  is 
hardly  a  primitive  people  that  has  not  been  led  through  its  situa- 
tion by  the  sea  or  on  a  river  to  the  use  of  some  peculiar  kind 
of  craft.  The  enumeration  and  description  of  these  means  of 
transportation  would  fill  a  volume;  from  the  dugout  and  skin 
canoe  of  the  Indians  to  the  artistically  carved  rowboats  and 
sailboats  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders,  all  types  are  represented. 
On  the  whole,  however,  the  technique  of  boat-building  and 


126  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

navigation  has  remained  undeveloped  among  these  peoples; 
none  of  their  vessels  deserve  the  name  of  ship  in  the  proper  sense. 
Thus  their  importance  is  everywhere  restricted  to  personal  trans- 
portation and  fishing,  while  nowhere  has  the  development 
reached  a  freight  transportation  of  any  extent. 

Curiously  among  primitive  peoples  that  branch  of  commercial 
communication  has  enjoyed  the  fullest  development  which  we 
would  naturally  associate  only  with  the  highest  culture,  namely, 
the  communication  of  news.  It  forms  indeed  the  sole  kind  of 
trade  for  which  primitive  peoples  have  created  permanent  organ- 
izations. We  refer  to  the  courier  service  and  the  contrivances  for 
sending  verbal  messages. 

The  despatching  of  couriers  and  embassies  to  neighbouring 
tribes  in  war  and  peace  leads,  even  at  a  very  low  stage  of  culture, 
to  the  development  of  a  complete  system  of  symbolic  signs  and 
means  of  conveying  intelligence.  Thus  among  the  rude  tribes  in 
the  interior  of  Australia  various  kinds  of  body-painting,  of  head- 
dress and  other  conventional  signs  serve  to  apprise  a  neighbour- 
ing tribe  of  the  occurrence  of  a  death,  of  the  holding  of  a  feast, 
and  of  a  threatening  danger,  or  to  summon  the  tribesmen  to- 
gether for  any  purpose.  Among  the  aborigines  of  South  America 
ingeniously  knotted  cords  or  leather  strips  (quippus),  and  among 
the  North  Americans  the  well-known  wampum  perform  similar 
offices;  in  Africa  courier-staffs  with  or  without  engraved  signs 
arc  customary,  and  the  same  are  found  among  the  Malays  and 
Polynesians.  If  need  be,  the  couriers  have  to  learn  their  message 
by  heart  and  communicate  it  verbally.  In  the  negro  kingdoms, 
where  the  administrative  power  of  the  ruler  reaches  only  as  far 
as  he  is  able  personally  to  intervene,  the  couriers  of  the  chiefs 
hold  a  very  important  position ;  for  through  them  the  sovereign 
chief  is  as  if  omnipresent,  and  new  occurrences  come  to  his 
knowledge  with  surprising  rapidity.  But  even  for  the  com- 
munication of  intelligence  among  members  of  the  same  tribe — 
for  instance,  in  hunting  and  in  war — a  system  of  symbols  exists 
which  is  often  very  ingeniously  conceived,  and  which,  as  a  rule,  is 
hidden  from  the  uninitiated. 

Not  less  remarkable  are  the  telephonic  contrivances  resting 
upon  the  ingenious  employment  of  the  drum,  the  musical  instru- 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  127 

ment  in  widest  use  among  primitive  peoples.  In  one  sense  they 
take  the  form  of  a  developed  signal-system,  as  among  the  East 
Indians  and  the  Melanesians,  in  another  there  is  a  real  speaking 
of  words  by  which  detailed  conversations  can  be  carried  on  at 
great  distances.  The  latter  is  very  common  in  Africa.  As  a 
rule  only  the  chiefs  and  their  relations  are  acquainted  with  this 
drum  language;  and  the  possession  of  the  instrument  used  for 
this  purpose  is  a  mark  of  rank,  like  the  crown  and  sceptre  in 
civilized  countries.  Less  extended  is  the  employment  of  fire- 
signs  for  summoning  the  tribe  or  communicating  news. 

There  is  no  public  economy,  in  our  sense  of  the  word.  True, 
where  their  power  is  to  some  extent  established,  the  chiefs  re- 
ceive all  kinds  of  dues  in  the  form  of  shares,  traditionally  fixed, 
in  the  products  of  the  chase  and  of  husbandry,  fees  for  the  use 
of  bridges,  ferries,  market-place.  In  more  extensive  kingdoms 
the  subordinate  chieftains  are  bound  to  send  tribute.  But  all 
this  is  more  or  less  manifestly  clothed  in  the  form  of  gift,  for 
which  the  chief  has  to  bestow  a  return  present  even  if  this  consist 
only  in  the  entertainment  that  he  bestows  upon  the  bearer.  Even 
with  the  market-fees,  which  are  payable  by  the  sellers  to  the 
owner  of  the  market-place,  in  the  Congo  district  a  return  service 
is  rendered  in  that  the  chief  performs  a  dance  in  front,  and  to 
the  delight,  of  those  using  the  market.  Of  special  interest  to  us 
are  the  presents  that  travellers  en  route  have  to  pay  to  the  vil- 
lage chiefs  whose  territories  they  traverse,  since  from  such  pay- 
ments our  customs  duty  has  sprung.  Not  less  important  is  it 
to  notice  that  in  the  larger  kingdoms  the  tribute  of  the  subject 
tribes  consists  of  those  products  which  are  peculiar  to  each  tribe, 
and  which  are  usually  marketed  by  it.  In  the  Lunda  country, 
for  instance,  some  districts  bring  ivory  or  skins,  others  salt  or 
copper;  from  the  northern  parts  come  plaited  goods  of  straw, 
and  from  the  subordinate  chiefs  nearer  the  coast  at  times  even 
powder  and  European  cotton  stuffs.  Not  infrequently  has  this 
led  such  sovereign  chiefs  to  carry  on  a  trade  in  these  products, 
which  accumulate  in  large  quantities  in  their  hands,  or  to  claim  a 
monopoly  in  them.  The  saying  that  makes  the  kings  the  greatest 
merchants  thus  gains  a  deeper  significance. 

In  general  the  financial  prerogatives  of  the  chiefs  are  limited 


128  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

only  by  their  natural  strength;  and  the  wealth  of  the  subject  is 
without  the  protection  that  the  civilized  State  assures  to  it  by 
law.  The  expeditions  sent  out  by  the  negro  kings  to  collect  the 
tribute  and  taxes  degenerate  only  too  often  into  robber  raids. 
The  claim  of  the  kings  to  fines  frequently  reduces  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  to  an  institution  for  extortion,  and  the  system 
of  gifts,  which  prevails  in  all  relationships  of  a  public  character, 
too  rapidly  passes  into  a  veritable  system  of  bribery. 

This  must  naturally  react  injuriously  upon  private  industry. 
In  the  condition  of  constant  feud  in  which  the  smaller  tribes  live 
with  their  neighbours  under  the  arbitrary  rule  which  in  the  in- 
terior usually  accompanies  the  formation  of  larger  states,  most 
primitive  peoples  stand  in  peril  of  life  and  property.  Through 
long  habit  this  danger  becomes  endurable,  yet  economic  advance- 
ment must  assuredly  be  retarded  by  it.  The  obligation  to  make 
presents  ever  and  everywhere,  the  custom  of  regarding  food 
almost  as  free  goods,  leave  but  insufficient  room  for  self-interest. 
An  English  writer  makes  the  remark — from  the  standpoint  of 
European  life  certainly  not  inaccurate — that  this  sharing-up 
rendered  necessary  by  custom,  encourages  the  people  in  gluttony, 
since  only  that  is  safe  which  they  have  succeeded  in  stuffing  into 
their  bellies;  it  also  prevents  rational  provision  for  the  future, 
because  it  is  difficult  to  keep  on  hand  supplies  of  any  kind.  As- 
suredly with  some  reason  have  the  begging  proclivities  and  the 
"tendency  to  steal,"  which  is  said  to  animate  many  primitive 
peoples  in  dealing  with  Europeans,  been  associated  with  the 
custom  of  gifts  and  the  insufficient  distinction  of  "mine  and 
thine."  The  immoderate  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  is  likewise  a 
consequence  of  their  slight  forethought  for  their  own  welfare. 
If,  however,  the  attempt  is  made  to  appreciate  all  these  things 
apart  from  the  conditions  of  culture  in  which  they  arise,  one 
readily  recognises  that  they  lie  "beyond  the  bounds  of  good  and 
evil,"  and  that  what  appears  from  the  standpoint  of  the  modern 
Englishman  as  vice  has  concealed  within  it  the  beautiful  virtues 
of  disinterestedness,  benevolence,  and  generosity. 

For  many  who  to-day  pose  as  the  bearers  of  civilization  to 
their  black  and  brown  fellow  men  primitive  man  is  the  quin- 
tessence of  all  economic  vices :  lazy,  disorderly,  careless,  prodigal, 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  129 

untrustworthy,  avaricious,  thievish,  heartless,  and  self-indulgent. 
It  is  true  that  primitive  man  lives  only  for  the  present,  that  he 
shuns  all  regular  work,  that  he  has  not  the  conception  of  duty, 
nor  of  a  vocation  as  a  moral  function  in  life.  But  it  is  not  less 
true  that  with  his  wretched  implements  he  accomplishes  an 
amount  of  work  that  must  excite  our  admiration,  whether  we 
contemplate  with  our  own  eyes  the  neat  fruit- fields  of  the  women 
or  view  in  our  museums  the  weapons  and  implements  of  the 
men,  the  products  of  infinite  toil.  Above  all,  his  manner  of  work- 
ing assures  to  primitive  man  a  measure  of  enjoyment  in  life  and 
a  perpetual  cheerfulness  which  the  European,  worried  with  work 
and  oppressed  with  care,  must  envy  him. 

If  since  their  acquaintance  with  European  civilization  so  many 
primitive  peoples  have  retrograded  and  some  even  become  ex- 
tinct, the  cause  lies,  according  to  the  view  of  those  best  acquainted 
with  the  matter,  chiefly  in  the  disturbing  influence  which  our 
industrial  methods  and  technique  have  exerted  upon  them.  We 
carried  into  their  childlike  existence  the  nervous  unrest  of  our 
commercial  life,  the  hurried  hunt  for  gain,  our  destructive  pleas- 
ures, our  religious  wrangles  and  animosities.  Our  perfected 
implements  relieved  them  suddenly  of  an  immense  burden  of 
labour.  What  they  had  accomplished  with  their  stone  hatchets 
in  months  they  performed  with  the  iron  one  in  a  few  hours;  and 
a  few  muskets  replaced  in  effectiveness  hundreds  of  bows  and 
arrows.  Therewith  fell  away  the  beneficent  tension  in  which  the 
old  method  of  work  had  continuously  kept  the  body  and  mind  of 
primitive  man,  particularly  as  the  character  of  his  needs  remained 
at  the  same  low  level.  Under  these  conditions  has  he  gone  to 
ruin,  just  as  the  plant  that  thrives  in  the  shade  withers  away 
when  exposed  to  the  glare  of  the  noon-day  sun. — CARL  BUCHER, 
Industrial  Evolution,  59-82  [whole  paper,  41-82].  Copyright 
1901  by  Henry  Holt  &  Co. 


In  connection  with  the  whole  question  of  the  relation 
of  geographical  environment  to  culture,  I  feel  that  in 
one  sense  this  relation  can  hardly  be  exaggerated,  while 
in  another  sense  it  may  be  greatly  overdone.  Mason's 
paper  on  technogeography  brings  out  the  absolute  de- 
pendence of  man  on  nature.  He  may  be  more  or  less 
cunning  in  finding  out  what  he  can  get  out  of  nature, 
but  he  can  secure  nothing  which  she  does  not  afford. 
On  this  score  we  need  not  hesitate,  and  we  can  also 
have  no  doubt  that  in  certain  regions  nature  affords 
more  than  in  others.  But  after  all  culture  is  more 
fundamentally  connected  with  the  operations  of  the 
human  mind  than  with  the  aspects  of  nature.  Nature 
may  affect  the  rate  and  particular  form  of  progress  and 
limit  its  degree,  but  human  society  takes  the  same 
general  pattern  everywhere.  Every  people  has  its  laws, 
its  commandments,  its  religion  and  superstition,  its  mar- 
riage, its  art,  its  property,  etc.  The  paper  on  the 
Yakuts  shows  the  effect  of  a  very  cold  climate  on  social 
life,  but  we  are  struck  even  more  by  the  resemblance  of 
the  life  of  the  Yakuts  to  that  of  central  Europe  than 
by  its  difference.  Their  practices  are  harder,  because 
life  is  harder,  but  they  are  not  harder  than  the  practices 
of  the  central  European  peasant,  and  in  many  points 
strikingly  resemble  them. 

It  is  plain  also  that  the  force  of  climate  and  geogra- 
phy is  greater  in  the  lower  stages  of  culture  and  that 
ideas  play  an  increasing  role.  The  peculiar  cultures 
of  Japan,  China,  and  India  were  the  results  of  psychic 

13° 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  131 

rather  than  geographic  factors  in  the  first  place,  and 
the  transformation  they  are  now  undergoing  is  again 
one  of  ideas. 

The  paper  of  Bucher  on  the  economic  life  of  primitive 
man  ought  to  give  us  a  different  idea  of  the  laziness  of 
the  savage.  In  certain  respects  he  was  a  very  energetic 
person,  and  this  will  appear  in  more  detail  in  the  later 
section  treating  of  his  inventions.  Certainly  he,  like 
ourselves,  shunned  unstimulating  activities  as  far  as 
possible,  and  substituted  animals,  slaves,  women,  and 
mechanical  forces  to  do  routine  work,  but  his  real  back- 
wardness lay,  as  it  still  lies,  mainly  in  lack  of  numbers, 
permanence,  security,  and  accumulated  materials  and 
ideas.  Among  ourselves,  as  the  result  of  an  artificial 
relation  to  the  sources  of  food,  long  habits  of  speciali- 
zation, and  a  fierce  competition  growing  out  of  pressure 
of  numbers  we  have  developed  steady  habits  of  work 
and  a  very  fast  pace.  But  this  is  merely  a  social  habit 
on  our  part,  and  not  a  natural  disposition. 

As  a  working  hypothesis,  at  least,  we  may  assume 
that  prehistoric  man  was  of  essentially  the  same  nature 
and  mind  as  man  at  present  and  that  this  is  true  also 
of  the  savage.  Before  men  are  able  to  live  in  large 
numbers  the  characteristic  works  of  civilization  are 
not  possible,  and  large  numbers  are  not  possible  until 
man  has  worked  out  a  very  particular  relation  to  the 
food  supply.  Lewis  Morgan  has  justly  remarked,  in 
his  Ancient  Society,  that  man  was  at  the  threshold  of 
civilization  when  he  had  made  a  union  of  the  animal, 
vegetable,  and  mineral  worlds — had  harnessed  the  horse 
or  the  ox  to  the  iron  plow  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating 
the  cereals.  At  that  point  the  food  supply  was  con- 
trolled to  such  a  degree  that  men  were  not  only  able  to 


132  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

live  in  large  groups,  but  had  that  surplus  we  call  capital 
which  enabled  them  to  disengage  their  attention  from 
the  satisfaction  of  immediate  appetite.  When  a  man 
has  "only  one  meal  between  hmiself  and  starvation"  he 
may  indeed  be  inventive — and  primitive  man  was  pre- 
eminently that — but  he  cannot  interpose  all  those  inter- 
mediate steps,  those  long  calculations,  those  elaborate 
constructions,  and  specialized  aims  and  habits  which 
characterize  civilization. 

The  foregoing  materials  also  enable  us  to  appreciate 
the  fact  that  the  first  steps  in  human  progress  must 
have  been  almost  incredibly  slow.  If  white  society  were 
stripped  by  some  disaster  of  absolutely  everything  but 
life,  it  would  be  able  to  reconstruct  its  civilization 
rapidly,  because  it  would  retain  the  pattern  of  every- 
thing in  its  memory.  But  primitive  society  began  with- 
out these  ideas  and  memories.  Without  fire  or  metals, 
domestic  animals  or  plants,  with  no  artificial  means  of 
travel  and  communication,  with  no  general  conception 
of  change,  and  no  outlook  except  the  immediate  satis- 
faction of  appetite,  man  must  have  drawn  away  from  the 
brute  world  very  slowly.  Totemism  and  savage  man's 
reverence  for  animal  life  have  excited  a  great  deal  of 
wonder  and  speculation.  But  it  is  not  strange  that  he 
should  have  felt  so.  Man  had  a  peculiar  power  of 
mental  calculation  which  the  animals  did  not  possess, 
but  in  their  fighting  equipment,  strength,  poisons,  swift- 
ness, and  peculiar  senses  and  instincts,  he  felt  that  they 
outclassed  him.  His  superiority  was  acquired  slowly 
and  was  long  in  doubt. 

Nor  is  it  surprising  that  different  groups  of  men 
progressed  in  different  ratios,  because  of  difference  in 
opportunity  afforded  by  the  geographical  environment, 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  133 

and  the  varying  nature  of  crisis  and  reaccommodation. 
And  in  this  connection  we  should  once  for  all  discard 
the  habit  of  thinking  of  the  lower  races  en  bloc.  There 
is  as  much  difference  between  the  North  American 
Indian  and  the  Australian  as  between  the  Indian  and 
the  white  man.  Between  the  Australian  or  the  Wood 
Veddah  of  Ceylon  and  the  ancient  Greek  or  the  modern 
German,  it  would  be  possible  to  make  a  rough  but  con- 
tinuous classification  of  culture  on  the  principle  of  more 
or  less  complete  control  of  environment. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY     i 

1  BARROWS,   D.   P.     The  Ethno-Botany  of  the   Coahuilla  Indians  of 
Southern  California.    Chicago,  1900. 

2  BARRETT,,  S.  A.    "The  Ethno-Geography  of  the  Porno  and  Neighbor- 
ing Indians,"  Univ.  of  Cat.  Ethn.  and  Anth.  Sur.,  7 : 1-332. 

3  BERTRAN,  A.     "Les  premieres  migrations  vers  la  Gaule  a  1'epoque 
historique    et    les    premieres    grandes    voies    de    commerce,"    Rev. 
d'ethnog.,  2:402-25. 

4  BORDEAU,  L.     "The  Beginnings  of  Agriculture,"  Pop.  Sci.  Monthly, 
46:678-88. 

5  BORDIER,  A.    Geographic  medicate.     Paris,  1884, 

6  BORDIER,  A.     "Le  milieu  interieur  et  1'acclimatation,"  Rev.  mensuelle 
de  I'ccole  d'anth.,  i :  129-42. 

7  Bos,  P.  R.     "Jagd,  Viehzucht  und  Ackerbau  als  Culturstufen,"  In- 
ternationales Archiv  fur  Ethnog.,  10:187-205. 

8  BRIGHAM,  A.  P.     Geographic  Influences  in  American  History.     Bos- 
ton, 1903. 

*9  BUCHER,  C.    Industrial  Evolution,  "Primitive  Economic  Conditions," 
1-40. 

10  BUCKLAND,  A.  W.    "On  Traces  of  Commerce  in  Prehistoric  Times," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  14:3-12. 

11  BUCKLAND,  A.  W.   "Primitive  Agriculture,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  7:2-19. 

12  CAPITAN,  L.    "Le  milieu  exterieur,"  Rev.  mensuelle  de  I'ecole  d'anth., 
5:293-308. 

13  CLOSSON,  C.  C.    "A  Critic  of  Anthropo-Sociology,"  Jour.  Pol.  Econ., 
8:397-410. 

14  CLOSSON,  C.  C.     "Dissociation  by  Displacement :  A  Phase  of  Social 
Selection,"  Quar.  Jour.  Econ.,  10:156-86;  Revue  internat.  de  sociolo- 
gie,  4:497-537- 

15  CLOSSON,   C.    C.     "Ethnic    Stratification    and    Displacement,"    Quar. 
Jour.  Econ.,  11:92-104. 

16  CLOSSON,  C.  C.     "Further  Data  of  Anthropo-Sociology,"  Jour.  Pol. 
Econ.,  7:238-52. 

17  CLOSSON,  C.   C.     "The   Hierarchy  of  European  Races,"  Am.   Jour, 
of  Sociology,  3:314-27;  Revue  internat.  de  sociologie,  6:416-30. 

J34 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  135 

18  CLOSSON,  C.  C.     "The  Races  of  Europe,"  Jour.  Pol  Econ.,  8:58-88. 

*IQ  CRAIG,    W.     "North    Dakota    Life :    Plant,   Animal,    and    Human," 
Bull.  Am.  Geog.  Soc.,  40:321-32;  402-15. 

20  CRAWFURD,    J.      "On    the    Relation    of    the    Domesticated    Animals 
to  Civilization,"  Trans.  Ethn.  Soc.,  N.  S.,  2:387^68. 

21  CRAWFURD,  J.     "On  the  Conditions  Which  Favour,  Retard,  or  Ob- 
struct the  Early  Civilization  of  Man,"  Trans.  Ethn.  Soc.,  N.  S.,  I : 
154-77- 

22  CRUIKSHANK,  E.    "Early  Traders  and  Trade-Routes  in  Ontario  and 
the  West,"  Am.  Antiquarian,  15:327-47. 

23  Dictionnaire  nouveau  de  geographic  univcrselle.     Paris,   1879-1895. 
*24  DORSEY,  J.  O.     "Omaha  Sociology"   [Industries],  Bur.  of  Am.  Eth., 

Rep.,  3:283-311. 

25  DRIESMANS,  H.    Rasse  und  Milieu.     Berlin,  1902. 

26  EICHMANN,  J.  R.    "Die  Entstehung  der  Ackerbaukultur,"  Pol.-Anth. 
Rev.,  9:481-84. 

27  FELKIN,    R.    W.      "On    the    Geographical    Distribution    of    Tropical 
Diseases  in  Africa,"  Proc.  Roy.  Phys.  Soc.  of  Edinburgh,  12:415-89. 

*28  FERREE,   B.     "Climatic   Influences   in    Primitive   Architecture,"   Am. 
Anth.,  3:147-58. 

29  FLAHAULT,  C.     "L'influence  de  1'homme  sur  la  terre,"  La  geogra- 
phic, 5:305-7- 

30  FORTESCUE,  J.  W.     "The  Influence  of  Climate  on  Race,"  Nineteenth 
Century,  33:862-73. 

31  FRIEDERICI,    G.      "Der    Indianerhund    von     Nordamerika,"    Globus. 
76:361-65. 

32  FROBENIUS,  L.     Geographische  Kulturkunde.     Leipzig,   1904. 

33  GALTON,  F.     "The  First   Steps  toward  the  Domestication   of  Ani- 
mals," Trans.  Ethn.  Soc.,  N.  S.,  3:122-38. 

34  GARNIER,  C.,  ET  AMMANN,  A.     L'histoire  de  I'habitation  humaine. 
Paris,  1892. 

*35  GERLAND,  G.    Atlas  der  Vblkerltunde.    Gotha,  1892. 

[Maps  locating  all  savage  tribes.     Indispensable.] 

*36  GRIERSON,  P.  J.  H.     The  Silent  Trade:  A  Contribution  to  the  Early 

History  of  Human  Intercourse.     Edinburgh,   1903. 
37  GRUNZEL,  J.     "Die  Landwirtschaft  in  China,"  Globus,  54:  161-65. 

*38  HADDON,    A.    C.      Cambridge   Anth.    Expedition    to    Torres    Straits: 
Reports,  "Trade,"  5:293-97;  6:185-88. 


136  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

39  HAHN,  E.    Die  Hausthiere  und  ihre  Bcsichungen  sur  Wissenschaft 
des  Menschens.    Leipzig,  1896. 

40  HAHN,  E.    "Die  primitive  Landwirtschaft,"  Zeits.  fiir  Socialiirissen- 
schaft,  9:73-88;  I72-S8;  241-51;  309-25. 

41  HAHN,  E.     "Zur  Theorie  der  Entstehung  des  Ackerbaues,"  Globus, 
75:281-37- 

*42  HEHN,  V.    Culturp flans en  und  Hausthiere.    Berlin,  1902. 
[An  early  edition  is  translated  entitled  Cultivated  Plants  and  Domestic  Ani- 
mals.   London,  1891.] 

*43  HERBERTSON,  A.  J.  AND  F.  D.    Man  and  His  Work.    London,  1899. 
44  HODGE,  F.  W.     "Prehistoric  Irrigation  in  Arizona,"  Am.  Anth.,  6: 

323-30. 
*45  HOUGH,  W.    "Environmental  Interrelations  in  Arizona,"  Am.  Anth., 

I i : 133-55- 
*46  HOUGH,  W.     "The  Hopi  in  Relation  to  Their  Plant  Environment," 

Am.  Anth.,  10:33-44. 

*47  HOUGH,  W.     "Pueblo  Environment,"  Am.  Assoc.  for  Adv.  of  Sci., 

Proc.,  55:447-54. 
48  IRELAND,  A.     Tropical  Colonisation.     New  York,  1899. 

*49  JENKS,  A.  E.  "The  Wild-Rice  Gatherers  of  the  Upper  Lakes :  a 
Study  in  American  Primitive  Economics,"  Bur.  of  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep., 
19:1013-1137. 

50  JOHNSTON,  SIR  H.    George  Grcnfell  and  the  Congo,  "Hunting,  War- 
fare, Navigation,"  2:762-88. 

51  JOHNSTON,  SIR  H.     George  Grenfell  and  the  Congo,  "Native  Dis- 
eases," 2:  547-57- 

52  JOHNSTON,   SIR   H.     George  Grenfell  and  the  Congo,  "Trade   and 
Currency,"  2 : 789-97. 

53  JORET,   C.     Les  plantes   dans   I'antiquite   et   au   moyen   age.     Paris, 
1897-- 

54  KRAMER,  H.     Der  Mensch  und  die  Erde.     Berlin,  1906. 

55  LANGKAVEL,  B.     "Hunde  und  Naturvolker,"  Internationales  Archiv 
fiir  Ethnog.,  8:109-17,  138-49. 

*56  LAPOUGE,  G.  V.  DE.  "The  Fundamental  Laws  of  Anthropo-Sociology" 

(tr.  by  C.  C.  Closson),  Jour.  Pol.  Econ.,  6:54-92. 

57  LASCH,  R.  "Die  Landwirtschaft  der  Naturvolker,"  Zeits.  fur  Social- 
wissenschaft,  7:25-47,  97-U5,  190-97,  248-64. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  137 

*58  LASCH,  R.     "Das  Marktwesen  auf  primitiven  Kulturstufen,"  Zeits. 

fiir  Sociahdssenschaft,  9:619-27,  700-15. 
*59  LAZARUS,    M.     "Geographic   und    Psychologic,"    Zeits.   fiir    Volker- 

psychologie  und  Sprachwissenschaft,  1:2:2-21. 

60  LETOURNEAU,  C.    "L'age  precommercial,"  Bui.  de  la  Soc,  d'Anth.  de 
Paris,  4  Series,  8:152-59. 

61  LETOURNEAU,  C.    "Le  commerce  primitif,"  Bui.  de  la  Soc.  d'Anth.  de 
Paris,  4  Series,  7 : 204-9. 

62  LETOURNEAU,  C.     L'evolution  du  commerce  dans  les  diverses  races 
humaines.    Paris,  1897. 

63  LETOURNEAU,  C.    "Le  passe  et  1'avenir  du  commerce,"  Rev.  mensuelle 
de  I'ecole  d'anth.,  5:229-47. 

*64  LIPPERT,  J.    Kulturgeschichte  der  Menschheit,  "Die  Nahrungspflanzen 

im  Gefolge  der  Kultur,"  1:572-618. 
*6s  LIPPERT,  J.    Kulturgeschichte  der  Menschheit,  "Das  Nomadentum  und 

die  Verbreitung  der  Zuchttiare,"  1:478-571. 
*66  LIPPERT,  J.     Kulturgeschichte  der  Menschheit,  "Der  beginnende  An- 

bau  und  die  Verbreitung  der  jiingeren  Volker  in  Earopa,"  1 : 445-77. 
*67  McGEE,  W.  J.     The  Earth  the  Home  of  Man.     Washington,  1894. 
68  McGEE,    W.    J.      "T/he    Re'ation    of    Institutions    to    Environment," 

Smiths.  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  :895:7Oi-ii. 
*6g  MASON,    O.    T.      "Aboriginal    American    Zootechny,"    Am.    Anth., 

12:45-81. 
*7O  MASON,  O.  T.     "Primitive  Travel  and  Transportation,"   U.  S.  Nat. 

Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1894:239-93. 
*7i  MASON,  O.  T.     "Influence  of  Environment  upon  Human  Industries 

or  Arts,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1896:639-65. 
*72  MASON,  O.   T.     "Migration  and  the  Food  Quest ;   a   Study  in  the 

Peopling  of   America,"  Smiths.   Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.   for   1894:523-39; 

Am.  Anth.,  7:275-92. 

73  MINDELEFF,  C.    "The  Influence  of  Geographical  Environment,"  Am. 
Geog.  Soc.  Jour.,  29:1-12. 

74  MORTILLET,  G.  DE.     Origines  de  la  chasse,  de  la  pcche  de  {'agricul- 
ture.   Paris,  1890. 

75  MUCKE,  J.   R.     Urgcschichte   dcs  Ackerbaues   und   der    Vichsucht. 
Greifswald,  1898. 

*76  PAYNE,  E.  J.     History  of  the  New  World   [Aboriginal   food  con- 
ditions, Agriculture,  and  Religion],  1:303-605. 


138  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

77  PENCK,    "Klima,     Boclen    uncl     Mensch,"    Jahrb.    f.    Gesetzgebung, 
31 : 577-90. 

78  PENKA,  KARL.     "Der  Mensch  und  das  Klima,"  Das  Ausland,  64: 
411-13- 

*79  PESCHEL,  O.  The  Races  of  Man,  "The  Influence  of  Commerce  on 
the  Local  Distribution  of  Nations,"  209-18. 

80  PETRIE,  W.  M.  FLINDERS.   "Migrations,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  36 : 189-232. 

81  RATZEL,  F.    Anthropo-geographie.     Stuttgart,  1891-99.     2  vols. 

[See  Semple,  E.  C,  in  this  list.] 

82  RATZEL,  F.    "Die  geographische  Methode  in  der  Ethnographic,"  Geo- 
graphische  Zeits.,  3:268-78. 

*83  RATZEL,  F.  "Situation,  Aspect,  and  Numbers  of  the  Human  Race," 
The  History  of  Mankind,  1:5-14. 

*84  RAU,  C.  "Prehistoric  Fishing  in  Europe  and  North  America,"  Smith- 
sonian Contributions  to  Knowledge,  25 : 1-342. 

*8s  RECLUS,  E.  The  Earth  and  Its  Inhabitants.  New  York,  1886-95. 
19  vols. 

86  REGNAULT,   F.     "Du   rok   des   montagnes   dans   la   distribution   des 
races,"  Bull,  de  la  Soc.  d'Anth.  de  Paris,  4  Series,  3:221-34. 

87  RIDGEWAY,  W.     "The  Greek  Trade  Routes  to  Britain,"  Folk-Lore, 
i : 82-107. 

*89  RIPLEY,  W.  F.     The  Races  of  Europe.     New  York,  1899. 

[The  best  work  on  the  racial  geography  of  Europe.] 
*90  RIPLEY,  W.  F.    "Geography  as  a  Sociological  Study,"  Pol.  Sci.  Quar., 

10:636-55. 
*9i  ROTH,  W.  E.    "Food :  Its  Search,  Capture,  and  Preparation,"  North 

Queensland  Eth.  Bui.,  No.  33.     Brisbane,  1901. 

92  SCHRADER,   F.      "Exchanges    d'activite    entre    la   terre    et   I'homme," 
Rev.  mensuelle  de  I'ecole  d'anth.,  6:33-42. 

93  SCHRADER,  F.    "De  1'influence  des  formes  terrestres  sur  le  developpe- 
ment  humain,"  Rev.  mensuelle  de  I'ecole  d'anth.,  3:205-19. 

*94  SEMPLE,  ELLEN  C.  American  History  and  its  Geographical  Con- 
ditions. Boston,  1903. 

*95  SEMPLE,  ELLEN  C.  The  Influences  of  Geographic  Environment:  On 
the  Basis  of  Ratsel's  System  of  Anthropo-gcography.  Boston  [in 
press]. 

[This  may  be  regarded  as  superseding  Ratzel's  great  work  on  Anthropo- 
geographie.  Contents:  i,  The  Operation  of  Geographic  Factors  in  His- 
tory ;  2,  Classes  of  Geographic  Influences ;  3,  Society  and  State  in  Re- 


RELATION  OF  SOCIETY  TO  ENVIRONMENT  139 

lation  to  the  Soil ;  4,  The  Movements  of  Peoples  in  Their  Geographical 
Significance ;    5,    The    Importance    of    Geographical    Location ;    6,    Geo- 
graphical Area ;  7,  Geographical  Boundaries ;  8,  Coast  Peoples ;  9,  Man's 
Relation   to    the   Water;    10,    Oceans   and    Enclosed    Seas;    n,    The    An- 
thropo-geography  of  Rivers;    12,   Continents   and   Peninsulas;    13,   Island 
Peoples;    14,  Lowlands  and   Highlands;    15,   Mountain   Peoples;    16,   The 
Environent   of   Deserts   and    Steppes;    17,   Animal   and    Plant   Life   as   a 
Factor  in  Man's  Development;  18,  The  Influence  of  Climate.] 
*p6  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.    Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "Culti- 
vation," i : 338-73. 
*97  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.    Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "Food — 

Stimulants — Narcotics,"  i :  109-36. 

*o8  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.    Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "Hunt- 
ing, Trapping,  and  Fishing,"  1:200-24. 
*99  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.    Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "Modes 

of  Barter,"  1 1225-41. 

*ioo  SPENCER,  H.     Principles  of  Sociology,  "Original  External  Factors," 
i :  16-37. 

101  SPENCER,  H.     Descriptive  Sociology,  1:49-58;  2:53-65;  3:47-55;  4: 
36-4255:45-52;  6:43-49;  7:95-H2;  8:133-44- 

102  STICKNEY,   GARDNER   P.     "Indian   Use   of   Wild   Rice,"  Am.  Anth., 
9:115-21. 

103  THRUPP,  J.    "On  the  Domestication  of  Certain  Animals  in  England 
between  the  Seventh  and   Eleventh   Centuries,"   Trans.   Ethn.   Soc., 
N.  S.,  4:164-72. 

104  ULE,    O.      "Ueber    den    Einfluss    der    Oberflachengestaltung    der 
Lander    und    der    Meere    und    Strome    auf    die    Entwickelung    der 
Volker,"  Die  Natur,  25:265-67,  277-79. 

*ros  VIERKANDT,  A.     "Die  Kulturformen  und  ihre  geographische  Bedeu- 

tung,"  Geographische  Zeits.,  3:256-67. 
*io6  VIERKANDT,  A.    "Die  wirtschaftlichen  Verhaltnisse  der  Naturvolker," 

Zeits.  fur  Socialwissenschaft,  2:81-97,   T 75-^5- 
*IO7  VIRCHOW,  R.     "Acclimatisation,"   Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,   17:202-14. 

108  VOIT,  C.     "Ueber  die  Nahrung  in  verschiedenen  Klimaten,"  Archiv 
fur  Anth.,  23:467-83. 

109  WAITZ,  T.   Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker  [Climate,  Food  j',  i :  38-73. 
[In  the  transl.  by  Collingwood    (Introduction   to  Anthropology),   34-67.] 

*no  WARMING,  E.,  AND  VAHL,  M.     Oecology  of  Plants.     Oxford,  1909. 

[Translated  from  the  Swedish.     The  classical  work  on  plant  sociology.] 
in  WEISSMAN,  A.     The  Effect  of  External  Influences  upon  Develop- 
ment.   London,  1894. 

112  WOODRUFF,  C.  E.     The  Effects  of  Tropical  Light  on   White  Men. 
New  York,  London,  1005. 


PART  II 
MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION 

THE  MIND  OF  PRIMITIVE  MAN 

One  of  the  chief  aims  of  anthropology  is  the  study  of  the 
mind  of  man  under  the  varying  conditions  of  race  and  of  en- 
vironment. The  activities  of  the  mind  manifest  themselves  in 
thoughts  and  actions,  and  exhibit  an  infinite  variety  of  form 
among  the  peoples  of  the  world.  In  order  to  understand  these 
clearly,  the  student  must  endeavor  to  divest  himself  entirely  of 
opinions  and  emotions  based  upon  the  peculiar  social  environ- 
ment into  which  he  is  born.  He  must  adapt  his  own  mind,  so 
far  as  feasible,  to  that  of  the  people  whom- he  is  studying.  The 
more  successful  he  is  in  freeing  himself  from  the  bias  based  on 
the  group  of  ideas  that  constitute  the  civilization  in  which  he 
lives,  the  more  successful  he  will  be  in  interpreting  the  beliefs 
and  actions  of  man.  He  must  follow  lines  of  thought  that  are 
new  to  him.  He  must  participate  in  new  emotions,  and  under- 
stand how,  under  unwonted  conditions,  both  lead  to  actions. 
Beliefs,  customs,  and  the  response  of  the  individual  to  the  events 
of  daily  life  give  us  ample  opportunity  to  observe  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  mind  of  man  under  varying  conditions. 

The  thoughts  and  actions  of  civilized  man  and  those  found  in 
more  primitive  forms  of  society  prove  that,  in  various  groups  of 
mankind,  the  mind  responds  quite  differently  when  exposed  to 
the  same  conditions.  Lack  of  logical  connection  in  its  conclu- 
sions, lack  of  control  of  will,  are  apparently  two  of  its  funda- 
mental characteristics  in  primitive  society.  In  the  formation 
of  opinions,  belief  takes  the  place  of  logical  demonstration.  The 
emotional  value  of  opinions  is  great,  and  consequently  they 
quickly  lead  to  action.  The  will  appears  unbalanced,  there  being 
a  readiness  to  yield  to  strong  emotions,  and  a  stubborn  re- 
sistance in  trifling  matters.  In  the  following  remarks  I  propose 
to  analyze  the  differences  which  characterize  the  mental  life  of 
man  in  various  stages  of  culture. 

There  are  two  possible  explanations  of  the  different  mani- 
festations of  the  mind  of  man.  It  may  be  that  the  minds  of  dif- 

143 


144  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

ferent  races  show  differences  of  organization ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
laws  of  mental  activity  may  not  be  the  same  for  all  minds.  But 
it  may  also  be  that  the  organization  of  mind  is  practically  identi- 
cal among  all  races  of  man ;  that  mental  activity  follows  the  same 
laws  everywhere,  but  that  its  manifestations  depend  upon  the 
character  of  individual  experience  that  is  subjected  to  the  action 
of  these  laws. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  activities  of  the  human  mind  de- 
pend upon  these  two  elements.  The  organization  of  the  mind  may 
be  defined  as  the  group  of  laws  which  determine  the  modes  of 
thought  and  of  action,  irrespective  of  the  subject-matter  of 
mental  activity.  Subject  to  such  laws  are  the  manner  of  dis- 
crimination between  perceptions,  the  manner  in  which  percep- 
tions associate  themselves  with  previous  perceptions,  the  manner 
in  which  a  stimulus  leads  to  action,  and  the  emotions  produced  by 
stimuli.  These  laws  determine  to  a  great  extent  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  mind. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  influence  of  individual  experience 
can  easily  be  shown  to  be  very  great.  The  bulk  of  the  experi- 
ence of  man  is  gained  from  oft-repeated  impressions.  It  is  one 
of  the  fundamental  laws  of  psychology  that  the  repetition  of 
mental  processes  increases  the  facility  with  which  these  processes 
are  performed,  and  decreases  the  degree  of  consciousness  that 
accompanies  them.  This  law  expresses  the  well-known  phe- 
nomena of  habit.  When  a  certain  perception  is  frequently  asso- 
ciated with  another  previous  perception,  the  one  will  habitually 
call  forth  the  other.  When  a  certain  stimulus  frequently  results 
in  a  certain  action,  it  will  tend  to  call  forth  habitually  the  same 
action.  If  a  stimulus  has  often  produced  a  certain  emotion,  it 
will  tend  to  reproduce  it  every  time. 

The  explanation  of  the  activity  of  the  mind  of  man,  there- 
fore, requires  the  discussion  of  two  distinct  problems.  The  first 
bears  upon  the  question  of  unity  or  diversity  of  organization 
of  the  mind,  while  the  second  bears  upon  the  diversity  produced 
by  the  variety  of  contents  of  the  mind  as  found  in  the  various 
social  and  geographical  environments.  The  task  of  the  investi- 
gator consists  largely  in  separating  these  two  causes  and  in  at- 
tributing to  each  its  proper  share  in  the  development  of  the  pe- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  145 

culiarities  of  the  mind.  It  is  the  latter  problem,  principally, 
which  is  of  interest  to  the  folk-lorist.  When  we  define  as  folk- 
lore the  total  mass  of  traditional  matter  present  in  the  mind 
of  a  given  people  at  any  given  time,  we  recognize  that  this  mat- 
ter must  influence  the  opinions  and  activities  of  the  people  more 
or  less  according  to  its  quantitative  and  qualitative  value,  and 
also  that  the  actions  of  each  individual  must  be  influenced  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  by  the  mass  of  traditional  material  present 
in  his  mind. 

We  will  first  devote  our  attention  to  the  question,  Do  differ- 
ences exist  in  the  organization  of  the  human  mind?  Since 
Waitz's  thorough  discussion  of  the  question  of  the  unity  of  the 
human  species,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  main  the  mental 
characteristics  of  man  are  the  same  all  over  the  world;  but  the 
question  remains  open,  whether  there  is  a  sufficient  difference 
in  grade  to  allow  us  to  assume  that  the  present  races  of  man  may 
be  considered  as  standing  on  different  stages  of  the  evolutionary 
series,  whether  we  are  justified  in  ascribing  to  civilized  man  a 
higher  place  in  organization  than  to  primitive  man.  In  answer- 
ing this  question,  we  must  clearly  distinguish  between  the  influ- 
ences of  civilization  and  of  race.  A  number  of  anatomical  facts 
point  to  the  conclusion  that  the  races  of  Africa,  Australia,  and 
Melanesia  are  to  a  certain  extent  inferior  to  the  races  of  Asia, 
America,  and  Europe.  We  find  that  on  the  average  the  size  of 
the  brain  of  the  negroid  races  is  less  than  the  size  of  the  brain 
of  the  other  races ;  and  the  difference  in  favor  of  the  mongoloid 
and  white  races  is  so  great  that  we  are  justified  in  assuming  a 
certain  correlation  between  their  mental  ability  and  the  increased 
size  of  their  brain.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  variability  of  the  mongoloid  and  white  races  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  negroid  races  on  the  other,  is  so  great  that  only 
a  small  number,  comparatively  speaking,  of  individuals  belonging 
to  the  latter  have  brains  smaller  than  any  brains  found  among 
the  former;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  only  a  few  individuals 
of  the  mongoloid  races  have  brains  so  large  that  they  would  not 
occur  at  all  among  the  black  races.  That  is  to  say,  the  bulk  of 
the  two  groups  of  races  have  brains  of  the  same  capacities  but 
individuals  with  heavy  brains  are  proportionately  more  frequent 


146  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

among  the  mongoloid  and  white  races  than  among  the  negroid 
races.  Probably  this  difference  in  the  size  of  the  brain  is  ac- 
companied by  differences  in  structure,  although  no  satisfactory 
information  on  this  point  is  available.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we 
compare  civilized  people  of  any  race  with  uncivilized  people  of 
the  same  race,  we  do  not  find  any  anatomical  differences  which 
would  justify  us  in  assuming  any  fundamental  differences  in 
mental  constitution. 

When  we  consider  the  same  question  from  a  purely  psycho- 
logical point  of  view,  we  recognize  that  one  of  the  most  funda- 
mental traits  which  distinguish  the  human  mind  from  the  animal 
mind  is  common  to  all  races  of  man.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  animal 
is  able  to  form  an  abstract  conception  such  as  that  of  number, 
or  any  conception  of  the  abstract  relations  of  phenomena.  We 
find  that  this  is  done  by  all  races  of  man.  A  developed  language 
with  grammatical  categories  presupposes  the  ability  of  express- 
ing abstract  relations,  and,  since  every  known  language  has 
grammatical  structure,  we  must  assume  that  the  faculty  of  form- 
ing abstract  ideas  is  a  common  property  of  man.  It  has  often 
been  pointed  out  that  the  concept  of  number  is  developed  very 
differently  among  different  peoples.  While  in  most  languages 
we  find  numeral  systems  based  upon  the  10,  we  find  that  certain 
tribes  in  Brazil,  and  others  in  Australia,  have  numeral  systems 
based  on  the  3,  or  even  on  the  2,  which  involve  the  impossibility 
of  expressing  high  numbers.  Although  these  numeral  systems 
are  very  slightly  developed  as  compared  with  our  own,  we  must 
not  forget  that  the  abstract  idea  of  number  must  be  present 
among  these  people,  because,  without  it,  no  method  of  counting  is 
possible.  It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention  one  or  two  other 
facts  taken  from  the  grammars  of  primitive  people,  which  will 
make  it  clear  that  all  grammar  presupposes  abstractions.  The 
three  personal  pronouns — I,  thou,  and  he — occur  in  all  human 
languages.  The  underlying  idea  of  these  pronouns  is  the  clear 
distinction  between  the  self  as  speaker,  the  person  or  object 
spoken  to,  and  that  spoken  of.  We  also  find  that  nouns  are 
classified  in  a  great  many  ways  in  different  languages.  While 
all  the  older  Indo-European  languages  classify  nouns  according 
to  sex,  other  languages  classify  nouns  as  animate  or  inanimate, 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  147 

or  as  human  and  not  human,  etc.  Activities  are  also  classified 
in  many  different  ways.  It  is  at  once  clear  that  every  classifica- 
tion of  this  kind  involves  the  formation  of  an  abstract  idea.  The 
processes  of  abstraction  are  the  same  in  all  languages,  and  they 
do  not  need  any  further  discussion,  except  in  so  far  as  we  may 
be  inclined  to  value  differently  the  systems  of  classification  and 
the  results  of  abstraction. 

The  question  whether  the  power  to  inhibit  impulses  is  the 
same  in  all  races  of  man  is  not  so  easily  answered.  It  is  an  im- 
pression obtained  by  many  travellers,  and  also  based  upon  experi- 
ences gained  in  our  own  country,  that  primitive  man  and  the  less 
educated  have  in  common  a  lack  of  control  of  emotions,  and  they 
give  way  more  readily  to  an  impulse  than  civilized  man  and  the 
highly  educated.  I  believe  that  this  conception  is  based  largely 
upon  the  neglect  to  consider  the  occasions  on  which  a  strong  con- 
trol of  impulses  is  demanded  in  various  forms  of  society.  What 
I  mean  will  become  clear  when  I  call  your  attention  to  the  often 
described  power  of  endurance  exhibited  by  Indian  captives  who 
undergo  torture  at  the  hands  of  their  enemies.  When  we  want 
to  gain  a  true  estimate  of  the  power  of  primitive  man  to  control 
impulses,  we  must  not  compare  the  control  required  on  certain 
occasions  among  ourselves  with  the  control  exerted  by  primitive 
man  on  the  same  occasions.  If,  for  instance,  our  social  etiquette 
forbids  the  expression  of  feelings  of  personal  discomfort  and 
of  anxiety,  we  must  remember  that  personal  etiquette  among 
primitive  men  may  not  require  any  inhibition  of  the  same  kind. 
We  must  rather  look  for  those  occasions  on  which  inhibition  is 
required  by  the  customs  of  primitive  man.  Such  are,  for  in- 
stance, the  numerous  cases  of  taboo,  that  is,  of  prohibitions  of 
the  use  of  certain  foods,  or  of  the  performance  of  certain  kinds 
of  work,  which  sometimes  require  a  considerable  amount  of  self- 
control.  When  an  Eskimo  community  is  on  the  point  of  starva- 
tion, and  their  religious  proscriptions  forbid  them  to  make  use 
of  the  seals  that  are  basking  on  the  ice,  the  amount  of  self-control 
of  the  whole  community,  which  restrains  them  from  killing  these 
seals,  is  certainly  very  great.  Cases  of  this  kind  are  very  numer- 
ous, and  prove  that  primitive  man  has  the  ability  to  control  his 
impulses,  but  that  this  control  is  exerted  on  occasions  which  de- 


148  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

pend  upon  the  character  of  the  social  life  of  the  people,  and 
which  do  not  coincide  with  the  occasions  on  which  we  expect 
and  require  control  of  impulses. 

The  third  point  in  which  the  mind  of  primitive  man  seems 
to  differ  from  that  of  civilized  man  is  in  its  power  of  choosing 
between  perceptions  and  actions  according  to  their  value.  On 
this  power  rests  the  whole  domain  of  art  and  of  ethics.  An 
object  or  an  action  becomes  of  artistic  value  only  when  it  is 
chosen  from  among  other  perceptions  or  other  actions  on  account 
of  its  beauty.  An  action  becomes  moral  only  when  it  is  chosen 
from  among  other  possible  actions  on  account  of  its  ethical  value. 
No  matter  how  crude  the  standards  of  primitive  man  may  be 
in  regard  to  these  two  points,  we  recognize  that  all  of  them 
possess  an  art,  and  that  all  of  them  possess  ethical  standards. 
It  may  be  that  their  art  is  quite  contrary  to  our  artistic  feeling. 
It  may  be  that  their  ethical  standards  outrage  our  moral  code. 
We  must  clearly  distinguish  between  the  aesthetic  and  ethical 
codes  and  the  existence  of  an  aesthetic  and  ethical  standard. 

Our  brief  consideration  of  the  phenomena  of  abstraction,  of 
inhibition,  and  of  choice,  leads,  then,  to  the  conclusion  that  these 
functions  of  the  human  mind  are  common  to  the  whole  of  hu- 
manity. It  may  be  well  to  state  here  that,  according  to  our 
present  method  of  considering  biological  and  psychological  phe- 
nomena, we  must  assume  that  these  functions  of  the  human  mind 
have  developed  from  lower  conditions  existing  at  a  previous 
time,  and  that  at  one  time  there  certainly  must  have  been  races 
and  tribes  in  which  the  properties  here  described  were  not  at  all, 
or  only  slightly,  developed;  but  it  is  also  true  that  among  the 
present  races  of  man,  no  matter  how  primitive  they  may  be 
in  comparison  with  ourselves,  these  faculties  are  highly  de- 
veloped. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  the  degree  of  development  of  these 
functions  may  differ  somewhat  among  different  types  of  man ; 
but  I  do  not  believe  that  we  are  able  at  the  present  time  to  form 
a  just  valuation  of  the  power  of  abstraction,  of  control,  and  of 
choice  among  different  races.  A  comparison  of  their  languages, 
customs,  and  activities  suggests  that  these  faculties  may  be  une- 
qually developed;  but  the  differences  are  not  sufficient  to  justify 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  149 

us  in  ascribing  materially  lower  stages  to  some  peoples,  and 
higher  stages  to  others.  The  conclusions  reached  from  these  con- 
siderations are,  therefore,  on  the  whole,  negative.  We  are  not 
inclined  to  consider  the  mental  organization  of  different  races 
of  man  as  differing  in  fundamental  points. 

We  next  turn  to  a  consideration  of  the  second  question  pro- 
pounded here,  namely,  to  an  investigation  of  the  influence  of  the 
contents  of  the  mind  upon  the  formation  of  thoughts  and  actions. 
We  will  take  these  up  in  the  same  order  in  which  we  considered 
the  previous  question.  We  will  first  direct  our  attention  to  the 
phenomena  of  perception.  It  has  been  observed  by  many  travel- 
lers that  the  senses  of  primitive  man  are  remarkably  well  trained, 
and  that  he  is  an  excellent  observer.  The  adeptness  of  the  ex- 
perienced hunter,  who  finds  the  tracks  of  his  game  where  the  eye 
of  a  European  would  not  see  the  faintest  indication,  is  an  in- 
stance of  this  kind.  While  the  power  of  perception  of  primitive 
man  is  excellent,  it  would  seem  that  his  power  of  logical  inter- 
pretation of  perceptions  is  deficient.  I  think  it  can  be  shown  that 
the  reason  for  this  fact  is  not  founded  on  any  fundamental  pe- 
culiarity of  the  mind  of  primitive  man,  but  lies,  rather,  in  the 
character  of  the  ideas  with  which  the  new  perception  associates 
itself.  In  our  own  community  a  mass  of  observations  and  of 
thoughts  is  transmitted  to  the  child.  These  thoughts  are  the  re- 
sult of  careful  observation  and  speculation  of  our  present  and 
of  past  generations ;  but  they  are  transmitted  to  most  individuals 
as  traditional  matter,  much  the  same  as  folk-lore.  The  child 
associates  new  perceptions  with  this  whole  mass  of  traditional 
material,  and  interprets  his  observations  by  its  means.  I  believe 
it  is  a  mistake  to  assume  that  the  interpretation  made  by  each 
civilized  individual  is  a  complete  logical  process.  We  associate 
a  phenomenon  with  a  number  of  known  facts,  the  interpretations 
of  which  are  assumed  as  known,  and  we  are  satisfied  with  the 
reduction  of  a  new  fact  to  these  previously  known  facts.  For 
instance,  if  the  average  individual  hears  of  the  explosion  of  a 
previously  unknown  chemical,  he  is  satisfied  to  reason  that  cer- 
tain materials  are  known  to  have  the  property  of  exploding  under 
proper  conditions,  and  that  consequently  the  unknown  substance 
has  the  same  quality.  On  the  whole,  I  do  not  think  that  we 


150  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

should  try  to  argue  still  further,  and  really  try  to  give  a  full  ex- 
planation of  the  causes  of  the  explosion. 

The  difference  in  the  mode  of  thought  of  primitive  man  and 
of  civilized  man  seems  to  consist  largely  in  the  difference  of 
character  of  the  traditional  material  with  which  the  new  per- 
ception associates  itself.  The  instruction  given  to  the  child  of 
primitive  man  is  not  based  on  centuries  of  experimentation,  but 
consists  of  the  crude  experience  of  generations.  When  a  new  ex- 
perience enters  the  mind  of  primitive  man,  the  same  process 
which  we  observe  among  civilized  men  brings  about  an  entirely 
different  series  of  associations,  and  therefore  results  in  a  dif- 
ferent type  of  explanation.  A  sudden  explosion  will  associate 
itself  in  his  mind,  perhaps,  with  a  tale  which  he  has  heard  in  re- 
gard to  the  mythical  history  of  the  world,  and  consequently  will 
be  accompanied  by  superstitious  fear.  When  we  recognize  that, 
neither  among  civilized  men  nor  among  primitive  men,  the 
average  individual  carries  to  completion  the  attempt  at  causal 
explanation  of  phenomena,  but  carries  it  only  so  far  as  to  amal- 
gamate it  with  other  previously  known  facts,  we  recognize 
that  the  result  of  the  whole  process  depends  entirely  upon  the 
character  of  the  traditional  material:  herein  lies  the  immense 
importance  of  folk-lore  in  determining  the  mode  of  thought. 
Herein  lies  particularly  the  enormous  influence  of  current 
philosophic  opinion  upon  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  herein 
lies  the  influence  of  the  dominant  scientific  theory  upon  the 
character  of  scientific  work. 

It  would  be  in  vain  to  try  to  understand  the  development  of 
modern  science  without  an  intelligent  understanding  of  modern 
philosophy;  it  would  be  in  vain  to  try  to  understand  the  history 
of  mediaeval  science  without  an  intelligent  knowledge  of 
mediaeval  theology;  and  so  it  is  in  vain  to  try  to  understand 
primitive  science  without  an  intelligent  knowledge  of  primitive 
mythology.  Mythology,  theology,  and  philosophy  are  different 
terms  for  the  same  influences  which  shape  the  current  of  human 
thought,  and  which  determine  the  character  of  the  attempts  of 
man  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  nature.  To  primitive  man — 
who  has  been  taught  to  consider  the  heavenly  orbs  as  animate 
beings,  who  sees  in  every  animal  a  being  more  powerful  than 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  151 

man,  to  whom  the  mountains,  trees,  and  stones  are  endowed  with 
life — explanations  of  phenomena  will  suggest  themselves  en- 
tirely different  from  those  to  which  we  are  accustomed,  since  we 
base  our  conclusions  upon  the  existence  of  matter  and  force  as 
bringing  about  the  observed  results.  If  we  do  not  consider  it 
possible  to  explain  the  whole  range  of  phenomena  as  the  result 
of  matter  and  force  alone,  all  our  explanations  of  natural  phe- 
nomena must  take  a  different  aspect. 

In  scientific  inquiries  we  should  always  be  clear  in  our  own 
minds  of  the  fact  that  we  do  not  carry  the  analysis  of  any  given 
phenomenon  to  completion;  but  that  we  always  embody  a  num- 
ber of  hypotheses  and  theories  in  our  explanations.  In  fact,  if  we 
were  to  do  so,  progress  would  hardly  become  possible,  because 
every  phenomenon  would  require  an  endless  amount  of  time  for 
thorough  treatment.  We  are  only  too  apt,  however,  to  forget 
entirely  the  general,  and,  for  most  of  us,  purely  traditional, 
theoretical  basis  which  is  the  foundation  of  our  reasoning,  and 
to  assume  that  the  result  of  our  reasoning  is  absolute  truth. 
In  this  we  commit  the  same  error  that  is  committed,  and  has 
been  committed,  by  all  the  less  civilized  peoples.  They  are  more 
easily  satisfied  than  we  are  at  the  present  time,  but  they  also 
assume  as  true  the  traditional  element  which  enters  into  their 
explanations,  and  therefore  accept  as  absolute  truth  the  con- 
clusions based  on  it.  It  is  evident  that,  the  fewer  the  number 
of  traditional  elements  that  enter  into  our  reasoning,  and  the 
clearer  we  endeavor  to  be  in  regard  to  the  hypothetical  part  of 
our  reasoning,  the  more  logical  will  be  our  conclusions.  There  is 
an  undoubted  tendency  in  the  advance  of  civilization  to  eliminate 
traditional  elements,  and  to  gain  a  clearer  and  clearer  insight 
into  the  hypothetical  basis  of  our  reasoning.  It  is  therefore  not 
surprising  that,  with  the  advance  of  civilization,  reasoning  be- 
comes more  and  more  logical,  not  because  each  individual  carries 
out  his  thought  in  a  more  logical  manner,  but  because  the  tra- 
ditional material  which  is  handed  down  to  each  individual  has 
been  thought  out  and  worked  out  more  thoroughly  and  more 
carefully.  While  in  primitive  civilization  the  traditional  ma- 
terial is  doubted  and  examined  by  only  a  very  few  individuals, 


152  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  number  of  thinkers  who  try  to  free  themselves  from  the 
fetters  of  tradition  increases  as  civilization  advances. 

The  influence  of  traditional  material  upon  the  life  of  man 
is  not  restricted  to  his  thoughts,  but  manifests  itself  no  less  in 
his  activities.  The  comparison  between  civilized  man  and  primi- 
tive man  in  this  respect  is  even  more  instructive  than  in  the  pre- 
ceding case.  A  comparison  between  the  modes  of  life  of  differ- 
ent nations,  and  particularly  of  civilized  man  and  of  primitive 
man,  makes  it  clear  that  an  enormous  number  of  our  actions 
are  determined  entirely  by  traditional  associations.  When  we 
consider,  for  instance,  the  whole  range  of  our  daily  life,  we  notice 
how  strictly  we  are  dependent  upon  tradition  that  cannot  be  ac- 
counted for  by  any  logical  reasoning.  We  eat  our  three  meals 
every  day,  and  feel  unhappy  if  we  have  to  forego  one  of  them. 
There  is  no  physiological  reason  which  demands  three  meals  a 
day,  and  we  find  that  many  people  are  satisfied  with  two  meals, 
while  others  enjoy  four  or  even  more.  The  range  of  animals 
and  plants  which  we  utilize  for  food  is  limited,  and  we  have  a 
decided  aversion  against  eating  dogs,  or  horses,  or  cats.  There 
is  certainly  no  objective  reason  for  such  aversion,  since  a  great 
many  people  consider  dogs  and  horses  as  dainties.  When  we 
consider  fashions,  the  same  becomes  still  more  apparent.  To  ap- 
pear in  the  fashions  of  our  forefathers  of  two  centuries  ago 
would  be  entirely  out  of  the  question,  and  would  expose  one  to 
ridicule.  The  same  is  true  of  table  manners.  To  smack  one's 
lips  is  considered  decidedly  bad  style,  and  may  even  incite  feel- 
ings of  disgust;  while  among  the  Indians,  for  instance,  it  would 
be  considered  as  in  exceedingly  bad  taste  not  to  smack  one's  lips 
when  one  is  invited  to  dinner,  because  it  would  suggest  that  the 
guest  does  not  enjoy  his  dinner.  The  whole  range  of  actions  that 
are  considered  as  proper  and  improper  cannot  be  explained  by 
any  logical  reason,  but  are  almost  all  entirely  due  to  custom ;  that 
is  to  say,  they  are  purely  traditional.  This  is  even  true  of  cus- 
toms which  excite  strong  emotions,  as,  for  instance,  those  pro- 
duced by  infractions  of  modesty. 

While  in  the  logical  processes  of  the  mind  we  find  a  decided 
tendency,  with  the  development  of  civilization,  to  eliminate  tra- 
ditional elements,  no  such  marked  decrease  in  the  force  of 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  153 

traditional  elements  can  be  found  in  our  activities.  These  are 
almost  as  much  controlled  by  custom  among  ourselves  as  they 
are  among  primitive  man.  It  is  easily  seen  why  this  should  be 
the  case.  The  mental  processes  which  enter  into  the  development 
of  judgments  are  based  largely  upon  associations  with  previous 
judgments.  I  pointed  out  before  that  this  process  of  association 
is  the  same  among  primitive  men  as  among  civilized  men,  and 
that  the  difference  consists  largely  in  the  modification  of  the  tra- 
ditional material  with  which  our  new  perceptions  amalgamate. 
In  the  case  of  activities,  the  conditions  are  somewhat  different. 
Here  tradition  manifests  itself  in  an  action  performed  by  the 
individual.  The  more  frequently  this  action  is  repeated,  the  more 
firmly  it  will  become  established,  and  the  less  will  be  the  con- 
scious equivalent  accompanying  the  action ;  so  that  customary 
actions  which  are  of  very  frequent  repetition  become  entirely 
unconscious.  Hand  in  hand  with  this  decrease  of  consciousness 
goes  an  increase  in  the  emotional  value  of  the  omission  of  such 
activities,  and  still  more  of  the  performance  of  actions  contrary 
to  custom.  A  greater  will  power  is  required  to  inhibit  an  action 
which  has  become  well  established ;  and  combined  with  this  effort 
of  the  will  power  are  feelings  of  intense  displeasure. 

This  leads  us  to  the  third  problem,  which  is  closely  associated 
with  the  difference  between  the  manifestation  of  the  power 
of  civilized  man  and  of  primitive  man  to  inhibit  impulses.  It 
is  the  question  of  choice  as  dependent  upon  value.  It  is  evident 
from  the  preceding  remarks  that,  on  the  whole,  we  value  most 
highly  what  conforms  to  our  previous  actions.  This  does  net 
imply  that  it  must  be  identical  with  our  previous  actions,  but  it 
must  be  on  the  line  of  development  of  our  previous  actions.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  ethical  concepts.  No  action  can  find  the 
approval  of  a  people  which  is  fundamentally  opposed  to  its  cus- 
toms and  traditions.  Among  ourselves  it  is  considered  proper 
and  a  matter  of  course  to  treat  the  old  with  respect,  for  children 
to  look  after  the  welfare  of  their  aged  parents;  and  not  to  do  so 
would  be  considered  base  ingratitude.  Among  the  Eskimo  we 
find  an  entirely  different  standard.  It  is  required  of  children  to 
kill  their  parents  when  they  have  become  so  old  as  to  be  help- 
less and  no  longer  of  any  use  to  the  family  or  to  the  community. 


154  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

It  would  be  considered  a  breach  of  filial  duty  not  to  kill  the  aged 
parent.  Revolting  though  this  custom  may  seem  to  us,  it  is 
founded  on  the  ethical  law  of  the  Eskimo,  which  rests  on  the 
whole  mass  of  traditional  lore  and  custom. 

One  of  the  best  examples  of  this  kind  is  found  in  the  rela- 
tion between  individuals  belonging  to  different  tribes.  There 
are  a  number  of  primitive  hordes  to  whom  every  stranger  not  a 
member  of  the  horde  is  an  enemy,  and  where  it  is  right  to  damage 
the  enemy  to  the  best  of  one's  power  and  ability,  and  if  possible 
to  kill  him.  This  custom  is  founded  largely  on  the  idea  of  the 
solidarity  of  the  horde,  and  of  the  feeling  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  member  of  the  horde  to  destroy  all  possible  enemies. 
Therefore  every  person  not  a  member  of  the  horde  must  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  a  class  entirely  distinct  from  the 
members  of  the  horde,  and  is  treated  accordingly.  We  can  trace 
the  gradual  broadening  of  the  feeling  of  fellowship  during  the 
advance  of  civilization.  The  feeling  of  fellowship  in  the  horde 
expands  to  the  feeling  of  unity  of  the  tribe,  to  a  recognition  of 
bonds  established  by  a  neighborhood  of  habitat,  and  further  on 
to  the  feeling  of  fellowship  among  members  of  nations.  This 
seems  to  be  the  limit  of  the  ethical  concept  of  fellowship  of  man 
which  we  have  reached  at  the  present  time.  When  we  analyze 
the  strong  feeling  of  nationality  which  is  so  potent  at  the  present 
time,  we  recognize  that  it  consists  largely  in  the  idea  of  the  pre- 
eminence of  that  community  whose  member  we  happen  to  be, — 
in  the  preeminent  value  of  its  language,  of  its  customs,  and  of 
its  traditions,  and  in  the  belief  that  it  is  right  to  preserve  its 
peculiarities  and  to  impose  them  upon  the  rest  of  the  world. 
The  feeling  of  nationality  as  here  expressed,  and  the  feeling  of 
solidarity  of  the  horde,  are  of  the  same  order,  although  modi- 
fied by  the  gradual  expansion  of  the  idea  of  fellowship;  but 
the  ethical  point  of  view  which  makes  it  justifiable  at  the  present 
time  to  increase  the  well-being  of  one  nation  at  the  cost  of  an- 
other, the  tendency  to  value  one's  own  civilization  as  higher 
than  that  of  the  whole  race  of  mankind,  are  the  same  as  those 
which  prompt  the  actions  of  primitive  man,  who  considers  every 
stranger  as  an  enemy,  and  who  is  not  satisfied  until  the  enemy 
is  killed.  It  is  somewhat  difficult  for  us  to  recognize  that  the 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  155 

value  which  we  attribute  to  our  own  civilization  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  we  participate  in  this  civilization,  and  that  it  has  been 
controlling  all  our  actions  since  the  time  of  our  birth;  but  it  is 
certainly  conceivable  that  there  may  be  other  civilizations,  based 
perhaps  on  different  traditions  and  on  a  different  equilibrium  of 
emotion  and  reason,  which  are  of  no  less  value  than  ours,  al- 
though it  may  be  impossible  for  us  to  appreciate  their  values 
without  having  grown  up  under  their  influence.  The  general 
theory  of  valuation  of  human  activities,  as  taught  by  anthropolo- 
gical research,  teaches  us  a  higher  tolerance  than  the  one  which 
we  now  profess. 

Our  considerations  make  it  probable  that  the  wide  differences 
between  the  manifestations  of  the  human  mind  in  various  stages 
of  culture  may  be  due  almost  entirely  to  the  form  of  individual 
experience,  which  is  determined  by  the  geographical  and  social 
environment  of  the  individual.  It  would  seem  that,  in  different 
races,  the  organization  of  the  mind  is  on  the  whole  alike,  and  that 
the  varieties  of  mind  found  in  different  races  do  not  exceed,  per- 
haps not  even  reach,  the  amount  of  normal  individual  variation  in 
each  race.  It  has  been  indicated  that,  notwithstanding  this  sim- 
ilarity in  the  form  of  individual  mental  processes,  the  expression 
of  mental  activity  of  a  community  tends  to  show  a  characteristic 
historical  development.  From  a  comparative  study  of  these 
changes  among  the  races  of  man  is  derived  our  theory  of  the 
general  development  of  human  culture.  But  the  development  of 
culture  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  development  of  mind. 
Culture  is  an  expression  of  the  achievements  of  the  mind,  and 
shows  the  cumulative  effects  of  the  activities  of  many  minds. 
But  it  is  not  an  expression  of  the  organization  of  the  minds 
constituting  the  community,  which  may  in  no  way  differ  from 
the  minds  of  a  community  occupying  a  much  more  advanced 
stage  of  culture. — F.  BOAS,  Journal  of  American  Folk-Lore, 
14:  i-n. 

[THE  MIND  OF  THE  SAVAGE] 

....  In  approaching  the  question  of  the  parity  or  disparity 
of  mental  ability  in  the  white  and  the  lower  races,  we  bring 
to  it  a  fixed  and  instinctive  prejudice.  No  race  views  another 
race  with  that  generosity  with  which  it  views  itself.  It  may  even 


156  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

be  said  that  the  existence  of  a  social  group  depends  on  its  taking 
an  exaggerated  view  of  its  own  importance;  and  in  a  state  of 
nature,  at  least,  the  same  is  true  of  the  individual.  If  self- 
preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature,  there  must  be  on  the 
mental  side  an  acute  consciousness  of  self,  and  a  habit  of  regard- 
ing the  self  as  of  more  importance  than  the  world  at  large.  The 
value  of  this  standpoint  lies  in  the  fact  that  while  a  wholesome  fear 
of  the  enemy  is  important,  a  wholesome  contempt  is  even  more 
so.  Praising  one's  self  and  dispraising  an  antagonist  creates  a 
confidence  and  a  mental  superiority  in  the  way  of  confidence.  The 
vituperative  recriminations  of  modern  prize-fighters,  the  boast- 
ings of  the  Homeric  heroes,  and  the  bagan  of  the  old  Germans, 
like  the  backtalk  of  the  small  boy,  were  calculated  to  screw  the 
courage  up;  and  the  Indians  of  America  usually  gave  a  dance 
before  going  on  the  war-path,  in  which  by  pantomime  and  boast- 
ing they  magnified  themselves  and  their  past,  and  so  stimulated 
their  self-esteem  that  they  felt  invincible.  In  race-prejudice  we 
see  the  same  tendency  to  exalt  the  self  and  the  group  at  the 
expense  of  outsiders.  The  alien  group  is  belittled  by  attaching 
contempt  to  its  peculiarities  and  habits — its  color,  speech,  dress, 
and  all  the  signs  of  its  personality.  This  is  not  a  laudable  attitude, 
but  it  has  been  valuable  to  the  group,  because  a  bitter  and  con- 
temptuous feeling  is  an  aid  to  good  fighting. 

No  race  or  nation  has  yet  freed  itself  from  this  tendency  to 
exalt  and  idealize  itself.  It  is  very  difficult  for  a  member  of 
western  civilization  to  understand  that  the  orientals  regard  us 
with  a  contempt  in  comparison  with  which  our  contempt  for 
them  is  feeble.  Our  bloodiness,  our  newness,  our  lack  of  rever- 
ence, our  land-greed,  our  break-neck  speed  and  lack  of  appre- 
ciation of  leisure  make  Vandals  of  us.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
are  very  stupid  about  recognizing  the  intelligence  of  orientals. 
We  have  been  accustomed  to  think  that  there  is  a  great  gulf 
between  ourselves  and  other  races ;  and  this  persists  in  an  unde- 
finable  way  after  scores  of  Japanese  have  taken  high  rank  in  our 
schools,  and  after  Hindus  have  repeatedly  been  among  the  wrang- 
lers in  mathematics  at  Cambridge.  It  is  only  when  one  of  the  far 
eastern  nations  has  come  bodily  to  the  front  that  we  begin  to  ask 
ourselves  whether  there  is  not  an  error  in  our  reckoning. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  157 

The  instinct  to  belittle  outsiders  is  perhaps  at  the  bottom  of 
our  delusion  that  the  white  race  has  one  order  of  mind  and  the 
black  and  yellow  races  have  another.  But,  while  a  prejudice — a 
matter  of  instinct  and  emotion — may  well  be  at  the  beginning  of 
an  error  of  this  kind,  it  could  not  sustain  itself  in  the  face  of  our 
logical  habits  unless  reinforced  by  an  error  of  judgment.  And 
this  error  is  found  in  the  fact  that  in  a  naive  way  we  assume  that 
our  steps  in  progress  from  time  to  time  are  due  to  our  mental 
superiority  as  a  race  over  the  other  races  (that  is,  to  a  superior 
brain  structure)  and  to  the  mental  superiority  of  one  genera- 
tion of  ourselves  over  the  preceding. 

In  this  we  are  confusing  advance  in  culture  with  brain  im- 
provement. If  we  should  assume  a  certain  grade  of  intelligence, 
fixed  and  invariable  in  all  individuals,  races,  and  times — an  un- 
warranted assumption,  of  course — progress  would  still  be  pos- 
sible, provided  we  assumed  a  characteristically  human  grade  of 
intelligence  to  begin  with.  With  associative  memory,  abstraction, 
and  speech  men  are  able  to  compare  the  present  with  the  past,  to 
deliberate  and  discuss,  to  invent,  to  abandon  old  processes  for 
new,  to  focus  attention  on  special  problems,  to  encourage  special- 
ization, and  to  transmit  to  the  younger  generation  a  more 
intelligent  standpoint  and  a  more  advanced  starting-point.  Cul- 
ture is  the  accumulation  of  the  results  of  activity,  and  culture 
could  go  on  improving  for  a  certain  time  even  if  there  were  a 
retrogression  in  intelligence.  If  all  the  chemists  in  class  A  should 
stop  work  tomorrow,  the  chemists  in  class  B  would  still  make 
discoveries.  These  would  influence  manufacture,  and  progress 
would  result.  If  a  worker  in  any  specialty  acquaints  himself 
with  the  results  of  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries  and  works, 
he  will  add  some  results  to  the  sum  of  knowledge  in  his  line. 
And  if  a  race  preserves  by  record  or  tradition  the  memory  of 
what  past  generations  have  done,  and  adds  a  little,  progress  is 
secured  whether  the  brain  improves  or  stands  still.  In  the  same 
way,  the  fact  that  one  race  has  advanced  farther  in  culture  than 
another  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  different  order  of  brain,  but 
may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  one  case  social  arrangements 
have  not  taken  the  shape  affording  the  most  favorable  conditions 
for  the  operation  of  the  mind. 


158  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

If,  then,  we  make  due  allowance  for  our  instinctive  tendency 
as  a  white  group  to  disparage  outsiders,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
for  our  tendency  to  confuse  progress  in  culture  and  general  intel- 
ligence with  biological  modification  of  the  brain,  we  shall  have  to 
reduce  very  much  our  usual  estimate  of  the  difference  in  mental 
capacity  between  ourselves  and  the  lower  races,  if  we  do  not 
eliminate  it  altogether;  and  we  shall  perhaps  have  to  abandon 
altogether  the  view  that  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  mental 
capacity  of  the  white  race  since  prehistoric  times. 

The  first  question  arising  in  this  connection  is  whether  any 
of  the  characteristic  faculties  of  the  human  mind — perception, 
memory,  inhibition,  abstraction — are  absent  or  noticeably  weak 
in  the  lower  races.  If  this  is  found  to  be  true,  we  have  reason 
to  attribute  the  superiority  of  the  white  race  to  biological  causes ; 
otherwise  we  shall  have  to  seek  an  explanation  of  white  superi- 
ority in  causes  lying  outside  the  brain. 

In  examining  this  question  we  need  not  dwell  on  the  acute- 
ness  of  the  sense-perceptions,  because  these  are  not  distinctively 
human.  As  a  matter  of  fact  some  of  them  are  better  developed 
in  the  animals  than  in  man,  and  we  usually  allow  that  the  savage 
has  greater  acuity  of  the  senses  than  the  white  man.  But  this 
is  probably  an  error  in  the  other  direction.  Bruner  has  recently 
determined  that  the  sense  of  hearing  in  the  savage  is  actually 
duller  than  in  the  civilized.  In  his  Hearing  of  Primitive  Peoples 
he  says :  "Not  only  the  intellectual  but  sensory  possibilities  are 
to  be  stated  in  terms  of  the  variety  of  motor  response  of  which 
the  individual  is  capable.  Other  things  being  equal,  those  indi- 
viduals or  races  possessing  the  greatest  complexity  and  variety 
of  reactions  to  elements  in  their  respective  environments  like- 
wise will  be  gifted  with  keener  and  more  acute  sensory  mechan- 
isms." And  the  superiority  of  the  savage  in  tracking  is  not  due 
to  superior  eyesight  but  to  a  skill  in  interpreting  marks,  similar 
to  the  facility  we  acquire  in  reading  a  badly  printed  or  illegibly 
written  page.  On  this  score,  at  any  rate,  we  cannot  assume  a 
difference  between  the  savage  and  the  civilized  unless  it  is  in 
those  cases  where  different  ways  of  life  make  the  one  or  the  other 
less  habitually  attentive  and  consequently  less  practiced.  The 
memory  of  the  lower  races  is  also  apparently  quite  as  good  as 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  159 

that  of  the  higher.  The  memory  of  the  Australian  native  or  the 
Eskimo  is  quite  as  good  as  that  of  our  "oldest  inhabitant;"  and 
probably  no  one  would  claim  that  the  modern  scientist  has  a 
better  memory  than  the  bard  of  the  Homeric  period. 

There  is,  however,  a  prevalent  view,  for  the  popularization  of 
which  Herbert  Spencer  is  largely  responsible,  that  primitive  man 
has  feeble  powers  of  inhibition.  Like  the  equally  erroneous  view 
that  early  man  is  a  free  and  unfettered  creature,  it  arises  from 
our  habit  of  assuming  that,  because  his  inhibitions  and  un freedom 
do  not  correspond  with  our  own  restraints,  they  do  not  exist.  Sir 
John  Lubbock  pointed  but  long  ago  that  the  savage  is  hedged 
about  by  conventions  so  minute  and  so  mandatory  that  he  is 
actually  the  least  free  person  in  the  world.  But,  in  spite  of  this, 
Spencer  and  others  have  insisted  that  he  is  incapable  of  self- 
restraint,  is  carried  away  like  a  child  by  the  impulse  of  the 
moment,  and  is  incapable  of  rejecting  an  immediate  gratification 
for  a  greater  future  one.  Cases  like  the  one  mentioned  by  Dar- 
win of  the  Fuegian  who  struck  and  killed  his  little  son  when  the 
latter  dropped  a  basket  of  fish  into  the  water  are  cited  without 
regard  to  the  fact  that  cases  of  sudden  domestic  violence  and 
quick  repentance  are  common  in  any  city  today;  and  the  failure 
of  the  Australian  blacks  to  throw  back  the  small  fry  when  fish- 
ing is  referred  to  without  pausing  to  consider  that  our  practice 
of  exterminating  game  and  denuding  our  forests  shows  an  amaz- 
ing lack  of  individual  self-restraint. 

The  truth  is  that  the  restraints  exercised  in  a  group  depend 
largely  on  the  traditions,  views,  and  teachings  of  the  group,  and 
if  we  have  this  in  mind,  the  savage  cannot  be  called  deficient  on 
the  side  of  inhibition.  It  is  doubtful  if  modern  society  affords 
anything  more  striking  in  the  way  of  inhibition  than  is  found  in 
connection  with  taboo,  fetish,  totemism,  and  ceremonial  among 
the  lower  races.  In  the  great  majority  of  the  American  Indian 
and  Australian  tribes  a  man  is  strictly  forbidden  to  kill  or  eat  the 
animals  whose  name  his  clan  bears  as  a  totem.  The  central  Aus- 
tralian may  not,  in  addition,  eat  the  flesh  of  any  animal  killed  or 
even  touched  by  persons  standing  in  certain  relations  of  kinship 
to  him.  At  certain  times  also  he  is  forbidden  to  eat  the  flesh  of 


160  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

a  number  of  animals,  and  at  all  times  he  must  share  all  food 
secured  with  the  tribal  elders  and  some  others. 

A  native  of  Queensland  will  put  his  mark  on  an  unripe  zamia 
fruit,  and  may  be  sure  it  will  be  untouched  and  that  when  it  is 
ripe  he  has  only  to  go  and  get  it.  The  Eskimos,  though  starv- 
ing, will  not  molest  the  sacred  seal  basking  before  their  huts. 
Similarly  in  social  intercourse  the  inhibitions  are  numerous.  To 
some  of  his  sisters,  blood  and  tribal,  the  Australian  may  not 
speak  at  all ;  to  others  only  at  certain  distances,  according  to  the 
degree  of  kinship.  The  west  African  fetish  acts  as  a  police,  and 
property  protected  by  it  is  safer  than  under  civilized  laws.  Food 
and  palm  wine  are  placed  beside  the  path  with  a  piece  of  fetish 
suspended  near  by,  and  no  one  will  touch  them  without  leaving 
the  proper  payment.  The  garden  of  a  native  may  be  a  mile  from 
the  house,  unfenced,  and  sometimes  unvisited  for  weeks  by  the 
owner ;  but  it  is  immune  from  depredations  if  protected  by  fetish. 
Our  proverb  says,  "A  hungry  belly  has  no  ears,"  and  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  inhibition  of  food  impulses  implies  no  small 
power  of  restraint. 

Altogether  too  much  has  been  made  of  inhibition,  anyway, 
as  a  sign  of  mentality,  for  it  is  not  even  characteristic  of  the 
human  species.  The  well-trained  dog  inhibits  in  the  presence  of 
the  most  enticing  stimulations  of  the  kitchen.  And  it  is  also  true 
that  one  race,  at  least — the  American  Indian — makes  inhibition 
the  most  conspicuous  feature  in  its  system  of  education.  From 
the  time  the  ice  is  broken  to  give  him  a  cold  plunge  and  begin  the 
toughening  process  on  the  day  of  his  birth,  until  he  dies  without 
a  groan  under  torture,  the  Indian  is  schooled  in  the  restraint  of 
his  impulses.  He  does  not,  indeed,  practice  our  identical  re- 
straints, because  his  traditions  and  the  run  of  his  attention  are 
different ;  but  he  has  a  capacity  for  controlling  impulses  equal  to 
our  own. 

Another  serious  charge  against  the  intelligence  of  the  lower 
races  is  lack  of  the  power  of  abstraction.  They  certainly  do  not 
deal  largely  in  abstraction,  and  their  languages  are  poor  in  abstract 
terms.  But  there  is  a  great  difference  between  the  habit  of  think- 
ing in  abstract  terms  and  the  ability  to  do  so. 

The  degree  to  which  abstraction  is  employed  in  the  activities 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  161 

of  a  group  depends  on  the  complexity  of  the  activities  and  on  the 
complexity  of  consciousness  in  the  group.  When  science,  phi- 
losophy, and  logic,  and  systems  of  reckoning  time,  space,  and  num- 
ber, are  taught  in  the  schools ;  when  the  attention  is  not  so  much 
engaged  in  perceptual  as  in  deliberate  acts ;  and  when  thought  is 
a  profession,  then  abstract  modes  of  thought  are  forced  on  the 
mind.  This  does  not  argue  absence  of  the  power  of  abstraction 
in  the  lower  races,  or  even  a  low  grade  of  ability,  but  lack  of 
practice.  To  one  skilled  in  any  line  an  unpracticed  person  seems 
very  stupid ;  and  this  is  apparently  the  reason  why  travelers  report 
that  the  black  and  yellow  races  have  feeble  powers  of  abstraction. 
It  is  generally  admitted,  however,  that  the  use  of  speech  involves 
the  power  of  abstraction,  so  that  all  races  have  the  power  in  some 
degree.  When  we  come  further  to  examine  the  degree  in  which 
they  possess  it,  we  find  that  they  compare  favorably  with  our- 
selves in  any  test  which  involves  a  fair  comparison. 

The  proverb  is  a  form  of  abstraction  practiced  by  all  races, 
and  is  perhaps  the  best  test  of  the  natural  bent  of  the  mind  in 
this  direction,  because,  like  ballad  poetry  and  slang,  proverbial 
sayings  do  not  originate  with  the  educated  class,  but  are  of  popu- 
lar origin.  At  the  same  time,  proverbs  compare  favorably  with 
the  mots  of  literature,  and  many  proverbs  have,  in  fact,  drifted 
into  literature  and  become  connected  with  the  names  of  great 
writers.  Indeed,  the  saying  that  there  is  nothing  new  under  the 
sun  applies  with  such  force  and  fidelity  to  literature  that,  if  we 
should  strip  Hesiod  and  Homer  and  Chaucer  of  such  phrases  as 
"The  half  is  greater  than  the  whole,"  "It  is  a  wise  son  that  knows 
his  own  father"  (which  Shakespeare  quotes  the  other  end  about), 
and  "To  make  a  virtue  of  necessity,"  and  if  we  should  further 
eliminate  from  literature  the  motives  and  sentiments  also  in 
ballad  poetry  and  in  popular  thought,  little  would  remain  but 
form. 

If  we  assume,  then,  that  the  popular  mind — let  us  say  the 
peasant  mind — in  the  white  race  is  as  capable  of  abstraction  as 
the  mind  of  the  higher  classes,  but  not  so  specialized  in  this 
direction — and  no  one  can  doubt  this  in  view  of  the  academic 
record  of  country-bred  boys — the  following  comparison  of  our 


l62  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

proverbs   with   those   of   the  Africans   of  the   Guinea  coast  is 
significant : 

African.     "Stone  in  the  water-hole  does  not  feel  the  cold." 

English.    "Habit  is  second  nature." 

A.  "One  tree  does  not  make  a  forest." 

E.  "One  swallow  does  not  make  a  summer." 

A.  "I  nearly  killed  the  bird.    No  one  can  eat  nearly  in  a  stew." 

E.  "First  catch  your  hare." 

A.  "Full-belly  child  says  to  hungry-belly  child,  'Keep  good 

cheer.'" 

E.  "We  can  all  endure  the  misfortunes  of  others." 
A.  "Distant  firewood  is  good  firewood." 
E.  "Distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view." 
A.  "Ashes  fly  back  in  the  face  of  him  who  throws  them." 
E.  "Curses  come  home  to  roost." 
A.  "If  the  boy  says  he  wants  to  tie  the  water  with  a  string, 

ask  him  whether  he  means  the  water  in  the  pot  or  the 

water  in  the  lagoon." 

E.  "Answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly." 
A.  "Cowries  are  men." 
E.  "Money  makes  the  man." 
A.  "Cocoanut  is  not  good  for  bird  to  eat." 
E.  "Sour  grapes." 
A.  "He  runs  away  from  the  sword  and  hides  himself  in  the 

scabbard." 

E.  "Out  of  the  fry-pan  into  the  fire." 
A.  "A  fool  of  Ika  and  an  idiot  of  Iluka  meet  together  to  make 

friends." 

E.  "Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together." 
A.  "The   ground-pig    [bandicoot]    said :    'I    do   not    feel   so 

angry  with  the  man  who  killed  me  as  with  the  man  who 

dashed  me  on  the  ground  afterward.'  " 
E.  "Adding  insult  to  injury." 

A.  "Quick  loving  a  woman  means  quick  not  loving  a  woman." 
E.  "Married  in  haste  we  repent  at  leisure." 
A.  "Three  elders  cannot  all  fail  to  pronounce  the  word  ekulu 

[an  antelope]  ;  one  may  say  ekulu,  another  ekulu,  but  the 

third  will  say  ekulu." 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  163 

E.  "In  a  multitude  of  counselors  there  is  safety." 

A.  "If  the  stomach  is  not  strong,  do  not  eat  cockroaches." 

E.  "Milk  for  babes." 

A.  "No  one  should  draw  water  from  the  spring  in  order  to 
supply  the  river." 

E.  "Robbing  Peter  to  pay  Paul." 

A.  "The  elephant  makes  a  dust  and  the  buffalo  makes  a  dust, 
but  the  dust  of  the  buffalo  is  lost  in  the  dust  of  the  ele- 
phant." 

£.  "Duo  cum  faciunt  idem  non  est  idem." 

A.  "Ear,  hear  the  other  before  you  decide." 

E.  "Audi  alteram  partem" 

On  the  side  of  number  we  have  another  test  of  the  power 
of  abstraction ;  and  while  the  lower  races  show  lack  of  practice 
in  this  they  show  no  lack  of  power.  It  is  true  that  tribes  have 
been  found  with  no  names  for  numbers  beyond  two,  three,  or 
five;  but  these  are  isolated  groups,  like  the  Veddahs  and  Bush- 
men, who  have  no  trade  or  commerce,  and  lead  a  miserable  exist- 
ence, with  little  or  nothing  to.  count.  The  directions  of  attention 
and  the  simplicity  or  complexity  of  mental  processes  depend  on 
the  character  of  the  external  situation  which  the  mind  has  to 
manipulate.  If  the  activities  are  simple,  the  mind  is  simple,  and 
if  the  activities  were  nil,  the  mind  would  be  nil.  The  mind  is 
nothing  but  a  means  of  manipulating  the  outside  world.  Number, 
time,  arid  space  conceptions  and  systems  become  more  complex 
and  accurate,  not  as  the  human  mind  grows  in  capacity,  but 
as  activities  become  more  varied  and  call  for  more  extended  and 
accurate  systems  of  notation  and  measurement.  Trade  and  com- 
merce, machinery  and  manufacture,  and  all  the  processes  of  civi- 
lization involve  specialization  in  the  apprehension  of  series  as 
such.  Under  these  conditions  the  number  technique  becomes 
elaborate  and  requires  time  and  instruction  for  its  mastery.  The 
advance  which  mathematics  has  made  within  a  brief  historical 
time  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  words  with  which  the  cele- 
brated mathematician,  Sir  Henry  Savile,  who  died  in  1616,  closed 
his  career  as  a  professor  at  Oxford : 

"By  the  grace  of  God,  gentlemen  hearers,  I  have  performed 
my  promise.  I  have  redeemed  my  pledge.  I  have  explained, 


164  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

according  to  my  ability,  the  definitions,  postulates,  axioms,  and 
the  first  eight  propositions  of  the  Elements  of  Euclid.  Here, 
sinking  under  the  weight  of  years,  I  lay  down  my  art  and  my 
instruments." 

From  the  standpoint  of  modern  mathematics,  Sir  Henry 
Savile  and  the  Bushman  are  both  woefully  backward;  and  in 
both  cases  the  backwardness  is  not  a  matter  of  mental  incapacity, 
but  of  the  state  of  the  science. 

In  respect,  then,  to  brain  structure  and  the  more  important 
mental  faculties  we  find  that  no  race  is  radically  unlike  the  others. 
Still,  it  might  happen  that  the  mental  activities  and  products  of 
two  groups  were  so  different  as  to  place  them  in  different  classes. 
But  precisely  the  contrary  is  true.  There  is  in  force  a  principle 
called  the  law  of  parallelism  in  development,  according  to  which 
any  group  takes  much  the  same  steps  in  development  as  any 
other.  The  group  may  be  belated,  indeed,  and  not  reach  cer- 
tain stages,  but  the  ground-patterns  of  life  are  the  same  in  the 
lower  races  and  in  the  higher.  Mechanical  inventions,  textile 
industries,  rude  painting,  sculpture,  poetry,  and  song,  marriage, 
and  family  life,  organization  under  leaders,  belief  in  spirits,  a 
mythology  and  some  form  of  church  and  state  exist  universally. 
At  one  time  students  of  mankind,  when  they  found  a  myth  in 
Hawaii  corresponding  to  the  Greek  story  of  Orpheus  and  Eury- 
dice,  or  an  Aztec  poem  of  tender  longing  in  absence,  or  a  story 
of  the  deluge,  were  wont  to  conjecture  how  these  could  have 
been  carried  over  from  Greek  or  Elizabethan  or  Hebraic  sources, 
or  whether  they  did  not  afford  evidence  of  a  time  when  all 
branches  of  the  human  race  dwelt  together  with  a  common  fund 
of  sentiment  and  tradition.  But  this  standpoint  has  been  aban- 
doned, and  it  is  recognized  that  the  human  mind  and  the  outside 
world  are  essentially  alike  the  world  over;  that  the  mind  every- 
where acts  on  the  same  principles ;  and  that,  ignoring  the  local, 
incidental,  and  eccentric,  we  find  similar  laws  of  growth  among 
all  peoples. 

The  number  of  things  which  can  stimulate  the  human  mind 
is  somewhat  definite  and  limited.  Among  them,  for  example,  is 
death.  This  happens  everywhere,  and  the  death  of  a  dear  one 
may  cause  the  living  to  imagine  ways  of  being  reunited.  The 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  165 

story  of  Orpheus  and  Eurydice  may  thus  arise  spontaneously  and 
perpetually,  wherever  death  and  affection  exist.  Or,  there  may 
be  a  separation  from  home  and  friends,  and  the  mind  runs  back 
in  distress  and  longing  over  the  happy  past,  and  the  state  of  con- 
sciousness aroused  is  as  definite  a  fact  among  savages  as  among 
the  civilized.  A  beautiful  passage  in  Homer  represents  Helen 
looking  out  on  the  Greeks  from  the  wall  of  Troy  and  saying : 

"And  now  behold  I  all  the  other  glancing-eyed  Achaians, 
whom  well  I  could  discern  and  tell  their  names ;  but  two  captains 
of  the  host  can  I  not  see,  even  Kastor  tamer  of  horses  and  Poly- 
dukes  the  skilful  boxer,  mine  own  brethren  whom  the  same 
mother  bare.  Either  they  came  not  in  the  company  from  lovely 
Lakedaimon;  or  they  came  hither  indeed  in  their  sea- faring  ships, 
but  now  will  not  enter  into  the  battle  of  warriors,  for  fear  of  the 
many  scornings  and  revilings  that  are  mine." 

When  this  passage  is  thus  stripped  of  its  technical  excellence 
by  a  prose  translation,  we  may  compare  it  with  the  following 
New  Zealand  lament  composed  by  a  young  woman  who  was  cap- 
tured on  the  island  of  Tuhua  and  carried  to  a  mountain  from 
which  she  could  see  her  home: 

"My  regret  is  not  to  be  expressed.  Tears,  like  a  spring,  gush 
from  my  eyes.  I  wonder  whatever  is  Tu  Kainku  [her  lover] 
doing,  he  who  deserted  me.  Now  I  climb  upon  the  ridge  of 
Mount  Parahaki,  whence  is  clear  the  view  of  the  island  of  Tuhua. 
I  see  with  regret  the  lofty  Tanmo  where  dwells  [the  chief] 
Tangiteruru.  If  I  were  there,  the  shark's  tooth  would  hang 
from  my  ear.  How  fine,  how  beautiful  should  I  look!  .  .  .  . 
But  enough  of  this;  I  must  return  to  my  rags  and  to  my  noth- 
ing at  all." 

The  situation  of  the  two  women  in  this  case  is  not  identical, 
and  it  would  be  possible  to  claim  that  the  Greek  and  Maori 
passages  differ  in  tone  and  coloring;  but  it  remains  true  that  a 
captive  woman  of  any  race,  will  feel  much  the  same  as  the 
captive  woman  of  any  other  race  when  her  thoughts  turn  toward 
home,  and  that  the  poetry  growing  out  of  such  a  situation  will 
be  everywhere  of  the  same  general  pattern. 

Similarly,  to  take  an  illustration  from  morals,  we  find  that 
widely  different  in  complexion  and  detail  as  are  the  moral  codes 


i66  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  lower  and  higher  groups,  say  the  Hebrews  and  the  African 
Kafirs,  yet  the  general  patterns  of  morality  are  strikingly  coin- 
cident. It  is  reported  of  the  Kafirs  that  "they  possess  laws  which 
meet  every  crime  which  may  be  committed."  Theft  is  punished 
by  restitution  and  fine;  injured  cattle,  by  death  or  fine;  false 
witness,  by  a  heavy  fine ;  adultery,  by  fine  or  death ;  rape,  by  fine 
or  death;  poisoning  or  witchcraft,  by  death  and  confiscation  of 
property;  murder,  by  death  or  fine;  treason  or  desertion  from 
the  tribe,  by  death  and  confiscation.  The  Kafirs  and  Hebrews  are 
not  at  the  same  level  of  culture,  and  we  miss  the  more  abstract 
and  monotheistic  admonitions  of  the  higher  religion — "thou  shalt 
not  covet ;  thou  shalt  worship  no  other  gods  before  me" — but  the 
intelligence  shown  by  the  social  mind  in  adjusting  the  individual 
to  society  may .  fairly  be  called  the  same  grade  of  intelligence 
in  the  two  cases. 

When  the  environmental  life  of  two  groups  is  more  alike  and 
the  general  cultural  conditions  more  correspondent,  the  parallel- 
ism of  thought  and  practice  becomes  more  striking.  The  re- 
cently discovered  Assyrian  Code  of  Hammurabi  (about  2500 
B.  c.)  contains  striking  correspondences  with  the  Mosaic  code; 
and  while  Semitic  scholars  probably  have  good  and  sufficient 
reasons  for  holding  that  the  Mosaic  code  was  strongly  influenced 
by  the  Assyrian,  we  may  yet  be  very  confident  that  the  two  codes 
would  have  been  of  the  same  general  character  if  no  influence 
whatever  had  passed  from  one  to  the  other. 

The  institutions  and  practices  of  a  people  are  a  product  of  the 
mind;  and  if  the  early  and  spontaneous  products  of  mind  are 
everywhere  of  the  same  general  pattern  as  the  later  manifesta- 
tions, only  less  developed,  refined,  and  specialized,  it  may  well  be 
that  failure  to  progress  equally  is  not  due  to  essential  unlikeness 
of  mind,  but  to  conditions  lying  outside  the  mind. 

Another  test  of  mental  ability  which  deserves  special  notice 
is  mechanical  ingenuity.  Our  white  pre-eminence  owes  much  to 
this  faculty,  and  the  lower  races  are  reckoned  defective  in  it. 
But  the  lower  races  do  invent,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  one 
invention  is  ever  much  more  difficult  than  another.  On  the  psy- 
chological side,  an  invention  means  that  the  mind  sees  a  round- 
about way  of  reaching  an  end  when  it  cannot  be  reached  directly. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  167 

It  brings  into  play  the  associative  memory,  and  involves  the  rec- 
ognition of  analogies.  There  is  a  certain  likeness  between  the 
flying  back  of  a  bough  in  one's  face  and  the  rebound  of  a  bow, 
between  a  serpent's  tooth  and  a  poisoned  arrow,  between  floating 
timber  and  a  raft  or  boat — and  water,  steam,  and  electricity  are 
like  a  horse  in  one  respect — they  will  all  make  wheels  go  around, 
and  do  work. 

Now,  the  savage  had  this  faculty  of  seeing  analogies  and 
doing  things  in  indirect  ways.  With  the  club,  knife,  and  sword 
he  struck  more  effectively  than  with  the  fist;  with  hooks,  traps, 
nets,  and  pitfalls  he  understood  how  to  seize  game  more  surely 
than  with  the  hands ;  in  the  bow  and  arrow,  spear,  blow-gun,  and 
spring-trap  he  devised  motion  swifter  than  that  of  his  own  body ; 
he  protected  himself  with  armor  imitated  from  the  hides  and 
scales  of  animals,  and  turned  their  venom  back  on  themselves. 
That  the  savage  should  have  originated  the  inventive  process  and 
carried  it  on  systematically  is,  indeed,  more  wonderful  than  that 
his  civilized  successors  should  continue  the  process;  for  every 
beginning  is  difficult. 

When  occupations  become  specialized  and  one  set  of  men  has 
continually  to  do  with  one  and  only  one  set  of  machinery  and 
forces,  the  constant  play  of  attention  over  the  limited  field 
naturally  results  in  improvements  and  the  introduction  of  new 
principles.  Modern  inventions  are  magnificent  and  seem  quite  to 
overshadow  the  simpler  devices  of  primitive  times;  but  when  we 
consider  the  precedents,  copies,  resources,  and  accumulated  knowl- 
edge with  which  the  modern  investigator  works,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  resourcelessness  of  primitive  man  in  materials,  ideas, 
and  in  the  inventive  habit  itself,  I  confess  that  the  bow  and  arrow 
seems  to  me  the  most  wonderful  invention  in  the  world. 

Viewing  the  question  from  a  different  angle,  we  find  another 
argument  for  the  homogeneous  character  of  the  human  mind  in 
the  fact  that  the  patterns  of  interest  of  the  civilized  show  no  vari- 
ation from  those  of  the  savage.  Not  only  the  appetites  and  vani- 
ties remain  essentially  the  same,  but,  on  the  side  of  intellectual 
interest,  the  type  of  mental  reaction  fixed  in  the  savage  by  the 
food-quest  has  come  down  unaltered  to  the  man  of  science  as 
well  as  to  the  man  of  the  street.  In  circumventing  enemies  and 


i68  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

capturing  game,  both  the  attention  and  the  organic  processes 
worked  together  in  primitive  man  under  great  stress  and  strain. 
Whenever,  indeed,  a  strain  is  thrown  on  the  attention,  the  heart 
and  organs  of  respiration  are  put  under  pressure  also  in  their 
effort  to  assist  the  attention  in  manipulating  the  problem;  and 
these  organic  fluctuations  are  felt  as  pleasure  and  pain.  The 
strains  thrown  on  the  attention  of  primitive  man  were  connected 
with  his  struggle  for  life;  and  not  only  in  the  actual  encounter 
with  men  and  animals  did  emotion  run  high,  but  the  memory  and 
anticipation  of  conflict  reinstated  the  emotional  conditions  in 
those  periods  when  he  was  meditating  future  conflicts  and  prepar- 
ing his  bows  and  arrows,  traps  and  poisons.  The  problem  of  in- 
vention, the  reflective  and  scientific  side  of  his  life,  was  suffused 
with  interest,  because  the  manufacture  of  the  weapon  was,  psy- 
chologically speaking,  a  part  of  the  fight. 

This  type  of  interest,  originating  in  the  hunt,  remains  domi- 
nant in  the  mind  down  to  the  present  time.  Once  constructed  to 
take  an  interest  in  the  hunting  problem,  it  takes  an  interest  in 
any  problem  whatever.  Not  only  do  hunting  and  fighting  and 
all  competitive  games — which  are  of  precisely  the  same  psycholo- 
gical pattern  as  the  hunt  and  fight — remain  of  perennial  interest, 
but  all  the  useful  occupations  are  interesting  in  just  the  degree 
that  this  pattern  is  preserved.  The  man  of  science  works  at 
problems  and  uses  his  ingenuity  in  making  an  engine  in  the 
laboratory  in  the  same  way  that  primitive  man  used  his  mind  in 
making  a  trap.  So  long  as  the  problem  is  present,  the  interest 
is  sustained;  and  the  interest  ceases  when  the  problematical  is 
removed.  Consequently,  all  modern  occupations  of  the  hunting 
pattern — scientific  investigation,  law,  medicine,  the  organization 
of  business,  trade  speculation,  and  the  arts  and  crafts — are  in- 
teresting as  a  game;  while  those  occupations  into  which  the 
division  of  labor  enters  to  the  degree  that  the  workman  is  not  at- 
tempting to  control  a  problem,  and  in  which  the  same  acts  are 
repeated  an  indefinite  number  of  times,  lose  interest  and  become 
extremely  irksome. 

This  means  that  the  brain  acts  pleasurably  on  the  principle  it 
was  made  up  to  act  on  in  the  most  primitive  times,  and  the  rest 
is  a  burden.  There  has  been  no  brain  change,  but  the  social 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  169 

changes  have  been  momentous;  and  the  brain  of  each  new  gen- 
eration is  brought  into  contact  with  new  traditions,  inhibitions, 
copies,  obligations,  problems,  so  that  the  run  of  attention  and  con- 
tent of  consciousness  are  different.  Social  suggestion  works 
marvels  in  the  manipulation  of  the  mind ;  but  the  change  is  not  in 
the  brain  as  an  organ ;  it  is  rather  in  the  character  of  the  stimu- 
lations thrust  on  it  by  society. 

The  child  begins  as  a  savage,  and  after  we  have  brought  to 
bear  all  the  influence  of  home,  school,  and  church  to  socialize 
him,  we  speak  as  though  his  nature  had  changed  organically, 
and  institute  a  parallelism  between  the  child  and  the  race,  assum- 
ing that  the  child's  brain  passes  in  a  recapitulatory  way  through 
phases  of  development  corresponding  to  epochs  in  the  history  of 
the  race.  I  have  no  doubt  myself  that  this  theory  of  recapitula- 
tion is  largely  a  misapprehension.  A  stream  of  social  influence 
is  turned  loose  on  the  child;  and  if  the  attention  to  him  is  in- 
cessant and  wise,  and  the  copies  he  has  are  good  and  stimulating, 
he  is  molded  nearer  to  the  heart's  desire.  Sometimes  he  escapes, 
and  becomes  a  criminal,  tramp,  sport,  or  artist ;  and  even  if  made 
into  an  impeccable  and  model  citizen,  he  periodically  breaks  away 
from  the  network  of  social  habit  and  goes  a-fishing. 

The  fundamental  explanation  of  the  difference  in  the  mental 
life  of  two  groups  is  not  that  the  capacity  of  the  brain  to  do  work 
is  different,  but  that  the  attention  is  not  in  the  two  cases  stimu- 
lated and  engaged  along  the  same  lines.  Wherever  society  fur- 
nishes copies  and  stimulations  of  a  certain  kind,  a  body  of  knowl- 
edge and  a  technique,  practically  all  its  members  are  able  to  work 
on  the  plan  and  scale  in  vogue  there,  and  members  of  an  alien 
race  who  become  acquainted  in  a  real  sense  with  the  system  can 
work  under  it.  But  when  society  does  not  furnish  the  stimula- 
tions, or  when  it  has  preconceptions  which  tend  to  inhibit  the  run 
of  attention  in  given  lines,  then  the  individual  shows  no  intelli- 
gence in  these  lines.  This  may  be  illustrated  in  the  fields  of  sci- 
entific and  artistic  interest.  Among  the  Hebrews  a  religious 
inhibition — "thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image"- 
was  sufficient  to  prevent  anything  like  the  sculpture  of  the  Greeks  ; 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  in  the  early 
Christian  church,  and  the  teaching  that  man  was  made  in  the 


170  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

image  of  God,  formed  an  almost  insuperable  obstacle  to  the  study 
of  human  anatomy. 

The  Mohammedan  attitude  toward  scientific  interest  is  repre- 
sented by  the  following  extracts  from  a  letter  from  an  oriental 
official  to  a  western  inquirer,  printed  by  Sir  Austen  Henry 
Layard : 

"My  illustrious  Friend  and  Joy  of  my  Liver: 

"The  thing  which  you  ask  of  me  is  both  difficult  and  useless. 
Although  I  have  passed  all  my  days  in -this  place,  I  have  neither 
counted  the  houses  nor  inquired  into  the  number  of  the  inhabit- 
ants ;  and  as  to  what  one  person  loads  on  his  mules  and  the  other 
stows  away  in  the  bottom  of  his  ship,  that  is  no  business  of  mine. 
But  above  all,  as  to  the  previous  history  of  this  city,  God  only 
knows  the  amount  of  dirt  and  confusion  that  the  infidels  may 
have  eaten  before  the  coming  of  the  sword  of  Islam.  It  were 

unprofitable  for  us  to  inquire  into  it Listen,  O  my  son ! 

There  is  no  wisdom  equal  to  the  belief  in  God !  He  created  the 
world,  and  shall  we  liken  ourselves  unto  him  in  seeking  to  pene- 
trate into  the  mysteries  of  his  creation?  Shall  we  say,  Behold 
this  star  spinneth  around  that  star,  and  this  other  star  with  a  tail 
goeth  and  cometh  in  so  many  years  ?  Let  it  go.  He  from  whose 

hand  it  came  will  guide  and  direct  it Thou  art  learned 

in  the  things  I  care  not  for,  and  as  for  that  which  thou  hast  seen, 
I  spit  upon  it.  Will  much  knowledge  create  thee  a  double  belly, 
or  wilt  thou  seek  paradise  with  thine  eyes? 

"The  meek  in  spirit, 

"!MAUM  ALI  ZADI  " 

The  works  of  Sir  Henry  Maine,  who  gained  by  his  long  resi- 
dence in  India  a  profound  insight  into  oriental  character,  fre- 
quently point  out  that  the  eastern  pride  in  conservatism  is  quite 
as  real  as  the  western  pride  in  progress : 

"Vast  populations,  some  of  them  with  a  civilization  consid- 
erable but  peculiar,  detest  that  which  in  the  language  of  the  West 
would  be  called  reform.  The  entire  Mohammedan  world  detests 
it.  The  multitudes  of  colored  men  who  swarm  in  the  great  con- 
tinent of  Africa  detest  it,  and  it  is  detested  by  that  large  part  of 
mankind  which  we  are  accustomed  to  leave  on  one  side  as  bar- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  171 

barous  or  savage.  The  millions  upon  millions  of  men  who  fill  the 

Chinese  Empire  loathe  it  and  (what  is  more)  despise  it 

There  are  few  things  more  remarkable,  and  in  their  way  more  in- 
structive, than  the  stubborn  incredulity  and  disdain  which  a  man 
belonging  to  the  cultivated  part  of  Chinese  society  opposes  to  the 

vaunts  of  western  civilization  which  he  frequently  hears 

There  is  in  India  a  minority,  educated  at  the  feet  of  English 
politicians  and  in  books  saturated  with  English  political  ideas, 
which  has  learned  to  repeat  their  language ;  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  even  these,  if  they  had  a  voice  in  the  matter,  would  allow 
a  finger  to  be  laid  on  the  very  subjects  with  which  European 
legislation  is  beginning  to  concern  itself — social  and  religious 
usage.  There  is  not,  however,  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  the 
enormous  mass  of  the  Indian  population  hates  and  dreads  change. 

"To  the  fact  that  the  enthusiasm  for  change  is  comparatively 
rare  must  be  added  the  fact  that  it  is  extremely  modern.  It  is 
known  but  to  a  small  part  of  mankind,  and  to  that  part  but  for 
a  short  perjod  during  a  history  of  incalculable  length." 

The  oriental  attitude  does  not  argue  a  lack  of  brain  power, 
but  a  prepossession  hostile  to  scientific  inquiry.  The  society 
represented  does  not  interest  its  members  in  what,  from  the  west- 
ern standpoint,  is  knowledge. 

The  Chinese  afford  a  fine  example  of  a  people  of  great  natural 
ability  letting  their  intelligence  run  to  waste  from  lack  of  a  scien- 
tific standpoint.  As  indicated  above,  they  are  not  defective  in 
brain  weight,  and  their  application  to  study  is  long  continued  and 
very  severe ;  but  their  attention  is  directed  to  matters  which  can- 
not possibly  make  them  wise  from  the  occidental  standpoint. 
They  learn  no  mathematics  and  no  science,  but  spend  years  in 
copying  the  poetry  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  in  order  to  learn  the 
Chinese  characters,  and  in  the  end  cannot  write  the  language 
correctly  because  many  modern  characters  are  not  represented  in 
this  ancient  poetry.  Their  attention  to  Chinese  history  is  great, 
as  befits  their  reverence  for  the  past;  but  they  do  not  organize 
their  knowledge,  they  have  no  adequate  textbooks  or  apparatus 
for  study,  and  they  make  no  clear  distinction  between  fact  and 
fiction.  In  general,  they  learn  only  rules  and  no  principles,  and 
rely  on  memory  without  the  aid  of  reason,  with  the  result  that 


172  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  man  who  stops  studying  often  forgets  everything,  and  the 
professional  student  is  amazingly  ignorant  in  the  line  of  his  own 
work:  "Multitudes  of  Chinese  scholars  know  next  to  nothing 
about  matters  directly  in  the  line  of  their  studies,  and  in  regard  to 
which  we  should  consider  ignorance  positively  disgraceful.  A 
venerable  teacher  remarked  to  the  writer  with  a  charming  naivete 
that  he  had  never  understood  the  allusions  in  the  Trimetrical 
Classic  (which  stands  at  the  very  threshold  of  Chinese  study) 
until  at  the  age  of  sixty  he  had  an  opportunity  to  read  a  Uni- 
versal History  prepared  by  a  missionary,  in  which  for  the  first 
time  Chinese  history  was  made  accessible  to  him." 

Add  to  this  that  the  whole  of  their  higher  learning,  corre- 
sponding to  our  university  system,  consists  in  writing  essays  and 
always  more  essays  on  the  Chinese  classics,  and  "it  is  impos- 
sible," as  Mr.  Smith  points  out,  "not  to  marvel  at  the  measure  of 
success  which  has  attended  the  use  of  such  materials  in  China." 
But  when  this  people  is  in  possession  of  the  technique  of  the 
western  world — a  logic,  general  ideas,  experimentation — we  can- 
not reasonably  doubt  that  they  will  be  able  to  work  the  western 
system  as  their  cousins,  the  Japanese,  are  doing,  and  perhaps 
they,  too,  may  better  the  instruction. 

White  effectiveness  is  probably  due  to  a  superior  technique 
acting  in  connection  with  a  superior  body  of  knowledge  and 
sentiment.  Of  two  groups  having  equal  mental  endowment,  one 
may  outstrip  the  other  by  the  mere  dominance  of  incident.  It  is 
a  notorious  fact  that  the  course  of  human  history  has  been  largely 
without  prevision  or  direction.  Things  have  drifted  and  forces 
have  arisen.  Under  these  conditions  an  unusual  incident — the 
emergence  of  a  great  mind  or  a  forcible  personality,  or  the  opera- 
tion of  influences  as  subtle  as  those  which  determine  fashions  in 
dress — may  establish  social  habits  and  copies  which  will  give  a 
distinct  character  to  the  modes  of  attention  and  mental  life  of 
the  group.  The  most  significant  fact  for  white  development  is 
the  emergence  among  the  Greeks  of  a  number  of  eminent  men 
who  developed  logic,  the  experimental  method,  and  philosophic 
interest,  and  fixed  in  their  group  the  habit  of  looking  behind 
the  incident  for  the  general  law.  Mediaeval  attention  was  di- 
verted from  these  lines  by  a  religious  movement,  and  the  race 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  173 

lost  for  a  time  the  key  to  progress  and  got  clean  away  from  the 
Greek  copies;  but  it  found  them  again  and  took  a  fresh  start 
with  the  revival  of  Greek  learning.  It  is  quite  possible  to  make 
a  fetish  of  classical  learning;  but  Sir  Henry  Maine's  remark, 
"Nothing  moves  in  the  modern  world  that  is  not  Greek  in  its 
origin,"  is  quite  just. 

The  real  variable  is  the  individual,  not  the  race.  In  the  be- 
ginning— perhaps  as  the  result  of  a  mutation  or  series  of  muta- 
tions— a  type  of  brain  developed  which  has  remained  relatively 
fixed  in  all  times  and  among  all  races.  This  brain  will  never  have 
any  faculty  in  addition  to  what  it  now  possesses,  because  as  a 
type  of  structure  it  is  as  fixed  as  the  species  itself,  and  is  indeed 
a  mark  of  species.  It  is  not  apparent  either  that  we  are  greatly 
in  need  of  another  faculty,  or  that  we  could  make  use  of  it  even 
if  by  a  chance  mutation  it  should  emerge,  since  with  the  power 
of  abstraction  we  are  able  to  do  any  class  of  work  we  know  any- 
thing about.  Moreover,  the  brain  is  less  likely  to  make  a  leap 
now  than  in  earlier  time,  both  because  the  conditions  of  nature 
are  more  fixed  or  more  nearly  controlled  by  man,  and  hence  the 
urgency  of  adjustment  to  sharp  variations  in  external  conditions 
is  removed,  and  because  the  struggle  for  existence  has  been  miti- 
gated so  that  the  unfit  survive  along  with  the  fit.  Indeed,  the 
rapid  increase  in  idiocy  and  insanity  shown  by  statistics  indicates 
that  the  brain  is  deteriorating  slightly,  on  the  average,  as  com- 
pared with  earlier  times — W.  I.  THOMAS,  Sex  and  Society, 

"The  Mind  of  Woman  and  the  Lower  Races,"  258-89. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  SAVAGE  MIND 

The  psychical  attitudes  and  traits  of  the  savage  are  more 
than  stages  through  which  mind  has  passed,  leaving  them  be- 
hind. They  are  outgrowths  which  have  entered  decisively  into 
further  evolution,  and  as  such  form  an  integral  part  of  the  frame- 
work of  present  mental  organization.  Such  positive  significance 
is  commonly  attributed,  in  theory  at  least,  to  animal  mind;  but 
the  mental  structure  of  the  savage,  which  presumably  has  an  even 
greater  relevancy  for  genetic  psychology,  is  strangely  neglected. 

The  cause  of  this  neglect  I  believe  lies  in  the  scant  results  so 
far  secured,  because  of  the  abuse  of  the  comparative  method — 


174  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

which  abuse  in  turn  is  due  to  the  lack  of  a  proper  method  of  in- 
terpretation. Comparison  as  currently  employed  is  defective — 
even  perverse — in  at  least  three  respects.  In  the  first  place,  it 
is  used  indiscriminately  and  arbitrarily.  Facts  are  torn  loose 
from  their  context  in  social  and  natural  environment  and  heaped 
miscellaneously  together,  because  they  have  impressed  the  ob- 
server as  alike  in  some  respect.  Upon  a  single  page  of  Spencer, 
which  I  chanced  to  open  in  looking  for  an  illustration  of  this 
point,  appear  Kamschadales,  Kirghiz,  Bedouins,  East  Africans, 
Bechuanas,  Damaras,  Hottentots,  Malays,  Papuans,  Fijians,  An- 
damanese — all  cited  in  reference  to  establish  a  certain  common 
property  of  primitive  minds.  What  would  we  think  of  a  biologist 
who  appealed  successively  to  some  external  characteristic  of  say 
snake,  butterfly,  elephant,  oyster  and  robin  in  support  of  a  state- 
ment? And  yet  the  peoples  mentioned  present  widely  remote 
cultural  resources,  varied  environments  and  distinctive  institu- 
tions. What  is  the  scientific  value  of  a  proposition  thus  arrived 
at? 

In  the  second  place,  this  haphazard,  uncontrollable  selection 
yields  only  static  facts — facts  which  lack  the  dynamic  quality 
necessary  to  a  genetic  consideration.  The  following  is  a  sum- 
mary of  Mr.  Spencer's  characterizations  of  primitive  man,  emo- 
tional and  intellectual: 

He  is  explosive  and  chaotic  in  feeling,  improvident,  child- 
ishly mirthful,  intolerant  of  restraint,  with  but  small  flow  of  al- 
truistic feeling,  attentive  to  meaningless  detail  and  incapable  of 
selecting  the  facts  from  which  conclusions  may  be  drawn,  with 
feeble  grasp  of  thought,  incapable  of  rational  surprise,  incurious, 
lacking  in  ingenuity  and  constructive  imagination.  Even  the  one 
quality  which  is  stated  positively,  namely,  keenness  of  percep- 
tion, is  interpreted  in  a  purely  negative  way,  as  a  character  an- 
tagonistic to  reflective  development.  "In  proportion  as  the 
mental  energies  go  out  in  restless  perception,  they  cannot  go 
out  in  deliberate  thought."  And  this  from  a  sensationalist  in 
psychology ! 

Such  descriptions  as  these  also  bear  out  my  first  point.  Mr. 
Spencer  himself  admits  frequent  and  marked  discrepancies  (e.  g., 
PP-  56,  59,  62,  65,  etc.),  and  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  bring 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  175 

together  a  considerable  mass  of  proof-texts  to  support  the  exact 
opposite  of  each  of  his  assertions.  But  my  point  here  is  that 
present  civilized  mind  is  virtually  taken  as  a  standard,  and  savage 
mind  is  measured  off  on  this  fixed  scale. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  outcome  is  negative;  that  primitive 
mind  is  described  in  terms  of  'lack,'  'absence' :  its  traits  are  in- 
capacities. Qualities  defined  in  such  fashion  are  surely  useless 
in  suggesting,  to  say  nothing  of  determining,  progress,  and  are 
correspondingly  infertile  for  genetic  psychology,  which  is  in- 
terested in  becoming,  growth,  development. 

The  third  remark  is  that  the  results  thus  reached,  even  passing 
them  as  correct,  yield  only  loose  aggregates  of  unrelated  traits — 
not  a  coherent  scheme  of  mind.  We  do  not  escape  from  an  in- 
organic conglomerate  conception  of  mind  by  just  abusing  the 
'faculty'  psychology.  Our  standpoint  must  be  more  positive. 
We  must  recognize  that  mind  has  a  pattern,  a  scheme  of  ar- 
rangement in  its  constituent  elements,  and  that  it  is  the  business 
of  a  serious  comparative  psychology  to  exhibit  these  patterns, 
forms  or  types  in  detail.  By  such  terms,  I  do  not  mean  anything 
metaphysical ;  I  mean  to  indicate  the  necessity  of  a  conception 
such  as  is  a  commonplace  with  the  zoologist.  Terms  like  ar- 
ticulate or  vertebrate,  carnivor  or  herbivor,  are  'pattern'  terms  of 
the  sort  intended.  They  imply  that  an  animal  is  something  more 
than  a  random  composite  of  isolated  parts,  made  by  taking  an 
eye  here,  an  ear  there,  a  set  of  teeth  somewhere  else.  They  sig- 
nify that  the  constituent  elements  are  arranged  in  a  certain  way; 
that  in  being  co-adapted  to  the  dominant  functions  of  the  or- 
ganism they  are  of  necessity  co-related  with  one  another.  Gene- 
tic psychology  of  mind  will  advance  only  as  it  discovers  and 
specifies  generic  forms  or  patterns  of  this  sort  in  psychic  mor- 
phology. 

It  is  a  method  for  the  determination  of  such  types  that  I 
wish  to  suggest  in  this  paper.  The  biological  point  of  view  com- 
mits us  to  the  conviction  that  mind,  whatever  else  it  may  be,  is 
at  least  an  organ  of  service  for  the  control  of  environment  in 
relation  to  the  ends  of  the  life  process. 

If  we  search  in  any  social  group  for  the  special  functions  to 
which  mind  is  thus  relative,  occupations  at  once  suggest  them- 


176  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

selves.1  Occupations  determine  the  fundamental  modes  of  ac- 
tivity, and  hence  control  the  formation  and  use  of  habits.  These 
habits,  in  turn,  are  something  more  than  practical  and  overt. 
'Apperceptive  masses'  and  associational  tracts  of  necessity  con- 
form to  the  dominant  activities.  The  occupations  determine 
the  chief  modes  of  satisfaction,  the  standards  of  success  and 
failure.  Hence  they  furnish  the  working  classifications  and 
definitions  of  value;  they  control  the  desire  processes.  More- 
over, they  decide  the  sets  of  objects  and  relations  that  are  im- 
portant, and  thereby  provide  the  content  or  material  of  attention, 
and  the  qualities  that  are  interestingly  significant.  The  direc- 
tions given  to  mental  life  thereby  extend  to  emotional  and  intel- 
lectual characteristics.  So  fundamental  and  pervasive  is  the 
group  of  occupational  activities  that  it  affords  the  scheme  or 
pattern  of  the  structural  organization  of  mental  traits.  Occu- 
pations integrate  special  elements  into  a  functioning  whole. 

Because  the  hunting  life  differs  from,  say,  the  agricultural, 
in  the  sort  of  satisfactions  and  ends  it  furnishes,  in  the  objects 
to  which  it  requires  attention,  in  the  problems  it  sets  for  re- 
flection and  deliberation,  as  well  as  in  the  psycho-physic  co- 
ordinations it  stimulates  and  selects,  we  may  well  speak,  and 
without  metaphor,  of  the  hunting  psychosis  or  mental  type. 
And  so  of  the  pastoral,  the  military,  the  trading,  the  manually 
productive  (or  manufacturing)  occupations  and  so  on.  As  a 
specific  illustration  of  the  standpoint  and  method,  I  shall  take 
the  hunting  vocation,  and  that  as  carried  on  by  the  Australian 
aborigines.  I  shall  try  first  to  describe  its  chief  distinguishing 
marks;  and  then  to  show  how  the  mental  pattern  developed  is 
carried  over  into  various  activities,  customs  and  products,  which 
on  their  face  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  hunting  life.  If  a 
controlling  influence  of  this  sort  can  be  made  out — if  it  can  be 
shown  that  art,  war,  marriage,  etc.,  tend  to  be  psychologically 
assimilated  to  the  pattern  developed  in  the  hunting  vocation,  we 
shall  thereby  get  an  important  method  for  the  interpretation  of 

1  We  might  almost  say,  in  the  converse  direction,  that  biological  genera 
are  'occupational'  classifications.  They  connote  different  ways  of  getting  a 
living  with  the  different  instrumentalities  (organs)  appropriate  to  them,  and 
the  different  associative  relations  set  up  by  them. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  177 

social  institutions  and  cultural  resources — a  psychological  method 
for  sociology. 

The  Australian  lives  in  an  environment  upon  the  whole  be- 
nign, without  intense  or  violent  unfavorable  exhibition  of  natural 
forces  (save  in  alternations  of  drought  and  flood  in  some  por- 
tions), not  made  dangerous  by  beasts  of  prey,  and  with  a  suf- 
ficient supply  of  food  to  maintain  small  groups  in  a  good  state 
of  nutrition  though  not  abundant  enough  to  do  this  without  con- 
tinual change  of  abode.  The  tribes  had  no  cultivated  plants,  no 
domesticated  animals  (save  the  dingo  dog),  hence  no  beasts  of 
burden,  and  no  knowledge  or  use  of  metals.2 

Now  as  to  the  psychic  pattern  formed  under  such  circum- 
stances. How  are  the  sensory-motor  coordinations  common  to 
all  men  organized,  how  stimulated  and  inhibited  into  relatively 
permanent  psychic  habits,  through  the  activities  appropriate  to 
such  a  situation? 

By  the  nature  of  the  case,  food  and  sex  stimuli  are  the  most 
exigent  of  all  excitants  to  psycho-physic  activity,  and  the  interests 
connected  with  them  are  the  most  intense  and  persistent.  But 
with  civilized  man,  all  sorts  of  intermediate  terms  come  in  be- 
tween the  stimulus  and  the  overt  act,  and  between  the  overt  act 
and  the  final  satisfaction.  Man  no  longer  defines  his  end  to  be 
the  satisfaction  of  hunger  as  such.  It  is  so  complicated  and 
loaded  with  all  kinds  of  technical  activities,  associations,  delib- 
erations and  social  divisions  of  labor,  that  conscious  attention 
and  interest  are  in  the  process  and  its  content.  Even  in  the 
crudest  agriculture,  means  are  developed  to  the  point  where 
they  demand  attention  on  their  own  account,  and  control  the 
formation  and  use  of  habits  to  such  an  extent  that  they  are  the 

2  All  these  points  are  important,  for  the  general  hunting  psychosis 
exhibits  marked  differentiations  when  developed  in  relation  to  ferocious 
beasts ;  in  relation  to  a  very  sparse  or  very  abundant  food  supply ;  in  rela- 
tion to  violently  hostile  natural  forces ;  and  when  hunting  is  pursued  in 
connection  with  various  degrees  of  agriculture  or  domesticated  herds  or 
flocks.  For  economy  of  space,  I  have  omitted  reference  to  the  few  portions 
of  Australia  where  the  food  supply  (generally  fish  in  such  circumstances)  is 
sufficiently  abundant  to  permit  quasi-permanent  abodes,  though  the  psycho- 
logical variations  thus  induced  are  interesting. 


178  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

central  interests,  while  the  food  process  and  enjoyment  as  such 
is  incidental  and  occasional. 

The  gathering  and  saving  of  seed,  preparing  the  ground, 
sowing,  tending,  weeding,  care  of  cattle,  making  of  improve- 
ments, continued  observation  of  times  and  seasons  engage 
thought  and  direct  action.  In  a  word,  in  all  post-hunting  situa- 
tions the  end  is  mentally  apprehended  and  appreciated  not  as  food 
satisfaction,  but  as  a  continuously  ordered  series  of  activities 
and  of  objective  contents  pertaining  to  them.  And  hence  the 
direct  and  personal  display  of  energy,  personal  putting  forth  of 
effort,  personal  acquisition  and  use  of  skill  are  not  conceived  or 
felt  as  immediate  parts  of  the  food  process.  But  the  exact  con- 
trary is  the  case  in  hunting.  There  are  no  intermediate  appli- 
ances, no  adjustment  of  means  to  remote  ends,  no  postpone- 
ments of  satisfaction,  no  transfer  of  interest  and  attention  over 
to  a  complex  system  of  acts  and  objects.  Want,  effort,  skill  and 
satisfaction  stand  in  the  closest  relations  to  one  another.  The 
ultimate  aim  and  the  urgent  concern  of  the  moment  are  identi- 
cal; memory  of  the  past  and  hope  for  the  future  meet  and  are 
lost  in  the  stress  of  the  present  problem;  tools,  implements, 
weapons  are  not  mechanical  and  objective  means,  but  are  part 
of  the  present  activity,  organic  parts  of  personal  skill  and  effort. 
The  land  is  not  a  means  to  a  result  but  an  intimate  and  fused 
portion  of  life — a  matter  not  of  objective  inspection  and  analy- 
sis, but  of  affectionate  and  sympathetic  regard.  The  making 
of  weapons  is  felt  as  a  part  of  the  exciting  use  of  them.  Plants 
and  animals  are  not  'things'  but  are  factors  in  the  display  of 
energy  and  form  the  contents  of  most  intense  satisfactions.  The 
'animism'  of  primitive  mind  is  a  necessary  expression  of  the  im- 
mediacy of  relation  existing  between  want,  overt  activity,  that 
which  affords  satisfaction  and  the  attained  satisfaction  itself. 
Only  when  things  are  treated  simply  as  means,  are  marked  off 
and  held  off  against  remote  ends,  do  they  become  'objects.' 

Such  immediacy  of  interest,  attention  and  deed  is  the  essen- 
tial trait  of  the  nomad  hunter.  He  has  no  cultivated  plants,  no 
system  of  appliances  for  tending  and  regulating  plants  and  ani- 
mals; he  does  not  even  anticipate  the  future  by  drying  meat. 
When  food  is  abundant,  he  gorges  himself,  but  does  not  save. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  179 

His  habitation  is  a  temporary  improvised  hut.  In  the  interior, 
he  does  not  even  save  skins  for  clothes  in  the  cold  of  winter,  but 
cooks  them  with  the  rest  of  the  carcass.  Generally  even  by  the 
water  he  has  no  permanent  boats,  but  makes  one  of  bark  when 
and  as  he  needs  it.  He  has  no  tools  or  equipment  except  those 
actually  in  use  at  the  moment  of  getting  or  using  food — weapons 
of  the  chase  and  war.  Even  set  traps  and  nets  which  work 
for  the  savage  are  practically  unknown.  He  catches  beast,  bird 
and  fish  with  his  own  hands  when  he  does  not  use  club  or 
spear;  and  if  he  uses  nets  he  is  himself  personally  concerned 
in  their  use. 

Now  such  facts  as  these  are  usually  given  a  purely  negative 
interpretation.  They  are  used  as  proofs  of  the  incapacities  of 
the  savage.  But  in  fact  they  are  parts  of  a  very  positive  psy- 
chosis, which  taken  in  itself  and  not  merely  measured  against 
something  else,  requires  and  exhibits  highly  specialized  skill  and 
affords  intense  satisfactions — psychical  and  social  satisfactions, 
not  merely  sensuous  indulgences.  The  savage's  repugnance  to 
what  we  term  a  higher  plane  of  life  is  not  due  to  stupidity  or 
dullness  or  apathy — or  to  any  other  merely  negative  qualities — 
such  traits  are  a  later  development  and  fit  the  individual  only  too 
readily  for  exploitation  as  a  tool  by  'superior  races.'  His  aver- 
sion is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  new  occupations  he  does  not 
have  so  clear  or  so  intense  a  sphere  for  the  display  of  intellectual 
and  practical  skill,  or  such  opportunity  for  a  dramatic  play  of 
emotion.  Consciousness,  even  if  superficial,  is  maintained  at  a 
higher  intensity. 

The  hunting  life  is  of  necessity  one  of  great  emotional  in- 
terest, and  of  adequate  demand  for  acquiring  and  using  highly 
specialized  skills  of  sense,  movement,  ingenuity,  strategy  and 
combat.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  argue  the  first  point.  Game 
and  sport  are  still  words  which  mean  the  most  intense  imme- 
diate play  of  the  emotions,  running  their  entire  gamut.  And 
these  terms  still  are  applied  most  liberally  and  most  appro- 
priately to  hunting.  The  transferred  application  of  the  hunting 
language  to  pursuit  of  truth,  plot  interest,  business  adventure 
and  speculation,  to  all  intense  and  active  forms  of  amuse- 
ment, to  gambling  and  the  'sporting  life,'  evidences  how 


i8o  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

deeply  imbedded  in  later  consciousness  is  the  hunting  pattern 
or  schema.3 

The  interest  of  the  game,  the  alternate  suspense  and  move- 
ment, the  strained  and  alert  attention  to  stimuli  always  changing, 
always  demanding  graceful,  prompt,  strategic  and  forceful  re- 
sponse ;  the  play  of  emotions  along  the  scale  of  want,  effort,  suc- 
cess or  failure — this  is  the  very  type,  psychically  speaking,  of  the 
drama.  The  breathless  interest  with  which  we  hang  upon  the 
movement  of  play  or  novel  are  reflexes  of  the  mental  attitudes 
evolved  in  the  hunting  vocation. 

The  savage  loses  nothing  in  enjoyment  of  the  drama  because 
it  means  life  or  death  to  him.4  The  emotional  interest  in  the 
game  itself  is  moreover  immensely  reinforced  and  deepened  by 
its  social  accompaniments.  Skill  and  success  mean  applause  and 
admiration;  it  means  the  possibility  of  lavish  generosity — the 
quality  that  wins  all.  Rivalry  and  emulation  and  vanity  all 
quicken  and  feed  it.  It  means  sexual  admiration  and  conquests — 
more  wives  or  more  elopements.  It  means,  if  persistent,  the 
ultimate  selection  of  the  individual  for  all  tribal  positions  of 
dignity  and  authority. 

But  perhaps  the  most  conclusive  evidence  of  the  emotional 
satisfactions  involved  is  the  fact  that  the  men  reserve  the  hunt- 
ing occupations  to  themselves,  and  give  to  the  women  everything 
that  has  to  do  with  the  vegetable  side  of  existence  (where  the 
passive  subject  matter  does  not  arouse  the  dramatic  play),  and 
all  activity  of  every  sort  that  involves  the  more  remote  adapta- 
tion of  means  to  ends — and  hence,  drudgery.6 

The  same  sort  of  evidence  is  found  in  the  fact  that,  with 
change  to  agricultural  life,  other  than  hunting  types  of  action 
are  (if  women  do  not  suffice)  handed  over  to  slaves,  and  the 
energy  and  skill  acquired  go  into  the  game  of  war.  This  also 

3  See  Thomas,  'The  Gaming  Instinct,'  American  Journal  of  Sociology, 
VoL  VI.,  p.  750. 

*  Though  some  writers  even  say  that  the  savage's  interest  in  the  game  of 
hunting  is  so  great  that  he  hunts  for  the  excitement  rather  than  for  food. 
See  Lumholtz,  'Among  Cannibals,'  p.  161  and  p.  191. 

s  This  collateral  development  of  a  different  mental  pattern  in  women  is 
a  matter  of  the  greatest  significance,  in  itself,  in  its  relation  to  subsequent 
developments  and  in  relation  to  present  mental  interests. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  181 

explains  the  apparent  contradiction  in  the  psychic  retrogression 
of  the  mass  with  some  advances  in  civilization.  The  gain  is 
found  in  the  freed  activities  of  the  few,  and  in  the  cumulation  of 
the  objective  instrumentalities  of  social  life,  and  in  the  final  de- 
velopment, under  the  discipline  of  subjection,  of  new  modes  of 
interest  having  to  do  with  remoter  ends — considerations,  how- 
ever, which  are  psychologically  realized  by  the  mass  only  at 
much  later  periods. 

As  to  the  high  degree  of  skill,  practical  and  intellectual, 
stimulated  and  created  by  the  hunting  occupation,  the  case  is 
equally  clear — provided,  that  is,  we  bear  in  mind  the  types  of 
skill  appropriate  to  the  immediate  adjustments  required,  and  do 
not  look  for  qualities  irrelevant  because  useless  in  such  a  situa- 
tion. 

No  one  has  ever  called  a  purely  hunting  race  dull,  apathetic 
or  stupid.  Much  has  been  written  regarding  the  aversion  of 
savages  to  higher  resources  of  civilization — their  refusal  to 
adopt  iron  tools  or  weapons,  for  example,  and  their  sodden  ab- 
sorption in  routine  habits.  None  of  this  applies  to  the  Australian 
or  any  other  pure  hunting  type.  Their  attention  is  mobile  and 
fluid  as  is  their  life;  they  are  eager  to  the  point  of  greed  for 
anything  which  will  fit  into  their  dramatic  situations  so  as  to 
intensify  skill  and  increase  emotion.  Here  again  the  apparent 
discrepancies  strengthen  the  case.  It  is  when  the  native  is  forced 
into  an  alien  use  of  the  new  resources,  instead  of  adapting  them 
to  his  own  ends,  that  his  workmanship,  skill  and  artistic  taste 
uniformly  degenerate. 

Competent  testimony  is  unanimous  as  to  the  quickness  and 
accuracy  of  apprehension  evinced  by  the  natives  in  coming  in  con- 
tact even  for  the  first  time  with  complicated  constructive  devices 
of  civilized  man,  provided  only  these  appliances  have  a  direct 
or  immediate  action-index.  One  of  the  commonest  remarks  of 
travelers,  hardly  prepossessed  in  favor  of  the  savage,  is  their 
superiority  in  keenness,  alertness  and  a  sort  of  intelligent  good 
humor  to  the  average  English  rustic.  The  accuracy,  quickness 
and  minuteness  of  perception  of  eye,  ear  and  smell  are  no  bar- 
ren accumulation  of  meaningless  sense  detail  as  Spencer  would 
have  it;  they  are  the  cultivation  to  the  highest  point  of  skill 


182  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  emotional  availability  of  the  instrumentalities  and  modes  of 
a  dramatic  life.  The  same  applies  to  the  native's  interest  in 
hard  and  sustained  labor,  to  his  patience  and  perseverance  as 
well  as  to  his  gracefulness  and  dexterity  of  movement — the 
latter  extending  to  fingers  and  toes  to  an  extent  which  makes 
even  skilled  Europeans  awkward  and  clumsy.  The  usual  denial 
of  power  of  continued  hard  work,  of  patience  and  of  endurance 
to  the  savage  is  based  once  more  upon  trying  him  by  a  foreign 
standard — interest  in  ends  which  involve  a  long  series  of  means 
detached  from  all  problems  of  purely  personal  adjustment.  Pa- 
tience and  persistence  and  long-maintained  effort  the  savage 
does  show  when  they  come  within  the  scope  of  that  immediate 
contest  situation  with  reference  to  which  his  mental  pattern  is 
formed. 

I  hardly  need  say,  I  suppose,  that  in  saying  these  things  I 
have  no  desire  to  idealize  savage  intelligence  and  volition.  The 
savage  paid  for  highly  specialized  skill  in  all  matters  of  personal 
adjustment,  by  incapacity  in  all  that  is  impersonal,  that  is  to  say, 
remote,  generalized,  objectified,  abstracted.  But  my  point  is  that 
we  understand  their  incapacities  only  by  seeing  them  as  the  ob- 
verse side  of  positively  organized  developments;  and,  still  more, 
that  it  is  only  by  viewing  them  primarily  in  their  positive  aspect 
that  we  grasp  the  genetic  significance  of  savage  mind  for  the 
long  and  tortuous  process  of  mental  development,  and  secure 
from  its  consideration  assistance  in  comprehending  the  structure 
of  present  mind. 

I  come  now  to  a  brief  consideration  of  the  second  main  point 
— the  extent  to  which  this  psychic  pattern  is  carried  over  into 
all  the  relations  of  life,  and  becomes  emotionally  an  assimilating 
medium.  First,  take  art.  The  art  of  the  Australian  is  not  con- 
structive, not  architectonic,  not  graphic,  but  dramatic  and 
mimetic.  Every  writer  who  has  direct  knowledge  of  the  Aus- 
tralian corroborees,  whether  occasional  and  secular,  or  state  and 
ceremonial,  testifies  to  the  remarkable  interest  shown  in  dramatic 
representation.  The  reproduction  by  dances,  of  the  movements 
and  behavior  of  the  animals  of  the  chase  is  startling.  Great 
humor  is  also  shown  in  adapting  and  reproducing  recent  events 
and  personal  traits.  These  performances  are  attended  with  high 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  183 

emotional  attacks;  and  all  the  accompaniments  of  decoration, 
song,  music,  spectators'  shouts,  etc.,  are  designed  to  revive  the 
feelings  appropriate  to  the  immediate  conflict-situations  which 
mean  so  much  to  the  savage.  Novelty  is  at  a  distinct  premium ; 
old  songs  are  discarded;  one  of  the  chief  interests  at  an  inter- 
tribal friendly  meeting  is  learning  new  dance-songs;  and  ac- 
quisition of  a  new  one  is  often  sufficient  motive  for  invitation  to 
a  general  meeting. 

The  ceremonial  corroborees  are  of  course  more  than  forms  of 
art.  We  have  in  them  the  sole  exception  to  the  principle  that 
the  activities  of  the  hunter  are  immediate.  Here  they  are 
weighted  with  a  highly  complicated  structure  of  elaborated  tra- 
ditional rights — elaborated  and  complicated  almost  beyond  be- 
lief. But  it  is  an  exception  which  proves  the  rule.  This 
apparatus  of  traditionary  agencies  has  no  reference  to  either 
practical  or  intellectual  control,  it  gets  nowhere  objectively.  Its 
effect  is  just  to  reinstate  the  emotional  excitations  of  the  food 
conflict-situations;  and  particularly  to  frame  in  the  young  the 
psychic  disposition  which  will  make  them  thoroughly  interested 
in  the  necessary  performances. 

It  is  a  natural  transition  to  religion.  Totemism  and  the 
abundance  of  plant  and  animal  myths  (especially  the  latter)  and 
the  paucity  of  cosmic  and  cosmogonic  myth  testify  to  the  cen- 
tering of  attention  upon  the  content  of  the  combat,  or  hunting 
situation.  It  would  be  absurd  to  attempt  in  a  parenthesis  an 
explanation  of  totemism,  but  certainly  any  explanation  is  radi- 
cally defective  which  does  not  make  much  of  the  implication  of 
tribe  and  animal  in  the  same  emotional  situation.  Hunter  and 
hunted  are  the  factors  of  a  single  tension;  the  mental  situation 
cannot  be  defined  except  in  terms  of  both.  If  the  animals  get 
away,  it  is  surely  because  they  try;  and  if  they  are  caught  it  is 
surely  because  after  all  they  are  not  totally  adverse — they  are 
friendly.  And  they  seal  their  friendliness  by  sharing  in  one  of 
the  most  intense  satisfactions  of  life — savory  food  for  the  hungry. 
They  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  co-partners  in  the  life  of  the  group. 
Why  then  should  they  not  be  represented  as  of  close  kin?  In 
any  case,  attention  and  interest  center  in  animals  more  per- 
sistently than  in  anything  else;  and  they  afford  the  content  of 


184  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

whatever  concentrated  intellectual  activity  goes  on.  The  food 
taboos,  with  their  supernatural  sanctions,  certainly  create  ten- 
sions, or  reinstate  conflict-situations,  in  the  mind ;  and  thus  serve 
to  keep  alive  in  consciousness  values  which  otherwise  would  be 
more  nearly  relegated  to  the  mechanically  habitual,  or  become 
sensuous,  not  idealized  or  emotionalized. 

I  turn  now  to  matters  of  death  and  sickness,  their  cause,  and 
cure,  or,  if  cure  is  hopeless,  their  remedy  by  expiation.  Here  the 
assimilation  to  the  psychosis  of  the  hunting  activity  is  obvious. 
Sickness,  and  death  from  sickness,  are  uniformly  treated  as  the 
results  of  attacks  of  other  persons,  who  with  secret  and  strange 
weapons  are  hunting  their  victim  to  his  death.  And  the  remedy 
is  to  hunt  the  hunter,  to  get  the  aid  of  that  wonderful  pursuer 
and  tracker,  the  medicine  man,  who  by  superior  ability  runs  down 
the  guilty  party,  or  with  great  skill  hunts  out  the  deadly  missile 
or  poison  lodged  in  the  frame  of  his  victim. 

If  death  ensues,  then  we  have  the  devices  for  tracking  and 
locating  the  guilty  party.  And  then  comes  actual  conflict,  ac- 
tual man-hunting.  Death  can  be  avenged  only  by  the  ordeal  of 
battle — and  here  we  have  the  explanation  of  the  wars  and  war- 
like performances  of  which  so  much  has  been  made.  It  is,  how- 
ever, now  generally  admitted  that  the  chief  object  of  these  war- 
like meetings  is  to  reinstate  the  emotion  of  conflict  rather  than 
to  kill.  They  are,  so  to  speak,  psychological  duels  on  a  large 
scale — as  one  observer  says,  they  are  'fights  with  a  maximum  of 
noise,  boast,  outward  show  of  courage  and  a  minimum  of  casual- 
ties.' But  the  manouvering,  throwing  and  dodging  that  take  place 
are  a  positive  dramatic  exercise  in  the  utilities  of  their  occupa- 
tional pursuits. 

Finally,  as  to  marriage,  and  the  relations  between  the  sexes. 
What  was  said  concerning  the  impossibility  of  an  adequate  ac- 
count of  totemism  applies  with  greater  force  to  the  problem  of 
the  system  of  group  relationships  which  determine  marital  pos- 
sibilities. It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  system  of  injunctions 
and  restrictions  serves  to  develop  a  scheme  of  inhibitions  and 
intensified  stimuli  which  makes  sex-satisfaction  a  matter  of  pur- 
suit, conflict,  victory  and  trophy  over  again.  There  is  neither 
complete  absence  of  inhibition,  which,  involving  little  personal 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  185 

adjustment,  does  not  bring  the  sexual  sensations  into  the  sphere 
of  emotion  as  such;  nor  is  there  a  system  of  voluntary  agree- 
ment and  affection,  which  is  possible  only  with  a  highly  de- 
veloped method  of  intellectual  control,  and  large '  outlooks  upon 
a  long  future.  There  is  just  the  ratio  between  freedom  and 
restraint  that  develops  the  dramatic  instinct,  and  gives  court- 
ship and  the  possession  of  women  all  the  emotional  joys  of  the 
hunt — personal  display,  rivalry,  enough  exercise  of  force  to 
stimulate  the  organism;  and  the  emotion  of  prowess  joined  to  the 
physical  sensations  of  indulgence.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the 
hunting  psychosis,  novelty  is  at  a  premium,  for  the  mind  is  de- 
pendent upon  a  present  or  immediate  stimulus  to  get  activity 
going.  It  requires  no  deep  scientific  analysis  to  inform  us  that 
sex-relations  are  still  largely  in  the  dramatized  stage;  and  the 
play  of  emotion  which  accompanies  the  enacting  of  the  suc- 
cessive stages  of  the  drama  gives  way  to  genuine  affection  and 
intelligent  foresight  only  slowly  through  great  modifications 
of  the  whole  educative  and  economic  environment.  Recent 
writers,  I  think,  in  their  interest  on  the  institutional  side  of  mar- 
riage ( for  we  are  going  through  a  period  of  reading  back  Aryan 
legal  relationships  just  as  we  formerly  read  back  Aryan  theog- 
onies  and  mythologies)  have  overlooked  the  tremendous  im- 
portance of  the  immediate  play  of  psychic  factors  congruous  to 
hunting  as  such. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  point  out  that  the  adjustment  of  habits 
to  ends,  through  the  medium  of  a  problematic,  doubtful,  pre- 
carious situation,  is  the  structural  form  upon  which  present  in- 
telligence and  emotion  are  built.  It  remains  the  ground-pat- 
tern. The  further  problem  of  genetic  psychology  is  then  to  show 
how  the  purely  immediate  personal  adjustment  of  habit  to  direct 
satisfaction,  in  the  savage,  became  transformed  through  the  in- 
troduction of  impersonal,  generalized  objective  instrumentalities 
and  ends;  how  it  ceased  to  be  immediate  and  became  loaded 
and  surcharged  with  a  content  which  forced  personal  want,  in- 
itiative, effort  and  satisfaction  further  and  further  apart,  put- 
ting all  kinds  of  social  divisions  of  labor,  intermediate  agencies 
and  objective  contents  between  them.  This  is  the  problem  of 
the  formation  of  mental  patterns  appropriate  to  agricultural, 


i86  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

military,  professional  and  technological  and  trade  pursuits,  and 
the  reconstruction  and  overlaying  of  the  original  hunting  schema. 
But  by  these  various  agencies  we  have  not  so  much  destroyed 
or  left  behind  'the  hunting  structural  arrangement  of  mind,  as  we 
have  set  free  its  constitutive  psycho-physic  factors  so  as  to  make 
them  available  and  interesting  in  all  kinds  of  objective  and 
idealized  pursuits — the  hunt  for  truth,  beauty,  virtue,  wealth, 
social  well-being,  and  even  of  heaven  and  of  God. — JOHN  DEWEY, 
The  Psychological  Review,  9:217-30. 

THE  PRIMITIVE  MAN— EMOTIONAL 

....  In  the  Principles  of  Psychology,  §  253,  we  saw  that 
"mental  evolution,  both  intellectual  and  emotional,  may  be  meas- 
ured by  the  degree  of  remoteness  from  primitive  reflex  action. 
The  formation  of  sudden,  irreversible  conclusions  on  the  slender- 
est evidence,  is  less  distant  from  reflex  action  than  is  the  forma- 
tion of  deliberate  and  modifiable  conclusions  after  much  evidence 
has  been  collected.  And  similarly,  the  quick  passage  of  simple 
emotions  into  the  particular  kinds  of  conduct  they  prompt,  is 
less  distant  from  reflex  action  than  is  the  comparatively-hesitating 
passage  of  compound  emotions  into  kinds  of  conduct  determined 
by  the  joint  instigation  of  their  components." 

Here,  then,  are  our  guides  in  studying  the  emotional  nature 
of  primitive  man.  Being  less  evolved,  we  must  expect  to  find 
him  deficient  in  these  complex  emotions  which  respond  to  multi- 
tudinous and  remote  probabilities  and  contingencies.  His 
consciousness  differs  from  that  of  the  civilized  man,  by  consist- 
ing more  of  sensations  dnd  the  simple  representative  feelings 
directly  associated  with  them,  and  less  of  the  involved  repre- 
sentative feelings.  And  the  relatively-simple  emotional  con- 
sciousness thus  characterized,  we  may  expect  to  be  consequently 
characterized  by  more  of  that  irregularity  which  results  when 
each  desire  as  it  arises  discharges  itself  in  action  before  counter- 
desires  have  been  awakened. 

On  turning  from  these  deductions  to  examine  the  facts  with 
a  view  to  induction,  we  meet  difficulties  like  those  met  in  the 
last  chapter.  As  in  size  and  structure,  the  inferior  races  differ 
from  one  another  enough  to  produce  some  indefiniteness  in  our 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  187 

conception  of  the  primitive  man — physical;  so  in  their  passions 
and  sentiments,  the  inferior  races  present  contrasts  which  obscure 
the  essential  traits  of  the  primitive  man — emotional. 

This  last  difficulty,  like  the  first,  is  indeed  one  that  might  have 
been  anticipated.  Widely-contrasted  habitats,  entailing  widely- 
unlike  modes  of  life,  have  necessarily  caused  emotional  speciali- 
zation as  well  as  physical  specialization.  Further,  the  inferior 
varieties  of  men  have  been  made  to  differ  by  the  degrees  and 
durations  of  social  discipline  they  have  been  subject  to.  Re- 
ferring to  such  unlikenesses,  Mr.  Wallace  remarks  that  "there  is, 
in  fact,  almost  as  much  difference  between  the  various  races  of 
savage  as  of  civilized  peoples." 

To  conceive  the  primitive  man,  therefore,  as  he  existed  when 
social  aggregation  commenced,  we  must  generalize  as  well  as 
we  can  this  entangled  and  partially-conflicting  evidence:  led 
mainly  by  the  traits  common  to  the  very  lowest,  and  finding  what 
guidance  we  may  in  the  a  priori  conclusions  set  down  above. 

The  fundamental  trait  of  impulsiveness  is  not  everywhere 
conspicuous.  Taken  in  the  mass,  the  aborigines  of  the  New 
World  seem  impassive  in  comparison  with  those  of  the  Old 
World:  some  of  them,  indeed,  exceeding  the  civilized  peoples 
of  Europe  in  ability  to  control  their  emotions.  The  Dakotahs 
suffer  with  patience  both  physical  and  moral  pains.  The  Creeks 
display  "phlegmatic  coldness  and  indifference."  According  to 
Bernau,  the  Guiana  Indian,  though  "strong  in  his  affections, 
....  is  never  seen  to  weep,  but  will  bear  the  most  excruciating 
pains*  and  the  loss  of  his  dearest  relations  with  apparent  stoical 
insensibility;"  and  Humboldt  speaks  of  his  "resignation." 
Wallace  comments  on  "the  apathy  of  the  Indian,  who  scarcely 
ever  exhibits  any  feelings  of  regret  on  parting  or  of  pleasure 
on  his  return."  And  that  a  character  of  this  kind  was  wide- 
spread, seems  implied  by  accounts  of  the  ancient  Mexicans, 
Peruvians,  and  peoples  of  Central  America.  Nevertheless,  there 
are  among  these  races  traits  of  a  contrary  kind,  more  congruous 
with  those  of  the  uncivilized  at  large.  Spite  of  their  usually  un- 
impassioned  behaviour,  the  Dakotahs  rise  into  frightful  states 
of  bloody  fury  when  killing  buffaloes;  and  among  the  phleg- 
matic Creeks,  there  are  "very  frequent  suicides"  caused  by 


1 88  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

"trifling  disappointments."  Some  of  the  American  indigenes, 
too,  do  not  show  this  apathy ;  as,  in  the  North,  the  Chinook  In- 
dian, who  is  said  to  be  "a  mere  child,  irritated  by,  and  pleased 
with,  a  trifle;"  and  as,  in  the  South,  the  Brazilian,  of  whom  we 
read  that  "if  a  savage  struck  a  foot  against  a  stone,  he  raged 
over  it,  and  bit  it  like  a  dog."  Such  non-impulsiveness  as  exists 
in  the  American  races,  may  possibly  be  due  to  constitutional  in- 
ertness. Among  ourselves,  there  are  people  whose  equanimity 
results  from  want  of  vitality:  being  but  half  alive,  the  emotions 
roused  in  them  by  irritations  have  less  than  the  usual  intensities. 
That  apathy  thus  caused  may  account  for  this  peculiarity,  seems, 
in  South  America,  implied  by  the  alleged  sexual  coldness. 

Recognizing  what  anomaly  there  may  be  in  these  facts,  we 
find,  throughout  the  rest  of  the  world,  a  general  congruity. 
Passing  from  North  America  to  Asia,  we  come  to  the  Kam- 
schadales,  who  are  "excitable,  not  to  say  (for  men)  hysterical. 
A  light  matter  sent  them  mad,  or  made  them  commit  suicide;" 
and  we  come  to  the  Kirghiz,  who  are  said  to  be  "fickle  and  un- 
certain." Turning  to  Southern  Asiatics,  we  find  Burton  assert- 
ing of  the  Bedouin  that  his  valour  is  "fitful  and  uncertain." 
And  while,  of  the  Arabs,  Denham  remarks  that  "their  common 
conversational  intercourse  appears  to  be  a  continual  strife 
and  quarrel,"  Palgrave  says  they  will  "chaffer  half  a  day  about  a 
penny,  while  they  will  throw  away  the  worth  of  pounds  on  the 
first  asker."  In  Africa  like  traits  occur.  Premising  that  the  East- 
African  is,  "like  all  other  barbarians,  a  strange  mixture  of  good 
and  evil,"  Burton  describes  him  thus:  "He  is  at  once  very 
good-tempered  and  hard-hearted,  combative  and  cautious ;  kind  at 
one  moment,  cruel,  pitiless,  and  violent  at  another;  sociable  and 
unaffectionate ;  superstitious  and  grossly  irreverent;  brave  and 
cowardly;  servile  and  oppressive;  obstinate,  yet  fickle  and  fond 
of  change;  with  points  of  honour,  but  without  a  trace  of  hon- 
esty in  word  or  deed;  a  lover  of  life,  yet  addicted  to  suicide; 
covetous  and  parsimonious,  yet  thoughtless  and  improvident." 
With  the  exception  of  the  Bechuanas,  the  like  is  true  of  the  races 
further  south.  Thus,  in  the  Damara,  the  feeling  of  revenge  is 
very  transient — "gives  way  to  admiration  of  the  oppressor." 
Burchell  describes  the  Hottentots  as  passing  from  extreme  lazi- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  189 

ness  to  extreme  eagerness  for  action.  And  the  Bushman  is  quick, 
generous,  headstrong,  vindictive — very  noisy  quarrels  are  of 
daily  occurrence:  father  and  son  will  attempt  to  kill  each  other. 
Of  the  scattered  societies  inhabiting  the  Eastern  Archipelago, 
those  in  which  the  Malay-blood  predominates,  do  not  exhibit 
this  trait.  The  Malagasy  are  said  to  have  "passions  never  vio- 
lently excited;"  and  the  pure  Malay  is  described  as  not  demon- 
strative. The  rest,  however,  have  the  ordinary  variability. 
Among  the  Negritos,  the  Papuan  is  "impetuous,  excitable,  noisy ;" 
the  Fijians  have  "emotions  easily  roused,  but  transient,"  and 
"are  extremely  changeable  in  their  disposition ;"  the  Andamanese 
"are  all  frightfully  passionate  and  revengeful ;"  and  of  the  Tas- 
manians  we  read  that,  "like  all  savages,  they  quickly  changed 
from  smiles  to  tears."  So,  too,  of  the  other  lowest  races:  there 
are  the  Fuegians,  who  "have  hasty  tempers,"  and  "are  loud  and 
furious  talkers;"  there  are  the  Australians,  whose  impulsiveness 
Haygarth  implies  by  saying  that  the  angry  Australian  jin  ex- 
ceeds the  European  scold,  and  that  a  man  remarkable  for  haughti- 
ness and  reserve  sobbed  long  when  his  nephew  was  taken  from 
him.  Bearing  in  mind  that  such  non-impulsiveness  as  is  shown 
by  the  Malays  occurs  in  a  partially-civilized  race,  and  that  the 
lowest  races,  as  the  Andamanese,  Tasmanians,  Fuegians,  Aus- 
tralians, betray  impulsiveness  in  a  very  decided  manner;  we  may 
safely  assert  it  to  be  a  trait  of  primitive  man.  What  the  earliest 
character  was,  is  well  suggested  by  the  following  vivid  descrip- 
tion of  a  Bushman. 

Indicating  his  simian  appearance,  Lichtenstein  continues : 
"What  gives  the  more  verity  to  such  a  comparison  was  the 
vivacity  of  his  eyes,  and  the  flexibility  of  his  eyebrows,  which 
he  worked  up  and  down  with  every  change  of  countenance. 
Even  his  nostrils  and  the  corners  of  his  mouth,  nay,  his  very 
ears,  moved  involuntarily,  expressing  his  hasty  transitions  from 

eager  desire  to  watchful  distrust When  a  piece  of  meat 

was  given  him,  and  half-rising  he  stretched  out  a  distrustful 
arm  to  take  it,  he  snatched  it  hastily,  and  stuck  it  immediately 
into  the  fire,  peering  around  with  his  little  keen  eyes,  as  if  fear- 
ing that  some  one  should  take  it  away  again : — all  .this  was  done 
with  such  looks  and  gestures,  that  anyone  must  have  been  ready 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  swear  he  had  taken  the  example  of  them  entirely  from  an 
ape." 

Evidence  that  early  human  nature  differed  from  later  human 
nature  by  having  this  extreme  emotional  variability,  is  yielded 
by  the  contrast  between  the  child  and  the  adult  among  ourselves. 
For  on  the  hypothesis  of  evolution,  the  civilized  man,  passing 
through  phases  representing  phases  passed  through  by  the  race, 
will,  early  in  life,  betray  this  impulsiveness  which  the  early  race 
had.  The  saying  that  the  savage  has  the  mind  of  a  child  with 
the  passions  of  a  man  (or,  rather,  has  adult  passions  which  act  in 
a  childish  manner)  possesses  a  deeper  meaning  than  appears. 
There  is  a  relationship  between  the  two  natures  such  that,  allow- 
ing for  differences  of  kind  and  degree  in  the  emotions,  we  may 
regard  the  co-ordination  of  them  in  the  child  as  analogous  to 
the  co-ordination  in  the  primitive  man. 

The  more  special  emotional  traits  are  in  large  part  dependent 
on,  and  further  illustrative  of,  this  general  trait.  This  relative 
impulsiveness,  this  smaller  departure  from  primitive  reflex  action, 
this  lack  of  the  re-representative  emotions  which  hold  the  simpler 
ones  in  check,  is  accompanied  by  improvidence. 

The  Australians  are  "incapable  of  anything  like  persevering 
labour,  the  reward  of  which  is  in  futurity;"  the  Hottentots  are 
"the  laziest  people  under  the  sun;"  and  with  the  Bushmen  it  is 
"always  either  a  feast  or  a  famine."  Passing  to  the  indigenes  of 
India,  we  read  of  the  Todas  that  they  are  "indolent  and  slothful ;" 
of  the  Bhils,  that  they  have  "a  contempt  and  dislike  to  labour" — 
will  half  starve  rather  than  work;  of  the  Santals,  that  they  have 
not  "the  unconquerable  laziness  of  the  very  old  Hill-tribes." 
So,  from  Northern  Asia,  the  Kirghiz  may  be  taken  as  exem- 
plifying idleness.  In  America,  we  have  the  fact  that  none  of  the 
aboriginal  peoples,  if  uncoerced,  show  capacity  for  industry: 
in  the  North,  cut  off  from  his  hunting  life,  the  Indian,  capable  of 
no  other,  decays  and  disappears;  and  in  the  South,  the  tribes 
disciplined  by  the  Jesuits  lapsed  into  their  original  state,  or  a 
worse,  when  the  stimuli  and  restraints  ceased.  All  which  facts 
are  in  part  ascribable  to  inadequate  consciousness  of  the  future. 
Where,  as  in  sundry  Malayo-Polynesian  societies,  we  find  con- 
siderable industry,  it  goes  along  with  a  social  state  implying  dis- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  191 

cipline  throughout  a  long  past.  It  is  true  that  perseverance  with 
a  view  to  remote  benefit  occurs  among  savages.  They  bestow 
much  time  and  pains  on  their  weapons,  etc. :  six  months  to  make 
as  many  arrows,  a  year  in  hollowing  out  a  bowl,  and  many  years 
in  drilling  a  hole  through  a  stone.  But  in  these  cases  little  mus- 
cular effort  is  required,  and  the  activity  is  thrown  on  perceptive 
faculties  which  are  constitutionally  active. 

A  trait  which  naturally  goes  along  with  inability  so  to  con- 
ceive the  future  as  to  be  influenced  by  the  conception,  is  a  child- 
ish mirth  fulness.  Though  sundry  races  of  the  New  World, 
along  with  their  general  impassiveness,  are  little  inclined  to 
gaiety,  and  though  among  the  Malay  races  and  the  Dyaks  gravity 
is  a  characteristic,  yet,  generally,  it  is  otherwise.  Of  the  New 
Caledonians,  Fijians,  Tahitians,  New  Zealanders,  we  read  that 
they  are  always  laughing  and  joking.  Throughout  Africa  the 
Negro  has  the  same  trait ;  and  of  other  races,  in  other  lands,  the 
descriptions  of  various  travellers  are — "full  of  fun  and  merri- 
ment," "full  of  life  and  spirits,"  "merry  and  talkative,"  "sky- 
larking in  all  ways,"  "boisterous  gaiety,"  "laughing  immoder- 
ately at  trifles."  Even  the  Esquimaux,  notwithstanding  all  their 
privations,  are  described  as  "a  happy  people."  We  have  but  to 
remember  how  greatly  anxiety  about  coming  events  moderates 
the  spirits — we  have  but  to  contrast  the  lively  but  improvident 
Irishman  with  the  grave  but  provident  Scot — to  see  that  there 
is  a  relation  between  these  traits  in  the  uncivilized  man. 
Thoughtless  absorption  in  the  present  causes  at  the  same  time 
these  excesses  of  gaiety  and  this  inattention  to  threatened  evils. 

Along  with  improvidence  there  goes,  both  as  cause  and  con- 
sequence, an  undeveloped  proprietary  sentiment.  Under  his  con- 
ditions it  is  impossible  for  the  savage  to  have  an  extended 
consciousness  of  individual  possession.  Established,  as  the  sen- 
timent can  be,  only  by  experiences  of  the  gratifications  which 
possession  brings,  continued  through  successive  generations,  it 
cannot  arise  where  the  circumstances  do  not  permit  many  such 
experiences.  Beyond  the  few  rude  appliances  ministering  to 
bodily  wants  and  decorations,  the  primitive  man  has  nothing  to 
accumulate.  Where  he  has  grown  into  a  pastoral  life,  there  arises 
a  possibility  of  benefits  from  increased  possessions:  he  profits 


192  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

by  multiplying  his  flocks.  Still,  while  he  remains  nomadic,  it 
is  difficult  to  supply  his  flocks  with  unfailing  food  when  they  are 
large,  and  he  has  increased  losses  from  enemies  and  wild  ani- 
mals ;  so  that  the  benefits  of  accumulation  are  kept  within  narrow 
limits.  Only  as  the  agricultural  state  is  reached,  and  only  as  the 
tenure  of  land  passes  from  the  tribal  form,  through  the  family 
form,  to  the  individual  form,  is  there  a  widening  of  the  sphere 
for  the  proprietary  sentiment. 

Distinguished  by  improvidence,  and  by  deficiency  of  that  de- 
sire to  own  which  checks  improvidence,  the  savage  is  thus 
debarred  from  experiences  which  develop  this  desire  and  diminish 
the  improvidence. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  those  emotional  traits  which  directly 
affect  the  formation  of  social  groups.  Varieties  of  mankind  are 
social  in  different  degrees;  and,  further,  are  here  tolerant  of  re- 
straint and  there  intolerant  of  it.  Clearly,  the  proportions  be- 
tween these  two  characteristics  must  greatly  affect  social  unions. 

Describing  the  Mantras,  indigenes  of  the  Malay-peninsula, 
pere  Bourien  says — "liberty  seems  to  be  to  them  a  necessity 
of  their  very  existence;"  "every  individual  lives  as  if  there  were 
no  other  person  in  the  world  but  himself;"  they  separate  if  they 
dispute.  So  is  it  with  the  wild  men  in  the  interior  of  Borneo, 
"who  do  not  associate  with  each  other;"  and  whose  children, 
when  "old  enough  to  shift  for  themselves,  usually  separate, 
neither  one  afterwards  thinking  of  the  other."  A  nature  of  this 
kind  shows  its  effects  in  the  solitary  families  of  the  wood-Ved- 
dahs,  or  those  of  the  Bushmen,  whom  Arbousset  describes  as 
"independent  and  poor  beyond  measure,  as  if  they  had  sworn 
to  remain  always  free  and  without  possessions."  Of  sundry 
races  that  remain  in  a  low  state,  this  trait  is  remarked;  as  of 
Brazilian  Indians,  who,  tractable  when  quite  young,  begin  to 
display  "impatience  of  all  restraint"  at  puberty ;  as  of  the  Caribs, 
who  are  "impatient  under  the  least  infringement"  of  their  inde- 
pendence. Among  Indian  Hill-tribes  the  savage  Bhils  have 
"a  natural  spirit  of  independence;"  the  Bodo  and  Dhimal  "resist 
injunctions  injudiciously  urged,  with  dogged  obstinacy;"  and  the 
Lepchas  "undergo  great  privations  rather  than  submit  to  op- 
pression." This  trait  we  meet  with  again  among  some  nomadic 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  193 

races.  "A  Bedouin,"  says  Burckhardt,  "will  not  submit  to  any 
command,  but  readily  yields  to  persuasion;"  and  he  is  said  by 
Palgrave  to  have  "a  high  appreciation  of  national  and  personal 
liberty."  That  this  moral  trait  is  injurious  during  early  stages  of 
social  progress,  is  in  some  cases  observed  by  travellers,  as  by 
Earl,  who  says  of  the  New  Guinea  people  that  their  "impatience 
of  control"  precludes  organization.  Not,  indeed,  that  absence  of 
independence  will  of  itself  cause  an  opposite  result.  The  Kam- 
schadales  exhibit  "slavishness  to  people  who  use  them  hard,"  and 
"contempt  of  those  who  treat  them  with  gentleness;"  and  while 
the  Damaras  have  "no  independence,"  they  "court  slavery:  ad- 
miration and  fear"  being  their  only  strong  sentiments.  A  certain 
ratio  between  the  feelings  prompting  obedience  and  prompting  re- 
sistance, seems  required.  The  Malays,  who  have  evolved  into 
several  semi-civilized  societies,  are  said  to  be  submissive  to  au- 
thority; and  yet  each  is  "sensitive  to  ....  any  interference 
with  the  personal  liberty  of  himself  or  another."  Clearly,  how- 
ever, be  the  cause  of  subordination  what  it  may,  a  relatively- 
subordinate  nature  is  everywhere  shown  by  men  composing  social 
aggregates  of  considerable  sizes.  In  such  semi-civilized  com- 
munities as  tropical  Africa  contains,  it  is  conspicuous;  and  it 
characterized  the  peoples  who  formed  the  extinct  oriental  nations, 
as  also  those  who  formed  the  extinct  nations  of  the  New  World. 

If,  as  among  the  Mantras  above  named,  intolerance  of  re- 
straint is  joined  with  want  of  sociality,  there  is  a  double  obstacle 
to  social  union:  a  cause  of  dispersion  is  not  checked  by  a  cause 
of  aggregation.  If,  as  among  the  Todas,  a  man  will  sit  inactive 
for  hours,  "seeking  no  companionship,"  he  is  under  less  tempta- 
tion to  tolerate  restrictions  than  if  solitude  is  unbearable.  Clearly, 
the  ferocious  Fijian  in  whom,  strange  as  it  seems,  "the  sentiment 
of  friendship  is  strongly  developed,"  is  impelled  by  this  sentiment, 
as  well  as  by  his  extreme  loyalty,  to  continue  in  a  society  in  which 
despotism  based  on  cannibalism  is  without  check. 

Induction  thus  sufficiently  verifies  the  deduction  that  primitive 
men,  who,  before  any  arts  of  life  were  developed,  necessarily 
lived  on  wild  food,  implying  wide  dispersion  of  small  numbers, 
were,  on  the  one  hand,  not  much  habituated  to  associated  life,  and 
were,  on  the  other  hand,  habituated  to  that  uncontrolled  following 


194  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  immediate  desires  which  goes  along  with  separateness.  So  that 
while  the  attractive  force  was  small  the  repulsive  force  was  great. 
Only  as  they  were  led  into  greater  gregariousness  by  local  con- 
ditions which  furthered  the  maintenance  of  many  persons  on  a 
small  area,  could  there  come  that  increase  of  sociality  required 
to  check  unrestrained  action. 

Traits  of  the  primitive  nature  due  to  presence  or  absence 
of  the  altruistic  sentiments,  remain  to  be  glanced  at.  Having 
sympathy  for  their  root,  these  must,  on  the  hypothesis  of  evolu- 
tion, develop  in  proportion  as  circumstances  make  sympathy 
active;  that  is — in  proportion  as  they  foster  the  domestic  rela- 
tions, in  proportion  as  they  conduce  to  sociality,  and  in  propor- 
tion as  they  do  not  cultivate  aggressiveness. 

Evidence  for  and  against  this  d  priori  inference  is  difficult 
to  disentangle  and  to  generalize.  Many  causes  conspire  to  mislead 
us.  We  assume  that  there  will  be  tolerably  uniform  manifesta- 
tions of  character  in  each  race;  but  we  are  wrong.  Both  the  in- 
dividuals and  the  groups  differ  considerably;  as  in  Australia, 
where  one  tribe  "is  decidedly  quiet,"  and  another  "decidedly  dis- 
orderly." We  assume  that  the  traits  shown  will  be  similar  on 
successive  occasions,  which  they  are  not:  the  behaviour  towone 
traveller  is  unlike  the  behaviour  to  another;  probably  because 
their  own  behaviours  are  unlike.  Commonly,  too,  the  displays 
of  character  by  an  aboriginal  race  revisited,  depend  on  the  treat- 
ment received  from  previous  visitors:  being  changed  from 
friendliness  to  enmity  by  painful  experiences.  Thus,  of  Aus- 
tralian travellers,  it  is  remarked  that  the  earlier  speak  more 
favourably  of  the  natives  than  the  latter,  and  Earl  says  of  the 
Java  people,  that  those  inhabiting  parts  little  used  by  Euro- 
peans "are  much  superior  in  point  of  morality  to  the  natives  of 
the  north  coast,"  whose  intercourse  with  Europeans  has  been 
greater.  When,  led  by  his  experiences  in  the  Pacific,  Erskine  re- 
marks, "nor  is  it  at  all  beyond  the  range  of  probability  that  habits 
of  honesty  and  decorum  may  yet  be  forced  upon  the  foreign 
trader  by  those  whom  he  has  hitherto  been  accustomed  to  con- 
sider as  the  treacherous  and  irreclaimable  savages  of  the  sandal- 
wood  islands;"  when  we  learn  that  in  Vate,  the  native  name  for 
a  white  man  is  a  "sailing  profligate ;"  and  when  we  remember  that 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  195 

worse  names  are  justified  by  recent  doings  in  those  regions ;  we 
shall  understand  how  conflicting  statements  about  native  char- 
acters may  result. 

Beyond  the  difficulty  hence  arising,  is  the  difficulty  arising 
from  that  primitive  impulsiveness,  which  itself  causes  a  varia- 
bility perplexing  to  one  who  would  form  a  conception  of  the 
average  nature.  As  Livingstone  says  of  the  Makololo — "It 
would  not  be  difficult  to  make  these  people  appear  excessively 
good  or  uncommonly  bad;"  and  the  inconsistent  traits  above 
quoted  from  Captain  Burton,  imply  a  parallel  experience.  Hence 
we  have  to  strike  an  average  among  manifestations  naturally 
chaotic,  which  are  further  distorted  by  the  varying  relations  to 
those  who  witness  them. 

We  may  best  guide  ourselves  by  taking,  first,  not  the  altru- 
istic sentiments,  but  the  feeling  which  habitually  co-operates 
with  them — the  parental  instinct,  the  love  of  the  helpless.  (Prin. 
of  Psy.,  §  532.)  Of  necessity  the  lowest  human  races,  in  com- 
mon with  inferior  animals,  have  large  endowments  of  this. 
Those  only  can  survive  in  posterity  in  whom  the  love  of  off- 
spring prompts  due  care  of  offspring;  and  among  the  savage, 
the  self-sacrifice  required  is  as  great  as  among  the  civilized. 
Hence  the  fondness  for  children  which  even  the  lowest  of  man- 
kind display;  though,  with  their  habitual  impulsiveness,  they 
often  join  with  it  great  cruelty.  The  Fuegians,  described  as 
"very  fond"  of  their  children,  nevertheless  sell  them  to  the 
Patagonians  for  slaves.  Great  love  of  offspring  is  ascribed  to 
the  New  Guinea  people ;  and  yet  a  man  will  "barter  one  or  two" 
with  a  trader  for  something  he  wants.  The  Australians,  credited 
by  Eyre  with  strong  parental  affection,  are  said  to  desert  sick 
children;  and  Angas  asserts  of  them  that  on  the  Murray  they 
sometimes  kill  a  boy  to  bait  their  hooks  with  his  fat.  Though 
among  the  Tasmanians  the  parental  instinct  is  described  as 
strong,  yet  they  practised  infanticide;  and  though,  among  the 
Bushmen,  the  rearing  of  offspring  under  great  difficulties  im- 
plies much  devotion,  yet  Moffat  says  they  "kill  their  children 
without  remorse  on  various  occasions."  Omitting  further  proofs 
of  parental  love  on  the  one  hand,  qualified  on  the  other  by  ex- 
amples of  a  violence  which  will  slay  a  child  for  letting  fall  some- 


196  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

thing  it  was  carrying,  we  may  safely  say  of  the  primitive  man 
that  his  philoprogenitiveness  is  strong,  but  its  action,  like  that 
of  his  emotions  in  general,  irregular. 

Keeping  this  in  mind,  we  shall  be  aided  in  reconciling  the 
conflicting  accounts  of  his  excessive  egoism  and  his  fellow  feeling 
— his  cruelty  and  his  kindness.  The  Fuegians  are  affectionate 
towards  each  other;  and  yet  in  times  of  scarcity  they  kill  the 
old  women  for  food.  Mouat,  who  describes  the  Andamanese 
as  a  merciless  race,  nevertheless  says  that  the  one  he  took  to 
Calcutta  had  a  "very  kind  and  amiable  character."  Many  and 
extreme  cruelties  are  proved  against  the  Australians.  Yet  Eyre 
testifies  to  their  kindness,  their  self-sacrifice,  and  even  their 
chivalry.  So,  too,  of  the  Bushmen.  Lichtenstein  thinks  that 
in  no  savage  is  there  "so  high  a  degree  of  brutal  ferocity;"  but 
Moffat  was  "deeply  affected  by  the  sympathy  of  these  poor 
Bushmen,"  and  Burchell  says  that  they  show  to  each  other  "hos- 
pitality and  generosity  often  in  an  extraordinary  degree." 
When  we  come  to  races  higher  in  social  state,  the  testimonies 
to  good  feeling  are  abundant.  The  New  Caledonians  are  said 
to  be  "of  a  mild  and  good-natured  temper;"  the  Tannese  are 
"ready  to  do  any  service  that  lies  in  their  power;"  the  New 
Guinea  people  are  "good-natured,"  "of  a  mild  disposition." 
Passing  from  Negritos  to  Malayo-Polynesians,  we  meet  with 
like  characteristics.  The  epithets  applied  to  the  Sandwich 
Islanders  are  "mild,  docile;"  to  the  Tahitians,  "cheerful  and 
good-natured;"  to  the  Dyaks,  "genial;"  to  the  Sea-Dyaks,  "so- 
ciable and  amiable;"  to  the  Javans,  "mild,"  "cheerful  and  good- 
humoured;"  to  the  Malays  of  Northern  Celebes,  "quiet  and 
gentle."  We  have,  indeed,  in  other  cases,  quite  opposite  de- 
scriptions. In  the  native  Brazilians,  revenge  is  said  to  be  the 
predominant  passion:  a  trapped  animal  they  kill  with  little 
wounds  that  it  may  "suffer  as  much  as  possible."  A  leading 
trait  ascribed  to  the  Fijians  is  "intense  and  vengeful  malignity." 
Galton  condemns  the  Damaras  as  "worthless,  thieving,  and  mur- 
derous," and  Andersson  as  "unmitigated  scoundrels."  In  some 
cases  adjacent  tribes  show  us  these  opposite  natures ;  as  among  the 
aborigines  of  India.  While  the  Bhils  are  reputed  to  be  cruel, 
revengeful,  and  ready  to  play  the  assassin  for  a  trifling  recom- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  197 

pense,  the  Nagas  are  described  as  "good-natured  and  honest;" 
the  Bodo  and  Dhimal  as  "full  of  amiable  qualities,"  "honest  and 
truthful,"  "totally  free  from  arrogance,  revenge,  cruelty ;"  and  of 
the  Lepcha,  Dr.  Hooker  says  his  disposition  is  "amiable,"  "peace- 
ful and  no  brawler:"  thus  "contrasting  strongly  with  his  neigh- 
bours to  the  east  and  west." 

Manifestly,  then,  uncivilized  man,  if  he  has  but  little  active 
benevolence,  is  not,  as  often  supposed,  distinguished  by  active 
malevolence.  Indeed,  a  glance  over  the  facts  tends  rather  to 
show  that  while  wanton  cruelty  is  not  common  among  the  least 
civilized,  it  is  common  among  the  more  civilized.  The  sangui- 
nary Fijians  have  reached  a  considerable  social  development. 
Burton  says  of  the  Fan  that  "cruelty  seems  to  be  with  him  a 
necessary  of  life ;"  and  yet  the  Fans  have  advanced  arts  and  ap- 
pliances, and  live  in  villages  having,  some  of  them  four  thousand 
inhabitants.  In  Dahomy,  where  a  large  population  considerably 
organized  exists,  the  love  for  bloodshed  leads  to  frequent  hor- 
rible sacrifices;  and  the  social  system  of  the  ancient  Mexicans, 
rooted  as  it  was  in  cannabalism,  and  yet  highly  evolved  in  many 
ways,  shows  us  that  it  is  not  the  lowest  races  which  are  the  most 
inhuman. 

Help  in  judging  the  moral  nature  of  savages  is  furnished 
by  the  remark  of  Mr.  Bates,  that  "the  goodness  of  these  Indians, 
like  that  of  most  others  amongst  whom  I  lived,  consisted  perhaps 
more  in  the  absence  of  active  bad  qualities,  than  in  the  possession 
of  good  ones;  in  other  words,  it  was  negative  rather  than  posi- 
tive  The  good-fellowship  of  our  Cucamas  seemed  to  arise, 

not  from  warm  sympathy,  but  simply  from  the  absence  of  eager 
selfishness  in  small  matters."  And  we  shall  derive  further  help 
in  reconciling  what  seem  contradictory  traits,  by  observing  how 
the  dog  unites  great  affectionateness,  sociality,  and  even  sym- 
pathy, with  habitual  egoism  and  bursts  of  ferocity — how  he 
passes  readily  from  playful  friendliness  to  fighting,  and  while 
at  one  time  robbing  a  fellow  dog  of  his  food  will  at  another 
succour  him  in  distress. 

One  kind  of  evidence,  however,  there  is  which  amid  all  these 
conflicting  testimonies,  affords  tolerably-safe  guidance.  The 
habitual  behaviour  to  women  among  any  people,  indicates  with 


198  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

approximate  truth,  the  average  power  of  the  altruistic  senti- 
ments; and  the  indication  thus  yielded  tells  against  the  char- 
acter of  the  primitive  man.  The  actions  of  the  stronger  sex  to 
the  weaker  among  the  uncivilized  are  frequently  brutal ;  and  even 
at  best  the  conduct  is  unsympathetic.  That  slavery  of  women, 
often  joined  with  cruelty  to  them,  should  be  normal  among  sav- 
ages, accepted  as  right  not  by  men  only  but  by  women  them- 
selves, proves  that  whatever  occasional  displays  of  altruism  there 
may  be,  the  ordinary  flow  of  altruistic  feeling  is  small. 

A  summary  of  these  leading  emotional  traits^  must  be  prefaced 
by  one  which  affects  all  the  others — the  fixity  of  habit:  a  trait 
connected  with  that  of  early  arrival  at  maturity,  added  at  the 
close  of  the  last  chapter.  The  primitive  man  is  conservative  in 
an  extreme  degree.  Even  on  contrasting  higher  races  with  one 
another,  and  even  on  contrasting  different  classes  in  the  same 
society,  it  is  observable  that  the  least  developed  are  the  most 
averse  to  change.  Among  the  common  people  an  improved  method 
is  difficult  to  introduce;  and  even  a  new  kind  of  food  is  usually 
disliked.  The  uncivilized  man  is  thus  characterized  in  yet  a 
greater  degree.  His  simpler  nervous  system,  sooner  losing  its 
plasticity,  is  still  less  able  to  take  on  a  modified  mode  of  action. 
Hence  both  an  unconscious  adhesion,  and  an  avowed  adhesion,  to 
that  which  is  established.  "Because  same  ting  do  for  my  father, 
same  ting  do  for  me,"  say  the  Houssa  negroes.  The  Creek  In- 
dians laughed  at  those  who  suggested  that  they  should  "alter 
their  long-established  customs  and  habits  of  living."  Of  some 
Africans  Livingstone  says — "I  often  presented  my  friends  with 
iron  spoons,  and  it  was  curious  to  observe  how  the  habit  of  hand- 
eating  prevailed,  though  they  were  delighted  with  the  spoons. 
They  lifted  out  a  little  [milk]  with  the  utensil,  then  put  it  on  the 
left  hand,  and  ate  it  out  of  that."  How  this  tendency  leads  to 
unchangeable  social  usages,  is  well  shown  by  the  Dyaks;  who, 
as  Mr.  Tyler  says,  "marked  their  disgust  at  the  innovation 
by  levying  a  fine  on  any  of  their  own  people  who  should  be 
caught  chopping  in  the  European  fashion." 

Recapitulating  the  emotional  traits,  severally  made  more 
marked  by  this  relative  fixity  of  habit,  we  have  first  to  note  the 
impulsiveness  which,  pervading  the  conduct  of  primitive  men, 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  199 

so  greatly  impedes  co-operation.  That  "wavering  and  inconstant 
disposition,"  which  commonly  makes  it  "impossible  to  put  any 
dependence  on  their  promises,"  negatives  that  mutual  trust  re- 
quired for  social  progress.  Governed  as  he  is  by  despotic  emo- 
tions that  successively  depose  one  another,  instead  of  by  a  coun- 
cil of  the  emotions  shared  in  by  all,  the  primitive  man  has  an  ex- 
plosive, chaotic,  incalculable  behaviour,  which  makes  combined 
action  very  difficult.  One  of  the  more  special  traits,  partly  re- 
sulting from  this  general  trait,  is  his  improvidence.  Immediate 
desire,  be  it  for  personal  gratification  or  for  the  applause  which 
generosity  brings,  excludes  fear  of  future  evils;  while  pains  and 
pleasures  to  come,  not  being  vividly  conceived,  give  no  adequate 
spur  to  exertion :  leaving  a  light-hearted,  careless  absorption  in 
the  present.  Sociality,  strong  in  the  civilized  man,  is  less  strong 
in  the  savage  man.  Among  the  lowest  types  the  groups  are 
small,  and  the  bonds  holding  their  units  together  are  relatively 
feeble.  Along  with  a  tendency  to  disruption  produced  by  the 
ill-controlled  passions  of  the  individuals,  there  goes  comparatively 
little  of  the  sentiment  causing  cohesion.  So  that,  among  men 
carried  from  one  extreme  to  another  by  gusts  of  feeling — men 
often  made  very  irritable  by  hunger,  which,  as  Livingstone  re- 
marks, "has  a  powerful  effect  on  the  temper" — there  exists  at 
once  a  smaller  tendency  to  cohere  from  mutual  liking,  and  a 
greater  tendency  to  resist  an  authority  otherwise  causing  co- 
hesion. Though,  before  there  is  much  sociality,  there  cannot  be 
much  love  of  approbation ;  yet,  with  a  moderate  progress  in  social 
grouping,  there  develops  this  simplest  of  the  higher  sentiments. 
The  great  and  immediate  benefits  brought  by  the  approval  of 
fellow-savages,  and  the  serious  evils  following  their  anger  or 
contempt,  are  experiences  which  foster  this  ego-altruistic  senti- 
ment into  predominance.  And  by  it  some  subordination  to  tribal 
opinion  is  secured,  and  some  consequent  regulation  of  conduct, 
even  before  there  arises  a  rudiment  of  political  control.  In  social 
groups  once  permanently  formed,  the  bond  of  union — here  love 
of  society,  there  obedience  caused  by  awe  of  power,  elsewhere  a 
dread  of  penalties,  and  in  most  places  a  combination  of  these — 
may  go  along  with  a  very  variable  amount  of  altruistic  feeling. 
Though  sociality  fosters  sympathy,  yet  the  daily  doings  of  the 


200  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

primitive  man  repress  sympathy.  Active  fellow-feeling,  ever 
awake  and  ever  holding  egoism  in  check,  does  not  characterize 
him;  as  we  see  conclusively  shown  by  the  treatment  of  women. 
And  that  highest  form  of  altruistic  sentiment  distinguished  by 
us  as  a  sense  of  justice,  is  very  little  developed. 

The  emotional  traits  harmonize  with  those  which  we  antici- 
pated— a  less  extended  and  less  varied  correspondence  with  the 
environment,  less  representativeness,  less  remoteness  from  reflex 
action.  The  cardinal  trait  of  impulsiveness  implies  the  sudden, 
or  approximately-reflex,  passing  of  a  single  passion  into  the  con- 
duct it  prompts ;  implies,  by  the  absence  of  opposing  feelings,  that 
the  consciousness  is  formed  of  fewer  representations;  and  im- 
plies that  the  adjustment  of  internal  actions  to  external  actions 
does  not  take  account  of  consequences  so  distant  in  space  and 
time.  So  with  the  accompanying  improvidence:  desire  goes  at 
once  to  gratification;  there  is  feeble  imagination  of  secondary 
results;  remote  needs  are  not  met.  The  love  of  approbation 
which  grows  as  gregariousness  increases,  involves  increased 
representativeness:  instead  of  immediate  results  it  contemplates 
results  a  stage  further  off ;  instead  of  actions  prompted  by  single 
desires,  there  come  actions  checked  and  modified  by  secondary 
desires.  But  though  the  emotional  nature  in  which  this  ego-al- 
truistic sentiment  becomes  dominant,  is  made  by  its  presence  less 
reflex,  more  representative,  arid  is  adjusted  to  wider  and  more 
varied  requirements,  it  is  still,  in  these  respects,  below  that  de- 
veloped emotional  nature  of  the  civilized  man,  marked  by  activity 
of  the  altruistic  sentiments.  Lacking  these,  the  primitive  man 
lacks  the  benevolence  which  adjusts  conduct  for  the  benefit  of 
others  distant  in  space  and  time,  the  equity  which  implies  repre- 
sentation of  highly  complex  and  abstract  relations  among  human 
actions,  the  sense  of  duty  which  curbs  selfishness  when  there  are 
none  present  to  applaud. — HERBERT  SPENCER,  Principles  of  So- 
ciology, i :  54-72  (D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1892). 

THE  PRIMITIVE  MAN— INTELLECTUAL 
Conceptions  of  general  facts  being  derived  from  experiences 
of  particular  facts  and  coming  later,  are  deficient  in  the  primi- 
tive man.    Consciousness  of  a  general  truth  implies  more  hetero- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  201 

'  • 

geneous  correspondence  than  does  consciousness  of  any  included 
particular  truth;  it  implies  higher  representativeness,  since  it 
colligates  more  numerous  and  varied  ideas ;  and  it  is  more  remote 
from  reflex  action — will  not,  indeed,  of  itself,  excite  action  at 
all.  Having  no  records,  man,  in  his  uncivilized  state,  cannot 
recognize  long  sequences.  Hence  prevision  of  distant  results, 
such  as  is  possible  in  a  settled  society  having  measures  and 
written  language,  is  impossible  to  him:  correspondence  in  time 
comes  within  narrow  limits.  The  representations  include  few 
successions  of  phenomena,  and  these  not  comprehensive  ones. 
And  there  is  but  a  moderate  departure  from  the  reflex  life  in 
which  stimulus  and  act  stand  in  immediate  connexion.  Ignorant 
of  localities  outside  his  own,  the  associations  of  ideas  the  primi- 
tive man  forms  are  little  liable  to  be  changed.  As  experiences 
(multiplying  in  number,  gathered  from  a  wider  area,  and  added 
to  by  those  which  other  men  record)  become  more  heteroge- 
neous, the  narrow  notions  first  framed  are  shaken  and  made 
more  plastic — there  comes  greater  modifiability  of  belief.  In  his 
relative  rigidity  of  belief  we  see  a  smaller  correspondence  with 
an  environment  containing  adverse  facts;  less  of  that  repre- 
sentativeness which  simultaneously  grasps  and  averages  much 
evidence;  and  a  smaller  divergence  from  those  lowest  actions 
in  which  impressions  cause,  irresistibly,  the  appropriate  motions. 
Conditioned  as  he  is,  the  savage  lacks  abstract  ideas.  Drawn 
from  many  concrete  ideas,  an  abstract  idea  becomes  detachable 
from  them  only  as  fast  as  their  variety  leads  to  mutual  can- 
ceilings  of  differences,  and  leaves  outstanding  that  which  they 
have  in  common.  This  implies  growth  of  the  correspondence 
in  range  and  heterogeneity;  wider  representation  of  the  con- 
cretes whence  the  idea  is  abstracted ;  and  greater  remoteness  from 
reflex  action.  Such  abstract  ideas  as  those  of  property  and 
cause,  belong  to  a  still  higher  stage.  For  only  after  many  special 
properties  and  many  special  causes  have  been  abstracted,  can 
there  arise  the  re-abstracted  ideas  of  property  in  general  and 
cause  in  general.  The  conception  of  uniformity  in  the  order  of 
phenomena,  develops  simultaneously.  Only  along  with  the  use 
of  measures  does  there  grow  up  the  means  of  ascertaining  uni- 
formity ;  and  only  after  a  great  accumulation  of  measured  results 


202  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

does  the  idea  of  law  become  possible.  Here,  again,  the  indices  of 
mental  evolution  serve.  The  conception  of  natural  order  pre- 
supposes an  advanced  correspondence;  it  involves  re-representa- 
tiveness in  a  high  degree ;  and  the  implied  divergence  from  reflex 
action  is  extreme.  Until  the  notion  of  uniformity  has  developed 
along  with  the  use  of  measures,  thought  cannot  have  much 
definiteness.  In  primitive  life,  there  is  little  to  yield  the  idea  of 
agreement;  and  so  long  as  there  are  few  experiences  of  exact 
equality  between  objects,  or  perfect  conformity  between  state- 
ments and  facts,  or  complete  fulfilment  of  anticipations  by 
results,  the  notion  of  truth  cannot  become  clear.  Once  more  our 
general  tests  answer.  The  conception  of  truth,  being  the  con- 
ception of  correspondence  between  Thoughts  and  Things,  implies 
advance  of  that  correspondence ;  it  involves  representations  which 
are  higher,  as  being  better  adjusted  to  realities;  and  its  growth 
causes  a  decrease  of  the  primitive  credulity  allied  to  reflex  action 
— allied,  since  it  shows  us  single  suggestions  producing  sudden 
beliefs  which  forthwith  issue  in  conduct.  Add  that  only  as  this 
conception  of  truth  advances,  and  therefore  the  correlative  con- 
ception of  untruth,  can  scepticism  and  criticism  grow  common. 
Lastly,  such  imagination  as  the  primitive  man  has,  small  in  range 
and  heterogeneity,  is  reminiscent  only,  not  constructive.  An 
imagination  which  invents,  shows  extension  of  the  correspondence 
from  the  region  of  the  actual  into  that  of  the  potential ;  implies  a 
representativeness  not  limited  to  combinations  which  have  been, 
or  are,  in  the  environment,  but  including  non-existing  combina- 
tions thereafter  made  to  exist;  and  exhibits  the  greatest  remote- 
ness from  reflex  action,  since  the  stimulus  issuing  in  movement 
is  unlike  any  that  ever  before  acted. 

And  now,  having  enumerated  these  leading  traits  of  intel- 
lectual evolution  in  its  latter  stages,  as  deduced  from  psychologi- 
cal principles,  we  are  prepared  to  observe  the  significance  of  the 
facts  as  described  by  travellers. 

Testimonies  to  the  acute  senses  and  quick  perceptions  of  the 
uncivilized,  are  given  by  nearly  everyone  who  describes  them. 

Lichtenstein  says  the  vision  of  the  Bushman  is  telescopic; 
and  Barrow  speaks  of  his  "keen  eye  always  in  motion."  Of 
Asiatics  may  be  named  the  Karens,  who  see  as  far  with  naked 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  203 

eyes  as  we  do  with  opera  glasses ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Si- 
berian steppes  are  celebrated  for  their  "distant  and  perfect  sight." 
Of  the  Brazilians,  Herndon  writes — "The  Indians  have  very  keen 
senses,  and  see  and  hear  things  that  are  inaudible  and  invisible 
to  us;"  and  the  like  is  remarked  of  the  Tupis.  The  Abipones, 
"like  apes,  are  always  in  motion;"  and  Dobrizhoffer  asserts  that 
they  discern  things  which  escape  "the  most  quick-sighted  Euro- 
pean." Respecting  hearing,  too,  there  is  similar,  if  less  abun- 
dant, evidence.  All  have  read  of  the  feats  of  North  American 
Indians  in  detecting  faint  sounds;  and  the  acute  hearing  of  the 
Veddahs  is  shown  by  their  habit  of  finding  bees'  nests  by  the 
hum. 

Still  more  abundant  are  the  testimonies  respecting  their  active 
and  minute  observation.  "Excellent  superficial  observers,"  is  the 
characterization  Palgrave  gives  of  the  Bedouins.  Burton  refers 
to  the  "high  organization  of  the  perceptive  faculties"  among 
them;  and  Petherick  proved,  by  a  test,  their  marvellous  powers 
of  tracking.  In  South  Africa  the  Hottentots  show  astonishing 
quickness  "in  everything  relating  to  cattle;"  and  Galton  says  the 
Damaras  "have  a  wonderful  faculty  of  recollecting  any  ox  that 
they  have  once  seen."  It  is  the  same  in  America.  Burton,  speak- 
ing of  the  Prairie  Indians,  comments  on  the  "development  of  the 
perceptions  which  is  produced  by  the  constant  and  minute  ob- 
servations of  a  limited  number  of  objects."  Instances  are  given 
showing  what  exact  topographers  the  Chippewayans  are ;  and  the 
like  is  alleged  of  the  Dakotahs.  Bates  notices  the  extraordinary 
"sense  of  locality"  of  the  Brazilian  Indians.  Concerning  the  Ara- 
waks,  Hillhouse  says — "Where  an  European  can  discover  no  in- 
dication whatever,  an  Indian  will  point  out  the  footsteps  of  any 
number  of  negroes,  and  will  state  the  precise  day  on  which  they 
have  passed;  and  if  on  the  same  day  he  will  state  the  hour." 
A  member  of  a  Guiana  tribe  "will  tell  how  many  men,  women, 
and  children  have  passed,  where  a  stranger  could  only  see  faint 
and  confused  marks  on  the  path."  "Here  passes  one  who  does 
not  belong  to  our  village,"  said  a  native  of  Guiana  searching  for 
tracks;  and  Schomburgh  adds  that  their  power  "borders  on  the 
magical." 

Along  with  this  acuteness  of  perception  there  naturally  goes 


204  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

great  skill  in  those  actions  depending  on  immediate  guidance  of 
perception.  The  Esquimaux  show  great  dexterity  in  all  manual 
works.  Kolben  asserts  that  the  Hottentots  are  very  dexterous  in 
the  use  of  their  weappns.  Of  the  Fuegians  it  is  said  that  "their 
dexterity  with  the  sling  is  extraordinary."  The  skill  of  the 
Andamanese  is  shown  in  their  unerring  shots  with  arrows  at  forty 
or  fifty  yards.  Tongans  "are  great  adepts  in  managing  their 
canoes."  The  accuracy  with  which  an  Australian  propels  a  spear 
with  his  throwing-stick,  is  remarkable ;  while  all  have  heard  of  his 
feats  with  the  boomerang.  And  from  the  Hill-tribes  of  India,  the 
Santals  may  be  singled  out  as  so  "very  expert  with  the  bow  and 
arrow"  that  they  kill  birds  on  the  wing,  and  knock  over  hares  at 
full  speed. 

Recognizing  some  exceptions  to  this  expertness,  as  among 
the  now-extinct  Tasmanians  and  the  Veddahs  of  Ceylon;  and 
observing  that  survival  of  the  fittest  must  ever  have  tended  to 
establish  these  traits  among  men  whose  lives  from  hour  to  hour 
depended  on  their  keen  senses,  quick  observations,  and  efficient 
uses  of  their  weapons;  we  have  here  to  note  this  trait  as  signifi- 
cant in  its  implications.  For  in  virtue  of  a  general  antagonism 
between  the  activities  of  simple  faculties  and  the  activities  of 
complex  faculties,  this  dominance  of  the  lower  intellectual  life 
hinders  the  higher  intellectual  life.  In  proportion  as  the  mental 
energies  go  out  in  restless  perception,  they  cannot  go  out  in  de- 
liberate thought 

Among  the  partially-civilized  races,  we  find  imitativeness  a 
marked  trait.  Everyone  has  heard  of  the  ways  in  which  Negroes, 
when  they  have  opportunities,  dress  and  swagger  in  grotesque 
mimicry  of  the  whites.  A  characteristic  of  the  New  Zealanders 
is  an  aptitude  for  imitation.  The  Dyaks,  too,  show  "love  of  imi- 
tation;" and  of  other  Malayo- Polynesians  the  like  is  alleged. 
Mason  says  that  "while  the  Karens  originate  nothing  they  show 
as  great  a  capability  to  imitate  as  the  Chinese."  We  read  that 
the  Kamschadales  have  a  "peculiar  talent  of  mimicking  men  and 
animals;"  that  the  Nootka-Sound  people  "are  very  ingenious  in 
imitating;"  that  the  Mountain  Snake  Indians  imitate  animal 
sounds  "to  the  utmost  perfection."  South  America  yields  like 
evidence.  Herndon  was  astonished  at  the  mimetic  powers  of 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  205 

the  Brazilian  Indians.  Wilkes  speaks  of  the  Patagonians  as 
"admirable  mimics."  And  Dobrizhoffer  joins  with  his  remark 
that  the  Guaranis  can  imitate  exactly,  the  further  remark  that 
they  bungle  stupidly  if  you  leave  anything  to  their  intelligence. 
But  it  is  among  the  lowest  races  that  proneness  to  mimicry  is  most 
conspicuous.  Several  travellers  have  commented  on  the  "extra- 
ordinary tendency  to  imitate"  shown  by  the  Fuegians.  They  will 
repeat  with  perfect  correctness  each  word  in  any  sentence  ad- 
dressed to  them — mimicking  the  manner  and  attitude  of  the 
speaker.  So,  too,  according  to  Mouat,  the  Andamanese  show 
high  imitative  powers;  and,  like  the  Fuegians,  repeat  a  question 
instead  of  answering  it.  Sturt  gives  a  kindred  account  of  the 
South  Australians,  who,  he  says,  "evinced  a  strange  perversity" 
"in  repeating  words"  which  "they  knew  were  meant  as  questions." 

In  this  imitativeness,  shown  least  by  the  highest  members 
of  civilized  races  and  most  by  the  lowest  savages,  we  see  again 
the  antagonism  between  perceptive  activity  and  reflective  ac- 
tivity. Among  inferior  gregarious  creatures,  as  rooks  that  rise 
in  a  flock  when  one  rises,  or  as  sheep  that  follow  a  leader  in 
leaping,  we  see  an  almost  automatic  repetition  of  actions  wit- 
nessed in  others;  and  this  peculiarity,  common  to  the  lowest 
human  types — this  tendency  to  "ape"  others,  as  we  significantly 
call  it — implies  a  smaller  departure  from  the  brute  type  of  mind. 
It  shows  us  a  mental  action  which  is,  from  moment  to  moment, 
chiefly  determined  by  outer  incidents;  and  is  therefore  but  little 
determined  by  causes  involving  excursiveness  of  thought,  imagi- 
nation, and  original  idea. 

Our  conception  of  the  primitive  man — intellectual,  will  grow 
clearer  when,  with  the  above  inductions,  we  join  illustrations 
of  his  feeble  grasp  of  thought. 

Common  speech  fails  to  distinguish  between  mental  activities 
of  different  grades.  A  boy  is  called  clever  who  takes  in  simple 
ideas  rapidly,  though  he  may  prove  incapable  of  taking  in  com- 
plex ideas;  and  a  boy  is  condemned  as  stupid  because  he  is  slow 
in  rote-learning,  though  he  may  apprehend  abstract  truths  more 
quickly  than  his  teacher.  Contrasts  of  this  nature  must  be  recog- 
nized, if  we  would  interpret  the  conflicting  evidence  respecting  the 
capacities  of  the  uncivilized.  Even  of  the  Fuegians  we  read  that 


206  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

they  "are  not  usually  deficient  in  intellect ;"  even  the  Andamanese 
are  described  as  "excessively  quick  and  clever;"  and  the  Aus- 
tralians are  said  to  be  as  intelligent  as  our  own  peasants.  But  the 
ability  thus  referred  to  as  possessed  by  men  of  the  lowest  types, 
is  one  for  which  the  simpler  faculties  suffice ;  and  goes  along  with 
inability  when  any  demand  is  made  on  the  complex  faculties. 
A  passage  which  Sir  John  Lubbock  quotes  from  Mr.  Sproat's 
account  of  the  Ahts  may  be  taken  as  descriptive  of  the  average 
state:  "The  native  mind,  to  an  educated  man,  seems  generally  to 

be  asleep On  his  attention  being  fully  aroused,  he  often 

shows  much  quickness  in  reply  and  ingenuity  in  argument.  But 
a  short  conversation  wearies  him,  particularly  if  questions  are 
asked  that  require  efforts  of  thought  or  memory  on  his  part. 
The  mind  of  the  savage  then  appears  to  rock  to  and  fro  out 
of  mere  weakness."  Spix  and  Martius  tell  us  of  the  Brazilian 
Indian  that  "scarcely  has  one  begun  to  question  him  about  his 
language,  when  he  grows  impatient,  complains  of  headache,  and 
shows  that  he  is  unable  to  bear  the  exertion;"  and  according  to 
Mr.  Bates,  "it  is  difficult  to  get  at  their  notions  on  subjects  that 
require  a  little  abstract  thought."  When  the  Abipones  "are  un- 
able to  comprehend  anything  at  first  sight,  they  soon  grow  weary 
of  examining  it,  and  cry — 'What  is  it  after  all  ?'  "  It  is  the  same 
wfth  Negroes.  Burton  says  of  the  East  Africans,  "ten  minutes 
sufficed  to  weary  out  the  most  intellectual"  when  questioned  about 
their  system  of  numbers.  And  even  of  so  comparatively  supe- 
rior a  race  as  the  Malagasy,  it  is  remarked  that  they  "do  not 
seem  to  possess  the  qualities  of  mind  requisite  for  close  and 
continued  thought." 

On  observing  that  to  frame  the  idea  of  a  species,  say  trout, 
it  is  needful  to  think  of  the  characters  common  to  trout  of  dif- 
ferent sizes,  and  that  to  conceive  of  fish  as  a  class,  we  must 
imagine  various  kinds  of  fish,  and  see  mentally  the  likenesses 
which  unite  them  notwithstanding  their  unlikenesses ;  we  per- 
ceive that,  *rising  from  the  consciousness  of  individual  objects 
to  the  consciousness  of  species,  and  again  to  the  consciousness 
of  genera,  and  orders,  and  classes,  each  further  step  implies  more 
power  of  mentally  grouping  numerous  things  with  approximate 
simultaneity.  And  perceiving  this,  we  may  understand  why, 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  207 

lacking  the  needful  representativeness,  the  mind  of  the  savage  is 
soon  exhausted  with  any  thought  above  the  simplest.  Excluding 
those  referring  to  individual  objects,  our  most  familiar  propo- 
sitions, such  even  as  "Plants  are  green,"  or  "Animals  grow," 
are  propositions  never  definitely  framed  in  his  consciousness ; 
because  he  has  no  idea  of  a  plant  or  an  animal,  apart  from  kind. 
And  of  course  until  he  has  become  familiar  with  general  ideas 
and  abstract  ideas  of  the  lowest  grades,  those  a  grade  higher 
in  generality  and  abstractness  are  inconceivable  by  him.  This 
will  be  elucidated  by  an  illustration  taken  from  Mr.  Galton's 
account  of  the  Damaras,  showing  how  the  concrete,  made  to  serve 
in  place  of  the  abstract  as  far  as  possible,  soon  fails,  and  leaves 
the  mind  incapable  of  higher  thought:  "They  puzzle  very  much 
after  five  [in  counting],  because  no  spare  hand  remains  to  grasp 
and  secure  the  fingers  that  are  required  for  units.  Yet  they  sel- 
dom lose  oxen;  the  way  in  which  they  discover  the  loss  of  one 
is  not  by  the  number  of  the  herd  being  diminished,  but  by  the 
absence  of  a  face  they  know.  When  bartering  is  going  on,  each 
sheep  must  be  paid  for  separately.  Thus,  suppose  two  sticks  of 
tobacco  to  be  the  rate  of  exchange  for  one  sheep,  it  would  sorely 
puzzle  a  Damara  to  take  two  sheep  and  give  him  four  sticks." 

This  mental  state  is,  in  another  direction,  exemplified  by  the 
statement  of  Mr.  Hodgson  concerning  the  Hill-tribes  of  India. 
"Light,"  he  says,  "is  a  high  abstraction  which  none  of  my  in- 
formants can  grasp,  though  they  readily  give  equivalents  for 
sunshine  and  candle  or  fire-flame."  And  Spix  and  Martius  fur- 
ther exemplify  it  when  they  say  that  it  would  be  vain  to  seek  in 
the  language  of  the  Brazilian  Indians  "words  for  the  abstract 
ideas  of  plant,  animal,  and  the  still  more  abstract  notions,  colour, 
tone,  sex,  species,  etc. ;  such  a  generalization  of  ideas  is  found 
among  them  only  in  the  frequently  used  infinitive  of  the  verbs 
to  walk,  to  eat,  to  drink,  to  dance,  to  sing,  to  hear,  etc. 

Not  until  there  is  formed  a  general  idea,  by  colligating  many 
special  ideas  which  have  a  common  trait  amid  their  differences — 
not  until  there  follows  the  possibility  of  connecting  in  thought 
this  common  trait  with  some  other  trait  also  possessed  in  com- 
mon, can  there  arise  the  idea  of  a  causal  relation ;  and  not  until 
many  different  causal  relations  have  been  observed,  can  there 


2o8  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

result  the  conception  of  causal  relation  in  the  abstract.  By  the 
primitive  man,  therefore,  such  distinction  as  we  make  between 
natural  and  unnatural  cannot  be  made.  Just  as  tile  child,  ignorant 
of  the  course  of  things,  gives  credence  to  an  impossible  fiction 
as  readily  as  to  a  familiar  fact;  so  the  savage,  similarly  without 
classified  and  systematized  knowledge,  feels  no  incongruity  be- 
tween any  absurd  falsehood  propounded  to  him  and  some  general 
truth  which  we  class  as  established:  there  being,  for  him,  no 
such  established  general  truth. 

Hence  his  credulity.  If  the  young  Indian  takes  as  his  totem, 
and  thereafter  regards  as  sacred,  the  first  animal  he  dreams  about 
during  a  fast — if  the  Negro,  when  bent  on  an  important  under- 
taking, chooses  for  a  god  to  help  Him  the  first  object  he  sees  on 
going  out,  and  sacrifices  to  it  and  prays  to  it — if  the  Veddah, 
failing  in  a  shot  with  his  arrow,  ascribes  the  failure  not  to  a  bad 
aim  but  to  insufficient  propitiation  of  his  deity;  we  must  regard 
the  implied  convictions  as  normal  accompaniments  of  a  mental 
state  in  which  the  organization  of  experiences  has  not  gone  far 
enough  to  evolve  the  idea  of  natural  causation. 

Absence  of  the  idea  of  natural  causation,  implies  absence  of 
rational  surprise. 

Until  there  has  been  reached  the  belief  that  certain  con- 
nexions in  things  are  constant,  there  can  be  no  astonishment  on 
meeting  with  cases  seemingly  at  variance  with  this  belief.  The 
behaviour  of  the  uncultivated  among  ourselves  teaches  us  this. 
Show  to  a  rustic  a  remarkable  experiment,  such  as  the  rise  of 
liquid  in  a  capillary  tube,  or  the  spontaneous  boiling  of  warm 
water  in  an  exhausted  receiver,  and  instead  of  the  amazement 
you  expected  he  shows  a  vacant  indifference.  That  which  struck 
you  with  wonder  when  first  you  saw  it,  because  apparently  irrec- 
oncilable with  your  general  ideas  of  physical  processes,  does  not 
seem  wonderful  to  him,  because  he  is  without  those  general 
ideas.  And  now  if  we  suppose  the  rustic  divested  of  what  gen- 
eral ideas  he  has,  and  the  causes  of  surprise  thus  made  still 
fewer,  we  get  the  mental  state  of  the  primitive  man. 

Of  the  lowest  races,  disregard  of  novelties  is  almost  uniformly 
alleged.  According  to  Cook,  the  Fuegians  showed  utter  indif- 
ference in  presence  of  things  that  were  entirely  new  to  them. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  209 

The  same  voyager  observed  in  the  Australians  a  like  peculiarity ; 
and  Dampier  says  those  he  had  on  board  "did  not  notice  anything 
else  in  the  ship"  than  what  they  had  to  eat.  So,  too,  the  Tas- 
manians  were  characterized  by  Cook's  surgeon  as  exhibiting  no 
surprise.  Wallis  asserts  of  the  Patagonians  that  they  showed  the 
most  "unaccountable  indifference"  to  everything  around  them  on 
shipboard;  even  the  looking-glass,  though  it  afforded  great 
diversion,  excited  no  astonishment ;  and  Wilkes  describes  like  con- 
duct. I  also  find  it  stated  of  the  village  Veddahs  that  two  of 
them  "showed  no  surprise  at  a  looking-glass."  And  of  the 
Samoiedes  we  read  that  "nothing  but  the  looking-glasses  caused 
any  surprise  in  them  for  an  instant;  again  a  moment  and  this 
ceased  to  draw  their  attention." 

Along  with  the  absence  of  surprise  there  goes  absence  of 
curiosity;  and  where  there  is  least  faculty  of  thought,  even 
astonishment  may  be  excitd  without  causing  inquiry.  Illustrating 
this  trait  in  the  Bushmen,  Burchell  says — "I  showed  them  a 
looking-glass;  at  this  they  laughed,  and  stared  with  vacant  sur- 
prise and  wonder  to  see  their  own  faces;  but  expressed  not  the 
least  curiosity  about  it."  Where  curiosity  exists  we  find  it  among 
races  of  not  so  low  a  grade.  That  of  the  New  Caledonians  was 
remarked  by  Cook;  and  that  of  the  New  Guinea  people  by  Earl 
and  by  Jukes.  Still  more  decided  is  an  inquiring  nature  among 
the  relatively-advanced  Malayo-Polynesians.  According  to  Boyle, 
the  Dyaks  have  an  insatiable  curiosity.  The  Samoans,  too,  "are 
usually  very  inquisitive;"  and  the  Tahitians  "are  remarkably 
curious  and  inquisitive." 

Evidently  this  absence  of  desire  for  information  about  new 
things,  which  characterizes  the  lowest  mental  state,  prevents  the 
growth  of  that  generalized  knowledge  which  makes  rational 
surprise,  and  consequent  rational  inquisitiveness,  possible.  If 
his  "want  of  curiosity  is  extreme,"  as  Mr.  Bates  says  of  the 
Cucama  Indian,  the  implication  is  that  he  "troubles  himself  very 
little  concerning  the  causes  of  the  natural  phenomena  around 
him."  Lacking  ability  to  think,  and  the  accompanying  desire 
to  know,  the  savage  is  without  tendency  to  speculate.  Even 
when  there  is  raised  such  a  question  as  that  often  put  by  Park 
to  the  Negroes — "What  became  of  the  sun  during  the  night,  and 


210  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

whether  we  should  see  the  same  sun,  or  a  different  one,  in  the 
morning,"  no  reply  is  forthcoming.  "I  found  that  they  con- 
sidered the  question  as  very  childish:  ....  they  had  never  in- 
dulged a  conjecture,  nor  formed  any  hypothesis,  about  the 
matter." 

The  general  fact  thus  exemplified  is  one  quite  at  variance 
with  current  ideas  respecting  the  thoughts  of  the  primitive  man. 
He  is  commonly  pictured  as  theorizing  about  surrounding  ap- 
pearances; whereas,  in  fact,  the  need  for  explanations  of  them 
does  not  occur  to  him. 

One  more  general  trait  must  be  named — I  mean  the  lack  of 
constructive  imagination.  This  lack  naturally  goes  along  with 
a  life  of  simple  perception,  of  imitativeness,  of  concrete  ideas, 
and  of  incapacity  for  abstract  ideas. 

The  collection  of  implements  and  weapons  arranged  by  Gen- 
eral Pitt-Rivers,  to  show  their  relationships  to  a  common  original, 
suggests  that  primitive  men  are  not  to  be  credited  with  such 
inventiveness  as  even  their  simple  appliances  seem  to  indicate. 
These  have  arisen  by  small  modifications;  and  the  natural  selec- 
tion of  such  modifications  has  led  unobtrusively  to  various  kinds 
of  appliances,  without  any  distinct  devising  of  them. 

Evidence  of  another  kind,  but  of  like  meaning,  is  furnished 
by  Sir  Samuel  Baker's  paper  on  the  "Races  of  the  Nile  Basin," 
in  which  he  points  out  that  the  huts  of  the  respective  tribes  are 
as  constant  in  their  types  as  are  the  nests  of  birds:  each  tribe  of 
the  one,  like  each  species  of  the  other,  having  a  peculiarity.  The 
like  permanent  differences  he  says  holds  among  their  head- 
dresses ;  and  he  further  asserts  of  head-dresses,  as  of  huts,  that 
they  have  diverged  from  one  another  in  proportion  as  the  lan- 
guages have  diverged.  All  which  facts  show  us  that  in  these 
races  the  thoughts,  restrained  within  narrow  established  courses, 
have  not  the  freedom  required  for  entering  into  new  combina- 
tions, and  so  initiating  new  modes  of  action  and  new  forms 
of  product. 

Where  we  find  ingenuity  ascribed,  it  is  to  races  such  as  the 
Tahitians,  Javans,  etc.,  who  have  risen  some  stages  in  civiliza- 
tion, who  have  considerable  stocks  of  abstract  words  and  ideas, 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  211 

who  show  rational  surprise  and  curiosity,  and  who  thus  evince 
higher  intellectual  development. 

Here  we  come  to  a  general  truth  allied  to  those  with  which, 
in  the  two  foregoing  chapters,  I  have  preluded  the  summaries 
of  results — the  truth  that  the  primitive  intellect  develops  rapidly, 
and  early  reaches  its  limit. 

In  the  Principles  of  Psychology,  §  165,  I  have  shown  that  the 
children  of  Australians,  of  Negroes  in  the  United  States,  of 
Negroes  on  the  Nile,  of  Andamanese,  of  New  Zealanders,  of 
Sandwich  Islanders,  are  quicker  than  European  children  in  ac- 
quiring simple  ideas,  but  presently  stop  short  from  inability  to 
grasp  the  complex  ideas  readily  grasped  by  European  children 
when  they  arrive  at  them.  To  testimonies  before  quoted  I  may 
add  the  remark  of  Mr.  Reade,  that  in  Equatorial  Africa  the  chil- 
dren are  "absurdly  precocious ;"  the  statement  of  Captain  Burton, 
that  "the  negro  child,  like  the  East  Indian,  is  much  'sharper'  than 
the  European  ....  at  the  age  of  puberty  this  precocity  .... 
disappears;"  and  the  description  of  the  Aleuts  of  Alaska,  who 
"up  to  a  certain  point  are  readily  taught."  This  early  cessation 
of  development  implies  both  low  intellectual  nature  and  a  great 
impediment  to  intellectual  advance;  since  it  makes  the  larger 
part  of  life  unmodifiable  by  further  experiences.  On  reading  of 
the  East  African,  that  he  "unites  the  incapacity  of  infancy  with 
the  unpliancy  of  age,"  and  of  the  Australians  that  "after  twenty 
their  mental  vigour  seems  to  decline,  and  at  the  age  of  forty  seems 
nearly  extinct;"  we  cannot  fail  to  see  how  greatly  this  arrest  of 
mental  evolution  hinders  improvement  where  improvement  is 
most  required. 

The  intellectual  traits  of  the  uncivilized,  thus  made  specially 
difficult  to  change,  may  now  be  recapitulated  while  observing 
that  they  are  traits  recurring  in  the  children  of  the  civilized. 

Infancy  shows  us  an  absorption  in  sensations  and  perceptions 
akin  to  that  which  characterizes  the  savage.  In  pulling  to  pieces 
its  toys,  in  making  mud-pies,  in  gazing  at  each  new  thing  or  per- 
son, the  child  exhibits  great  tendency  to  observe  with  little  tend- 
ency to  reflect.  There  is,  again,  an  obvious  parallelism  in  the 
mimetic  propensity.  Children  are  ever  dramatizing  the  lives  of 
adults;  and  savages,  along  with  their  other  mimicries,  similarly 


212  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

dramatize  the  actions  of  their  civilized  visitors.  Want  of  power 
to  discriminate  between  useless  and  useful  facts,  characterizes 
the  juvenile  mind,  as  it  does  the  mind  of  the  primitive  man. 
This  inability  to  select  nutritive  facts  necessarily  accompanies 
low  development;  since,  until  generalization  has  made  some 
progress,  and  the  habit  of  generalizing  has  become  established, 
there  cannot  be  reached  the  conception  that  a  fact  has  a  remote 
value  apart  from  any  immediate  value  it  may  have.  Again,  we 
see  in  the  young  of  our  own  race  a  similar  inability  to  concen- 
trate the  attention  on  anything  complex  or  abstract.  The  mind 
of  the  child,  as  well  as  that  of  the  savage,  soon  wanders  from 
sheer  exhaustion  when  generalities  and  involved  propositions 
have  to  be  dealt  with.  From  feebleness  of  the  higher  intellectual 
faculties  comes,  in  both  cases,  an  absence,  or  a  paucity,  of  ideas 
grasped  by  those  faculties.  The  child,  like  the  savage,  has  few 
words  of  even  a  low  grade  of  abstractedness,  and  none  of  a  higher 
grade.  For  a  long  time  it  is  familiar  with  cat,  dog,  horse,  cow, 
but  has  no  conception  of  animal  apart  from  kind;  and  years 
elapse  before  words  ending  in  ion  and  ity  occur  in  its  vocabu- 
lary. Thus,  in  both  cases,  the  very  implements  of  developed 
thought  are  wanting.  Unsupplied  as  its  mind  is  with  general 
truths,  and  with  the  conception  of  natural  order,  the  civilized 
child  when  quite  young,  like  the  savage  throughout  life,  shows 
but  little  rational  surprise  or  rational  curiosity.  Something 
startling  to  the  senses  makes  it  stare  vacantly,  or  perhaps  cry; 
but  let  it  see  a  chemical  experiment,  or  draw  its  attention  to  the 
behaviour  of  a  gyroscope,  and  its  interest  is  like  that  shown  in 
a  common-place  new  toy.  After  a  time,  indeed,  when  the  higher 
intellectual  powers  it  inherits  are  beginning  to  act,  and  when  its 
stage  of  mental  development  represents  that  of  such  semi-civi- 
lized races  as  the  Malayo-Polynesians,  rational  surprise  and 
rational  curiosity  about  causes,  begin  to  show  themselves.  But 
even  then  its  extreme  credulity,  like  that  of  the  savage,  shows 
us  the  result  of  undeveloped  ideas  of  causation  and  law.  Any 
story,  however  monstrous,  is  believed;  and  any  explanation, 
however  absurd,  is  accepted. 

And  here,  in  final  elucidation  of  these  intellectual  traits  of  the 
primitive  man,  let  me  point  out  that,  like  the  emotional  traits, 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  213 

they  could  not  be  other  than  they  are  in  the  absence  of  the  con- 
ditions brought  about  by  social  evolution.  In  the  Principles  of 
Psychology,  §§  484-493,  it  was  shown  in  various  ways  that  only 
as  societies  grow,  become  organized,  and  gain  stability,  do  there 
arise  those  experiences  by  assimilating  which  the  powers  of 
thought  develop.  It  needs  but  to  ask  what  would  happen  to  our- 
selves were  the  whole  mass  of  existing  knowledge  obliterated, 
and  were  children  with  nothing  beyond  their  nursery-language 
left  to  grow  up  without  guidance  or  instruction  from  adults, 
to  perceive  that  even  now  the  higher  intellectual  faculties  would 
be  almost  inoperative,  from  lack  of  the  materials  and  aids  accu- 
mulated by  past  civilization.  And  seeing  this,  we  cannot  fail  to 
see  that  development  of  the  higher  intellectual  faculties  has  gone 
on  pari  passu  with  social  advance,  alike  as  cause  and  consequence ; 
that  the  primitive  man  could  not  evolve  these  higher  intellectual 
faculties  in  the  absence  of  a  fit  environment;  and  that  in  this,  as 
in  other  respects,  his  progress  was  retarded  by  the  absence  of 
capacities  which  only  progress  could  bring. — HERBERT  SPENCER, 
Principles  of  Sociology,  1 :  73-91. 

[EDUCATION  OF  THE  AUSTRALIAN  BOY  THROUGH 
INITIATION  CEREMONIES] 

....  As  soon  as  we  had  reached  the  camp  and  the  men  were 
distributed  through  it,  the  distant  roaring  sound  of  the  Mudthis 
was  heard  and  the  whole  camp  was  instantly  in  commotion.  The 
women  started  up,  and,  seizing  their  rugs 'and  blankets,  hastily 
went  with  their  children  to  a  vacant  space  on  the  north  side  of 
the  encampment,  where  they  re-commenced  the  "tooth"-song. 
Meanwhile  the  men  were  stalking  about  among  the  camps  shout- 
ing "Ha!  IV ah!"  commanding  silence  among  the  women.  In  a 
very  short  time  these  with  their  children  were  huddled  together 
in  a  close  group,  surrounded  by  the  men,  who  were  stamping  a 
dance  to  the  word  "Wah !"  finally  closing  in  round  them,  and 
silently  raising  their  hands  to  the  sky.  This  silent  gesture  again 
means  Daramulun,  whose  name  cannot  be  lawfully  spoken  there. 

A  singular  feature  now  showed  itself.  There  were  at  this 
time  two  or  three  Biduelli  men  with  their  wives  and  children  in 
the  encampment,  and  also  one  of  the  Krauatungalung  Kurnai, 


214  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

with  his  wife  and  child.  When  these  ceremonies  commenced 
they,  with  one  exception,  went  away,  because  neither  the  Biduelli 
or  the  Krauatun  Kurnai  had,  as  I  have  said  before,  any  initia- 
tion ceremonies,  and  these  men  had  therefore  never  been  "made 
men."  The  one  man  who  remained  was  the  old  patriarch  of  the 
Biduelli,  and  he  was  now  driven  crouching  among  the  women 
and  children.  The  reason  was  self-evident;  he  had  never  been 
made  a  man,  and  therefore  was  no  more  than  a  mere  boy. 

The  women  and  children  being  thus  driven  together,  the  old 
men  proceeded  to  draw  from  them  those  boys  who  were  con- 
sidered to  be  ripe  for  initiation.  The  old  men  pointed  out  those 
who  were  to  be  taken,  and  their  Kabos  seized  them  and  placed 
them  in  the  front  rank  of  the  women.  There  was  one  boy,  a 
half-caste,  indeed  he  was  nearer  white  than  black,  as  to  whom  the 
old  men  were  divided  in  opinion.  He  was  in  an  agony  of  terror, 
clinging  to  his  mother,  but  by  the  order  of  the  head  Gommera  he 
was  dragged  out  and  discussed.  After  a  few  minutes  the 
decision  was  given,  "He  is  too  young,  put  him  back  again."  The 
women  and  children  were  now  pushed  together  into  as  small  a 
compass  as  possible,  with  the  old  Biduelli  patriarch  among  them. 
Skin  rugs  and  blankets  were  then  placed  over  them,  so  that 
they  were  completely  hidden,  and  were  themselves  unable  to  see 
anything.  At  a  signal  from  Gunjerung,  a  Kabo  seized  his  boy 
from  under  the  covering,  and  holding  him  by  one  arm,  ran  him 
off  to  the  place  where  the  bundles  were  left.  All  of  us  followed 
as  fast  as  possible,  and  as  I  left  I  could  hear  the  muffled  sound 
of  the  "tooth"-song  being  sung  by  the  women  under  their  cover- 
ings. 

It  was  expected  that  there  would  be  eight  boys  ready  to  be 
made  men,  but  owing  to  the  delays  and  to  the  non-arrival  of  the 
Kurnai  contingent,  there  were  only  three  who  were  passed  by 
the  old  men.  Two  were  about  fourteen  or  fifteen,  the  other  was 
older  and  had  an  incipient  moustache. 

The  first  proceeding  at  the  trysting-place  was  that  the  Kabos 
placed  on  each  boy,  who  had  been  stripped  naked,  a  new  blanket 
folded  twice,  so  that  when  fastened  down  the  front  it  formed 
a  cone,  the  apex  of  which  was  over  the  boy's  head  and  the  base 
barely  touched  the  ground.  The  wooden  skewers  with  which 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  215 

the  sides  of  the  blanket  were  fastened  were  so  placed  that  the 
boy's  face  appeared  just  over  the  uppermost  one.  The  upper 
fold  fell  over  the  head  so  as  to  shade  the  eyes  and  in  fact  most 
of  the  face. 

This  being  all  arranged,  Gunjerung  gave  the  signal  to  start, 
and  our  procession  began  to  ascend  the  steep  side  of  a  grassy  hill 
leading  to  the  mountain.  Some  of  the  old  men  led  the  way,  then 
came  the  three  sets  of  Kabos,  one  on  each  side  of  a  boy,  holding 
the  upper  part  of  his  arm,  and  in  deep  converse  with  him  as  they 
went.  All  the  other  men  followed  as  they  liked,  each  one  carry- 
ing his  bundle,  and  the  Kabos  carried,  not  only  their  own,  but 
also  their  boys'  things. 

The  duty  of  the  Kabos  is  to  take  charge  of  the  boys  during 
the  ceremonies.  They  never  leave  them  alone,  and  if  one  of  them 
has  to  absent  himself  for  a  time,  he  calls  some  other  man,  of  the 
same  relation  to  the  boy  as  himself,  to  take  his  place.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  Kabo  to  prepare  his  boy  for  the  coming  ceremony 
by  instruction,  admonition,  and  advice,  and  this  commences  the 
moment  the  procession  moves  forward.  One  of  the  earliest,  if 
not  the  first,  instruction  is  that  the  boy  must  not  under  any 
possible  circumstances  show  any  surprise  or  fear,  and  no  matter 
what  is  said  or  done  to  him,  he  is  not  by  word  or  deed  to  show 
that  he  is  conscious  of  what  is  going  on,  yet  that  he  must 
narrowly  observe  everything,  and  remember  all  he  sees  and  hears. 
It  is  explained  that  everything  he  hears  said,  to  which  the  word 
"Yah"  is  appended,  means  the  exact  opposite  to  the  apparent 
meaning.  This  word  was  explained  when  we  started  by  Umbara. 
He  said  that  it  was  like  a  white  man  saying  "I  sell  you ;"  my 
messenger  Jenbin  said  it  was  like  a  white  man  saying  "gammon." 
The  use  of  the  word  will  be  seen  by  illustration  farther  on. 

The  intention  of  all  that  is  done  at  this  ceremony  is  to  make 
a  momentous  change  in  the  boy's  life;  the  past  is  to  be  cut  off 
from  him  by  a  gulf  which  he  can  never  re-pass.  His  connection 
with  his  mother  as  her  child  is  broken  off,  and  he  becomes 
henceforth  attached  to  the  men.  All  the  sports  and  games  of  his 
boyhood  are  to  be  abandoned  with  the  severance  of  the  old 
domestic  ties  between  himself  and  his  mother  and  sisters.  He  is 
now  to  be  a  man,  instructed  in  and  sensible  of  the  duties  which 


2i6  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

devolve  upon  him  as  a  member  of  the  Murring  community.  To 
do  all  this  is  partly  the  object  of  the  ceremonies,  and  the  process 
by  which  this  is  reached  is  a  singular  one.  The  ceremonies  are 
intended  to  impress  and  terrify  the  boy  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  lesson  may  be  indelible,  and  may  govern  the  whole  of  his 
future  life.  But  the  intention  is  also  to  amuse  in  the  intervals 
of  the  serious  rites. 

The  ceremonies,  therefore,  are  marked  by  'what  may  be  called 
major  and  minor  stages,  and  the  intervals  are  filled  in  by  magic 
dances,  by  amusing  interludes  and  buffoonery,  in  which  all  the 
men  take  part,  excepting  the  Kabos,  whose  duty  is  to  unceasingly 
explain  and  admonish  during  the  whole  ceremony ;  to  point  the 
moral  and  adorn  the  tale.  The  pieces  of  buffoonery  are  perhaps 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  proceeding.  If  one 
were  to  imagine  all  sorts  of  childish  mischief  mixed  up  with  the 
cardinal  sins  represented  in  burlesque,  and  ironically  recom- 
mended to  the  boys  on  their  return  to  the  camp  and  afterwards, 
it  would  give  a  not  unapt  representation  of  what  takes  place. 
But  there  is  a  remarkable  feature  that  at  the  end  of  almost  every 
sentence,  indeed  of  every  indecent,  immoral,  or  lewd  suggestion, 
the  speaker  adds  "Yah!"  which  negatives  all  that  has  been  said 
and  done.  Indeed  the  use  of  the  word  "Yah"  runs  through  the 
whole  conversation  carried  on  during  the  ceremonies,  as  when  a 
man  in  the  rear  of  the  procession  calls  to  some  one  in  the  front, 
"Hallo  there,  you  (mentioning  his  name),  stop  and  come  back 
to  me — yah!"  This  gave  to  the  whole  of  the  proceedings,  up  to 
the  time  when  we  reached  the  Talmaru  camp,  in  the  recesses  of 
the  mountain,  a  sort  of  Carnival  and  April  fool  aspect. 

The  old  men  told  me  that  the  meaning  of  this  inverted  manner 
of  speaking,  of  saying  one  thing  when  the  speaker  intended 
another,  was  to  break  the  boys  of  a  habit  of  telling  lies,  and  to 
make  them  for  the  future  truth-speaking. 

The  ceremonies  are  also  intended  to  rivet  the  influence  and 
power  of  the  old  men  on  the  novices,  who  have  heard  from  their 
earliest  childhood  tales  of  the  fearful  powers  of  the  Gommeras, 
and  of  the  Jo'ias  by  which  they  can  cause  sickness  and  death. 
At  these  ceremonies  the  Jo'ias  are  exhibited.  A  young  man  said 
to  me  after  his  initiation,  "When  I  was  a  little  boy  I  did  not 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  217 

believe  all  I  heard  about  the  Jo'ias,  but  when  I  saw  the  Gommeras 
at  the  Kuringal  bringing  them  up  from  their  insides,  I  believed 
it  all." 

These  remarks  will  be  illustrated  by  the  incidents  which  I 
am  about  to  describe. 

At  the  halt  made  the  Kabos  placed  their  boys  in  a  row,  and 
two  old  men  sat  down  before  them  on  the  ground,  facing  each 
other  with  their  feet  touching.  In  the  oval  space  thus  enclosed 
by  their  legs  they  proceeded  to  make  a  "mud  pie"  of  the  wet 
soil,  which  they  smoothed  and  patted  into  the  semblance  of  a 
cake,  with  childish  manner  and  gestures.  All  the  men  danced 
round  them  uttering  some  word  which  I  omitted  to  note.  Several 
men  then  came  to  the  boys  and  spoke  to  them,  in  their  buffoon 
manner,  pointing  at  the  same  time  to  the  dirt  cake.  It  fortunately 
happened  that  one  of  the  boys  was  a  Bemeringal,  whose  language 
differed  from  that  of  the  Katungal  so  much  that  throughout  the 
ceremonies,  while  the  men  spoke  to  the  Katungal  boys  in  their 
own  language,  they  spoke  to  the  Bemering  boy  in  the  broken 
English  which  is  used  by  the  blacks  and  whites  in  speaking  to 
each  other.  Thus  I  was  able  to  follow  the  whole  course  of  in- 
struction and  admonition  very  satisfactorily,  and  also  to  check 
the  explanations,  given  me  by  my  friends  Yibai-malian  and 
Umbara  and  others.  The  men  said,  "Look  at  that !  look  at  those 
old  men,  when  you  get  back  to  the  camp  go  and  do  like  that, 
and  play  with  little  children — Yah !" 

After  a  march  of  another  quarter  of  a  mile  there  was  another 
halt.  Some  of  the  old  men  came  out  of  the  scrub  with  boughs 
held  round  their  heads  representing  a  mob  of  bullocks,  and  went 
through  some  absurd  antics  to  make  the  boys  laugh  at  their 
child's  play.  But  the  boys,  having  been  warned  by  their  Kabos, 
looked  on  with  the  utmost  stolidity. 

From  here  we  marched  slowly  up  the  mountain  side,  until  at 
another  little  level  a  third  halt  was  made.  Here  the  second 
stage  was  marked  by  all  the  men  rubbing  themselves  with 
powdered  charcoal,  making  themselves  almost  unrecognisable. 
The  use  of  powdered  charcoal  in  this  manner  seems  to  have  a 
very  general  application  in  these  ceremonies  and  in  other  tribes  to 
magic,  as  for  instance  the  Bunjil-barn  among  the  Kurnai. 


218  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

This  interlude  was  an  amusing  one.  The  men,  led  by  Umbara, 
pretended  to  be  a  team  of  working  bullocks.  Each  man  held  a 
stick  by  both  hands  over  his  neck  to  represent  a  yoke,  and  the 
team  danced  slowly  among  the  trees,  past  the  boys  with  ludicrous 
gestures.  Thence  a  further  march  was  made,  the  men  making 
laughable  remarks  to  the  boys,  such  as  "You  can  go  home  now — 
Yah !  We  are  going  to  the  sea-shore  to  get  oysters — Yah !" 

On  the  summit  of  the  hill  there  was  another  halt,  and  here 
was  the  first  magic  dance.  The  boys  and  their  Kabos  stood  in  a 
row  and  the  men  danced  in  a  circle  before  them,  shouting  the 
name  for  "legs."  This  kind  of  dance  is  merely  jumping  round 
in  a  circle,  with  the  legs  wide  apart  and  the  arms  stretched 
straight  downwards  swinging  across  each  other  in  front,  the 
word  being  loudly  uttered,  rhythmically  with  the  body  movement. 
After  doing  this  for  a  minute  or  two,  the  circle  of  dancers 
opened,  and  joined  on  to  the  end  of  the  line  of  Kabos  and  novices, 
the  whole  then  forming  a  new  circle.  One  of  the  Gommeras 
darted  into  this  enclosed  space,  and  danced  the  magic  dance. 
This  is  done  as  if  sitting  almost  on  the  heels,  but  the  knees  are 
widely  apart,  and  the  two  hands  are  extended  downwards  until 
the  fingers  almost  touch  the  ground.  The  medicine-man  then 
hops  backwards  and  forwards  with  a  staring  expression  of  face, 
his  head  vibrates  from  side  to  side,  and  he  suddenly  shows,  some- 
times after  apparently  internal  struggles,  one  of  his  Jo'ias  between 
his  teeth.  This  is  supposed  to  have  been  brought  from  within 
himself.  The  other  men  are  meantime  dancing  round  him,  and 
I  have  occasionally  seen  him  work  himself  into  a  kind  of  ecstatic 
frenzy,  and  fall  down,  once  almost  into  the  fire,  utterly  exhausted. 
While  this  was  going  on,  the  Kabos  spoke  in  earnest  tones  to 
their  boys,  explaining  to  them  the  great  and  deadly  powers  of 
the  Gommeras,  and  the  necessity  of  their  obeying  every  instruc- 
tion given  to  them. 

After  a  further  ascent  of  a  steep  mountain  ridge,  there  was 
another  halt  before  crossing  the  summit  of  the  range,  which  was 
marked  by  the  men  representing  to  the  boys  a  procession  of  old 
men,  slowly  and  with  rhythmical  movements  marching  out  of 
the  forest  into  the  little  open  space  in  which  the  boys  had  been 
halted.  Great  age  was  shown,  as  in  all  these  representations,  by 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  219 

each  man  walking  in  a  stooping  position,  supported  by  a  staff 
in  each  hand.  After  circling  round  the  boys  twice,  the  procession 
resolved  itself  into  a  ring  in  front  of  the  boys  and  the  men  danced 
the  usual  magic  dance  round  one  who  exhibited  his  Jo'ias  in  the 
usual  manner.  The  men  then,  ceasing  to  dance,  rushed  to  the 
boys  in  an  excited  manner,  old  Yibai-malian  leading  the  way, 
and  for  the  first  time  went  through  one  of  their  most  characteris- 
tic performances.  They  all  shouted  "Ngai!"  meaning  "Good," 
and  at  the  same  time  moved  their  arms  and  hands  as  if  passing 
something  from  themselves  to  the  boys,  who,  being  instructed 
by  the  Kabos,  moved  their  hands  and  arms  as  if  pulling  a  rope 
towards  themselves,  the  palms  of  the  hands  being  held  upwards. 
The  intention  of  this  is  that  the  boys  shall  be  completely  filled — 
saturated,  I  might  say — with  the  magic  proceeding  from  the 
initiated  and  the  medicine-men,  so  that  "Daramulun  will  like 
them." 

Perhaps  the  best  expression  that  could  be  used  in  English 
would  be  that  by  their  thus  passing  their  magical  influence  to 
the  boys,  the  medicine-men  and  the  initiated  made  the  novices 
acceptable  to  Daramulun 

The  old  men  being  ready,  we  went  down  a  cattle-track  to  the 
lower  glen,  where  a  place  was  chosen  and  a  space  cleared  for 
the  tooth  ceremony.  All  the  bushes  were  chopped  up,  the  stones 
gathered,  and  even  the  grass  plucked  up  by  the  roots — in  fact, 
everything  cleared  from  it  for  a  space  of  about  twenty-five  feet 
square.  In  a  line  along  one  side  three  pairs  of  holes  were  dug, 
about  a  foot  in  depth,  in  which  the  novices  were  to  stand.  A 
great  stringy-bark  tree  was  close  to  the  northern  side,  and  on 
this  the  Bega  Gommera  cut  in  relief  the  figure  of  a  man  of  life- 
size  in  the  attitude  of  dancing.  This  represented  Daramulun, 
whose  ceremonies  they  are,  and  who,  as  is  taught  to  the  novices, 
is  cognisant  of  the  Kuringal  proceedings. 

While  some  of  the  old  men  were  making  these  preparations, 
other  men  prepared  sheets  of  stringy  bark  for  the  dresses  of 
the  performers  in  the  next  ceremony.  These  dresses  were  pre- 
pared by  cutting  the  bark  of  the  tree  through  all  round  the  bole 
in  two  places  about  three  feet  apart.  The  outer  bark  is  then 
chipped  off  and  the  inner  bark  beaten  with  the  back  of  the  toma- 


220  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

hawk  before  being  separated  from  the  tree.  It  is  then  taken 
off  as  a  sheet  of  fibres,  and  being  extended  on  the  ground,  is  at 
least  three  times  its  former  circumference.  The  sheets  of  fibre 
are  about  three  inches  thick,  and  look  like  coarse  bright  yellow 
tow.  Ten  men  were  now  decorated  with  this  fibre  round  their 
bodies,  tied  round  their  legs  and  arms,  and  placed  as  monstrous 
wigs  on  their  heads.  Their  faces  were  further  disguised  by 
reverting  the  upper  and  lower  lips  by  cords  made  of  the  fibre 
tied  behind  the  head,  thereby  showing  the  teeth  and  gums,  and 
the  effect  was  hideous.  Two  pieces  of  bark  were  now  stripped, 
each  about  four  feet  in  length,  by  fifteen  inches  at  one  end  and 
nine  at  the  other.  The  ten  men  now  knelt  down  in  a  row  on  the 
southern  edge  of  the  cleared  space,  and  about  six  or  seven  feet 
distant  from,  and  parallel  with,  the  row  of  holes,  which  faced 
them.  The  kneeling  men  were  shoulder  to  shoulder;  the  man  at 
either  end  had  one  of  the  pieces  of  bark  in  his  hands,  and  in  front 
of  him  a  small  mound  of  earth  raised  up  in  such  a  position  that 
he  could  strike  it  with  the  concave  side  of  his  piece  of  bark. 

All  being  now  ready,  including  the  new  bull-roarer,  my 
messenger  was  sent  to  sound  it  on  the  mound  of  rocks  overlook- 
ing our  camp.  The  Kabos  soon  appeared,  carefully  leading  their 
charges  over  the  rocks  and  among  the  fallen  trees,  and  down  the 
cattle-track.  The  boys  were  ordered  to  keep  their  eyes  fixed  on 
their  feet,  and  could  therefore  only  proceed  slowly,  each  one 
being  guided  by  a  Kabo.  The  remainder  of  the  men  who  had 
remained  at  the  camp  followed  them. 

When  the  novices  reached  the  cleared  ground,  still  with  bent 
heads  and  downcast  eyes,  each  was  placed  with  his  feet  in  one 
pair  of  holes.  Then  they  were  told  to  raise  their  eyes  and  look, 
and  the  sight  of  the  ten  disguised  figures  must  have  been  startling 
to  them,  but  I  could  not  see  the  slightest  trace  of  emotion  on  the 
face  of  either  of  them. 

At  this  time  the  scene  was  striking.  Some  of  the  men  were 
standing  at  the  east  side  of  the  cleared  space,  some  on  the  west 
side,  the  boys  and  their  Kabos  being  on  the  north,  almost  at  the 
foot  of  the  tree  on  which  the  figure,  about  three  feet  in  length,  of 
Daramulun  was  cut.  In  front  of  them  were  these  motionless 
disguised  figures.  The  Gommera  Brupin  was  at  a  little  distance 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  221 

almost  hidden  in  some  scrub,  and  old  Gunjerung,  the  head 
Gommera,  stood  apart  from  all  as  was  his  custom,  leaning  on  his 
staff,  waiting  for  the  moment  when  all  being  ready,  he  would 
give  the  signal  for  the  ceremony  to  commence. 

At  length  Gunjerung  raised  his  staff,  and  the  kneeling  man 
nearest  to  the  sea,  that  is  at  the  east  end  of  the  row,  raised  his 
strip  of  bark  and  brought  it  down  on  the  earthen  mound  before 
him  with  a  sound  like  the  muffled  report  of  a  gun.  Then  he  and 
all  the  other  men  surged  over  to  the  west,  uttering  a  sound  like 
"sh"  or  "ush,"  long  drawn  out.  The  western  man  now,  in  his 
turn,  struck  his  mound  with  a  resounding  blow,  and  all  surged 
back  making  a  rumbling  sound ;  so  they  went  on  for  some  little 
time  with  the  regularity  of  clockwork.  This  represents  the 
waves  breaking  on  the  land,  and  rushing  up  on  the  shore,  and 
the  thunder  answering  it  from  the  mountains. 

Gunjerung  now  signed  with  his  staff,  and  the  masked  figures, 
springing  up,  rushed  to  the  novices,  and  commenced  to  dance  to 
the  words  "Wirri-wirri-wirri,"  that  is,  "Quick,  quick,  quick."  As 
they  did  this,  one  of  the  Kabos  knelt  behind  his  boy,  with  his 
right  knee  on  the  ground,  and  the  boy  sat  on  his  left  as  a  seat. 
The  other  Kabo  came  behind  and  drew  the  boy's  head  on  to  his 
breast,  having  his  left  arm  round  his  chest,  and  his  right  hand 
over  the  boy's  eyes.  The  Kabo  kneeling  on  the  ground  held  the 
boy's  legs,  his  feet  being  in  the  holes. 

From  behind  the  bushes  where  he  had  been  concealed,  the 
Gommera  Brupin  now  suddenly  emerged  dancing,  bearing  in  one 
hand  a  short  wooden  club  and  in  the  other  a  piece  of  wood  about 
eight  inches  long  and  chisel-shaped  at  the  end.  Being  the  repre- 
sentative of  Daramulun,  he  was  clothed  only  in  a  complete  suit 
of  charcoal  dust. 

The  boy's  eyes  being  covered,  he  danced  into  the  space 
between  them  and  the  masked  men  to  excited  shouts  of 
"Wirri,"  to  which  the  other  men  were  also  dancing,  and  thus 
approached  the  first  boy.  He  now  handed  his  implements  to 
the  man  nearest  to  him,  and  seizing  the  boy's  head  with  his 
hands,  applied  his  lower  incisor  to  the  left  upper  incisor  of  the 
boy,  and  forcibly  pressed  it  upwards.  He  then,  dancing  all  the 
time,  placed  the  chisel  on  the  tooth  and  struck  a  blow  with  the 


222  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

mallet.  This  time  the  tooth  was  loosened,  and  I  could  see  blood. 
Some  of  the  dancing-men  now  came  between  the  boy  and  me,  so 
that  I  lost  count  of  the  blows  for  a  few  seconds.  However,  I 
counted  seven,  and  I  think  that  there  was  at  least  one  more.  The 
tooth  then  fell  out  of  its  socket,  and  Brupin  gave  it  to  one  of 
the  old  men.  The  boy  was  then  led  aside  by  the  Kabo,  who  told 
him  that  he  must  on  no  account  spit  out  the  blood,  but  swallow 
it,  otherwise  the  wound  would  not  heal.  The  stoical  indifference 
shown  by  this  boy,  to  what  must  have  been  an  exquisitely  painful 
operation,  was  most  surprising.  I  watched  him  carefully,  and 
he  could  not  have  shown  less  feeling  had  he  been  a  block  of 
wood.  But  as  he  was  led  away  I  noticed  that  the  muscles  of  his 
legs  quivered  in  an  extraordinary  manner. 

The  Gommera  now  danced  up  to  the  second  boy,  and  amidst 
the  same  shouts  of  "Wirri"  gave  a  hoist  to  the  boy's  tooth  with 
his  own,  and  then  struck  his  first  blow.  This,  however,  produced 
a  different  effect  on  this  boy,  for  he  set  up  a  tremendous  yell 
and  struggled  violently.  His  outcry  was,  however,  drowned  by 
the  cries  of  "Wirri,"  and  the  boy's  eyes  being  still  covered,  the 
Gommera  again  danced  in  from  the  masked  figures,  behind  whom 
he  had  been  crouching,  and  again  struck  his  blow.  This  pro- 
duced the  same  effect  as  before.  The  old  men  now  said  that  the 
boy  had  been  too  much  with  the  women,  and  had  played  too  much 
with  the  little  girls,  thereby  causing  his  tooth  to  be  so  firmly 
fixed.  Yibai-malian  now  came  forward,  in  his  character  of  a 
great  medicine-man,  and  first  of  all  gave  the  tooth  a  tremendous 
hoist  up  with  his  lower  jaw,  then  he  put  his  mouth  to  that  of  the 
boy,  who  made  a  tremendous  struggle,  and  got  his  arms  free. 
Yibai  told  me  afterwards  that  he  then  forced  one  of  his  Jo'ias,  a 
quartz  crystal,  up  against  the  tooth  to  loosen  it.  The  boy,  feel- 
ing this  hard  substance  coming  out  of  the  medicine-man's  mouth, 
thought,  as  he  afterwards  told  his  Kabo,  that  the  man  was  going 
to  kill  him  by  something  out  of  his  inside.  While  this  was  going 
on,  the  men  near  to  the  boy  said  to  him,  "Now  you  be  quiet,  only 
a  little  more  and  it  will  be  out." 

As  soon  as  the  boy  was  soothed  down,  the  Gommera  danced 
in  again  and  succeeded  in  getting  a  good  blow  which  knocked  the 
tooth  out.  He  struck  thirteen  blows  in  all. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  223 

The  third  boy  now  only  remained,  the  smallest  of  the  three, 
and  in  his  case  one  of  his  Kabos,  a  man  of  the  Ngarigo  tribe, 
having  first  of  all  pushed  the  gum  back  from  the  tooth  with  his 
finger-nail,  Yibai-malian  gave  the  tooth  the  regulation  hoist,  and 
the  Gommera,  dancing  in,  knocked  the  tooth  out  with  a  few  blows. 

The  three  boys,  having  somewhat  recovered  from  the  severe 
ordeal  through  which  they  had  gone,  were  led  by  their  Kabos 
to  the  tree  on  which  the  figure  of  Daramulun  was  cut,  and  were 
told  of  him  and  his  powers,  and  that  he  lived  beyond  the  sky  and 
watched  what  the  Murring  did.  When  a  man  died  he  met  him 
and  took  care  of  him.  It  was  he  who  first  made  the  Kuringal, 
and  taught  it  to  their  fathers,  and  he  taught  them  also  to  make 
weapons,  and  all  that  they  know.  The  Gommeras  receive  their 
powers  from  him,  and  he  gives  them  the  Krugullung.  He  is  the 
great  Biamban  who  can  do  anything  and  go  anywhere,  and  he 
gave  the  tribal  laws  to  their  fathers,  who  have  handed  them  down 
from  father  to  son  until  now. 

As  the  boys  were  then  being  led  away  to  their  camp,  Gunje- 
rung  stopped  them,  and  spoke  to  them  in  a  most  impressive 
manner.  Alluding  to  the  figure  of  Daramulun,  he  said,  "If  you 
make  anything  like  that  when  you  go  back  to  the  camp,  I  will 
kill  you." 

When  the  boys  were  taken  away,  the  men  stripped  off  their 
bark-fibre  disguises  and  piled  them  over  the  foot-holes.  Then 
they  all  formed  a  ring  round  the  cleared  space,  standing  with 
their  faces  outwards.  At  a  signal  from  Brupin  they  all  bent 
forwards,  and  with  their  hands  scratched  leaves,  sticks,  rubbish, 
anything  they  could  reach,  towards  themselves,  throwing  it  back- 
wards on  to  the  heap.  Then  they  simultaneously  jumped  back- 
wards, uttering  the  sounds  "prr!  prr!  prr!  wah!  wah!  wah!" 
three  times.  A  large  quantity  of  rubbish  being  thus  gathered 
over  the  sacred  ground,  they  all  turned  round,  and  each  one 
motioning  with  his  outstretched  hands  towards  the  heap  with  the 
palms  downwards  repeated  the  words  "Yah!  wah!"  as  a  final 
conclusion. 

We  all  now  went  up  to  the  camp,  and  standing  by  the  Tal- 
maru  fire,  the  boys  were  invested  with  the  man's  belt.  A  long 
cord  of  opossum-fur  string,  folded  a  number  of  times,  was 


224  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

wound  round  the  waist,  and  fastened  by  the  end  being  tucked 
under  the  folds.  This  belt  is  coloured  with  red  ochre.  In  front 
hangs  the  narrow  kilt  (Burrain),  thrust  up  under  it  so  as  to 
hang  down  and  preserve  decency,  being  fastened  to  the  belt  by 
the  two  outside  thongs,  which  are  tucked  once  or  twice  under 
and  round  the  belt.  A  Burrain  also  hangs  down  behind. 

The  novices  were  now  covered  as  before  with  their  blankets ; 
and,  being  seated  beside  their  Kabos,  were  told  that,  their  teeth 
being  out,  nothing  more  would  be  done  to  them,  that  they  were 
no  longer  boys,  but  were  to  look  on  and  attend  to  all  the  Kabos 
told  them. 

The  proceedings  which  I  shall  now  describe  continued  all 
night,  and  are  intended  to  enforce  the  teachings  of  the  Kabos,  to 
amuse  the  boys,  and  at  the  same  time  to  securely  establish  the 
authority  of  the  old  men  over  them. 

The  magic  fire  was  freshly  built  up,  and  the  novices  were  told 
to  stand  up  and  observe.  I  may  now  mention  once  for  all  that 
the  evening's  ceremonial  entertainments  and  proceedings  were 
carried  on  alternately  by  the  two  sections  of  the  community — 
the  mountain  Bemeringal  and  the  sea-coast  Katungal. 

Dances  and  performances  alternated,  some  merely  to  amuse, 
others  to  illustrate  the  magical  power  of  the  Gommeras,  and 
others  to  enforce  tribal  morality,  or  to  perpetuate  tribal  legends. 
These  were  all  strung  together  by  a  series  of  buffooneries,  some 
of  them  of  the  broadest  kind,  and  pervaded  by  the  inverted 
manner  of  speaking  before  mentioned.  Jokes,  which  were  too 
broad  for  translation,  were  bandied  about  from  side  to  side 
with  the  inevitable  "Yah!"  attached,  which  implied  that  they 
were  not  to  be  taken  as  serious. 

In  all  these  performances  the  men  are  naked,  and  even  towards 
morning,  when  it  clouded  over  and  a  smart  shower  fell,  only  a 
few  put  on  a  little  covering.  The  old  men  especially  adhered  to 
the  rules  of  their  fathers,  so  far  as  they  could  do  so,  in  the 
conduct  of  the  ceremonies  and  their  own  procedure.  One  old 
man  put  on  nothing  when  it  rained  but  a  pair  of  boots. 

The  first  performance  was  by  the  Bega  Gommera,  and  it  was 
a  ludicrous  one.  It  represents  an  old  man  tormented  by  opossums. 
It  must  be  mentioned  that,  whenever  possible,  the  men  who  repre- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  225 

sented  animals  were  of  those  totems,  and  indeed  all  the  animals 
which  were  represented  in  these  performances  were  the  totem 
animals  of  the  tribe.  Thus,  when  it  is  a  kangaroo  hunt,  it  is  a 
kangaroo  man  who  performs,  and  the  wild-dog  men  hunt  him. 
But  if  there  are  not  sufficient  of  the  necessary  totems,  then  other 
men  help  them. 

In  this  instance  the  great  age  of  the  performer  was  indicated, 
as  in  all  other  cases,  by  his  leaning  on  a  staff.  He  was  occupied 
in  chopping  some  animal  out  of  a  hollow  log,  and  behind  him 
were  a  number  of  opossums,  crouching  in  the  bushes.  As  he 
chopped,  an  opossum  came  behind  him  and  scratched  his  bare 
leg,  frightening  him,  to  judge  by  the  caper  he  cut  and  the  yell 
he  uttered,  as  he  turned  round  and  hit  at  it  with  his  staff.  His 
tormentor  dodged  him,  and  running  past  on  all  fours,  lay  down 
at  the  edge  of  the  cleared  space.  The  old  man  now  resumed  his 
chopping,  when  another  op~6ssum  ran  out  and  bit  his  leg,  and  the 
old  man,  jumping  and  yelling,  hit  at  and  missed  him.  So  it  went 
on  till  all  the  opossum  men  had  passed  from  one  side  of  the  fire 
to  the  other,  and  were  lying  side  by  side.  The  performer  now 
dropped  his  staff  and  tomahawk  and  rushed  to  the  fire,  where 
he  clapped  his  hands,  shouting  the  word  for  opossum,  whereupon 
all  the  opossum  men  sprang  up  and  danced  round  him  and  the  fire. 

The  next  was  a  magic  dance  to  the  word  meaning  "legs." 
In  this  the  dancing  of  the  Gommeras  and  the  exhibition  of  their 
Jo'ias  was  a  marked  feature  of  the  dance.  At  one  time  there 
would  be  only  one,  then  others  would  rush  into  the  ring,  until 
there  were  four  or  five,  once  there  were  six,  all  dancing  in  an 
excited  state,  staring  with  goggle  eyes,  with  their  lips  drawn  back, 
showing  their  Jo'ias  held  between  their  teeth,  in  the  firelight,  for 
it  had  become  dark.  One  man  in  his  frenzy  threw  himself 
down  on  his  knees,  and  danced  on  them.  Others  danced  until, 
apparently  overcome  by  their  own  magic,  they  fell  down  seem- 
ingly senseless 

Of  the  totem  dances  some  were  merely  the  magic  dance  to 
the  name  of  the  totem.  Others  were  prefaced  by  pantomimic 
representations  of  the  totem  animal,  bird,  or  reptile.  Thus  there 
was  a  dance  to  the  word  Yirai-kapin,  the  dog's  tooth,  referring 
to  the  "ravenous  tooth  which  devours  everything."  It  com- 


226  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

menced  with  the  life-like  howling  of  a  dingo  in  the  forest, 
answered  by  other  dogs  on  the  other  side.  Then  nearer,  till  a 
man  ran  into  the  firelight  on  all  fours,  with  a  bush  stuck  in  his 
belt  behind,  to  represent  a  dingo's  tail.  Others  followed,  till 
half  a  score  were  running  round  the  fire,  smelling  each  other, 
snarling  and  snapping,  scratching  the  ground,  in  fact  represent- 
ing the  actions  of  wild  dogs,  until  the  medicine-man  leading 
them  sprang  to  his  feet,  clapped  his  hands,  vociferating  in 
measured  tones,  "Yirai-kapin."  While  he  danced,  the  others 
followed  him,  dancing  round  him,  and  the  usual  totem  dance 
was  made. 

Another  was  the  crow  dance,  in  which  men,  with  leaves  round 
their  heads,  croaked  like  those  birds,  and  then  danced ;  the  owl 
dance,  in  which  they  imitated  the  hooting  of  the  Takula,  owl; 
the  lyre-bird  dance,  and  that  of  the  stone-plover.  Finally,  there 
was  the  dance  of  the  rock-wallaby,  which  was  pantomimic. 

In  this  the  rock-wallaby  were  at  first  concealed  in  the  shadows 
to  the  right  front  of  the  fire,  that  is,  looking  north  from  where  I 
sat.  Brupin  and  Yibai-malian  were  the  principal  performers,  the 
animals  being  represented  by  two  or  three  of  that  totem,  with 
other  men  helping  them.  Yibai  had  charge  of  the  rock-wallaby, 
and  Brupin  tried,  in  a  grotesque  manner,  to  entice  them  from 
him,  while  talking  to  the  former.  When  they  ran  to  Brupin's 
side,  Yibai  threatened  him,  and  they  had  a  comic  combat,  as  if 
with  club  and  shield.  So  it  went  on  till  all  the  wallaby  had  been 
enticed  from  Yibai,  who  evinced  his  grief  at  the  loss  in  the  most 
comical  manner.  It  ended  with  the  usual  dance  to  the  word 
Yalotiga,  that  is,  rock-wallaby. 

Some  of  the  pantomimes  were  curious,  particularly  one  which 
represented  a  Gommera  curing  a  sick  child,  which  was  a  small 
log  which  one  of  the  old  men  had  taken  from  the  fire  and  carried 
in  his  arms  to  and  fro,  imitating  the  crying  of  a  sick  child. 
Several  of  the  men  came  up  and  imitated  the  actions  of  a 
"doctor,"  in  stroking  the  child  with  their  hands,  and  extracting 
from  it  stones,  pieces  of  wood,  bark,  and  other  things,  as  the 
cause  of  the  disease.  This  was  received  with  shouts  of  laughter 
from  all,  from  the  medicine-men  as  well  as  the  others.  The  only 
ones  who  did  not  even  smile  were  the  utterly  unmoved  novices. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  227 

Another  pantomime  represented  a  number  of  very  old  men 
who  came  up,  following  each  other,  out  of  the  forest,  and  circled 
round  the  fire  in  the  usual  rhythmical  manner,  swaying  from  side 
to  side  at  each  step,  and  each  holding  his  head  with  both  hands, 
one  at  each  temple.  After  going  round  the  fire  several  times,  the 
chain  broke  up  into  individuals,  who  began  tickling  each  other, 
finally  falling  down  into  a  heap,  screeching  with  laughter.  Such  an 
exhibition  of  childishness  in  venerable  old  greybeards  was  ridicu- 
lous, and  this  was  impressed  on  the  novices  by  going  up  to  them 
and  saying,  "When  you  go  back  to  the  camp  do  like  that — yah !" 
by  this  warning  them  not  to  be  guilty  of  such  childish  acts  in 
their  new  characters  of  men. 

Other  pantomimic  representations  were  to  impress  rules  of 
tribal  morality  by  visible  instances. 

A  man  lay  down  on  the  ground  near  the  fire,  as  if  a  woman 
asleep.  The  other  performers  were  hidden  by  the  shadows 
thrown  by  the  trees  beyond  the  fire.  One  man  then  stole  out,  and 
seeing  the  woman  sleeping,  cautiously  approached,  after  peering 
all  round  to  see  if  any  one  were  near.  He  tried  in  vain  to  wake 
her,  and  made  comic  gestures  which  left  no  doubt  of  his  inten- 
tions. Being  unable  to  succeed,  he  went  across  and  lay  down 
at  the  edge  of  the  clear  space.  One  by  one  the  other  men  came 
by,  each  fruitlessly  endeavouring  to  waken  the  sleeping  woman, 
and  also  making  gestures  showing  what  he  intended.  When  all 
had  passed  the  pseudo- woman,  one  of  the  Gommeras  jumped  up 
and  commenced  his  dance,  the  disappointed  suitors  joining  in  it. 
This  play,  taken  by  itself,  was  comic,  but  when  looked  at  in 
reference  to  the  gestures  made  by  the  men,  suggested  what  might 
happen  if  a  savage  found  a  solitary  woman  sleeping  in  the  bush. 
But  a  remarkable  commentary  was  applied,  not  only  by  the  broad 
allusions  made  by  the  men  looking  on,  addressed  to  the  novices, 
and  always  followed  by  the  emphatic  "Yah!"  but  by  the  direct 
statements  of  Gunjerung  to  the  boys  in  the  coast  language,  and 
to  the  Wolgal  boy  in  English,  which  was,  "Look  at  me!  if  you 
do  anything  like  that  when  you  go  back  to  the  camp,  I  will  kill 
you;  by  and  by,  when  you  are  older,  you  will  get  a  wife  of  your 
own."  .... 

These  representations  went  on  from  about  six  in  the  evening 


228  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  near  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  When  one  section  had 
wearied  themselves  a  short  halt  was  called,  and  the  boys  were 
told,  as  in  one  instance,  "You  can  go  and  lie  down,  we  are  going 
to  sleep — yah !"  The  Kabos  led  them  to  the  couch  of  leaves,  and 
caused  them  to  lie  down  covered  by  blankets.  The  men  sat  by 
their  fires,  or  rolled  themselves  in  their  rugs ;  some  smoked,  some 
chatted,  but  before  long,  sometimes  after  no  more  than  five 
minutes  had  passed,  one  of  the  leading  Gommeras  would  start 
up,  clap  his  hands,  and  rush  to  the  Talmaru  fire,  shouting  some 
word,  in  most  cases  either  "Mirambul"  (legs)  or  "Katir" 
(dance).  The  section  to  which  he  belonged  then  joined  in,  the 
proceedings  recommenced,  and  the  other  section  remained  spec- 
tators. 

Twice  when  the  proceedings  flagged  a  little,  Yibai-malian 
made  me  a  sign  for  Mudthi,  namely,  moving  the  forefinger  of 
the  right  hand  in  a  small  circle,  and  I  sent  my  messenger  to  the 
mound  of  rocks  to  sound  the  bull-roarer  out  of  sight.  Directly 
the  sound  was  heard  the  whole  camp,  excepting  the  Kabos  and 
novices,  was  in  a  state  of  excitement,  the  men  shouting  "Huh! 
huh!"  and  the  dancing  went  on  with  renewed  vigour. 

The  novices  were  thus  kept  in  a  constant  state  of  excitement 
and  suspense  until,  as  I  have  said,  at  about  three  in  the  morning, 
when  the  old  men  danced  to  the  word  Kair,  that  is,  the  end,  the 
finish.  The  magic  fire  was  let  burn  low,  the  boys  were  laid  on 
their  couch  of  leaves,  and  all  hands  rolled  themselves  in  their 
rugs  or  blankets  and  slept 

The  three  novices  had  now  to  go  and  live  by  themselves  in 
the  bush,  on  such  food  as  they  could  catch,  and  which  it  might 
be  lawful  for  them  to  eat.  They  were  still  under  the  charge  of 
the  Kabos,  who  would  visit  them  from  time  to  time,  continue  to 
instruct  them,  and  see  that  they  followed  the  rules  laid  down  for 
them.  In  the  case  of  the  elder  of  the  three,  the  period  of  proba- 
tion would  be  shortened,  because  he  was  employed  as  a  stock- 
rider on  a  cattle  station.  But  in  all  the  cases  the  Gommeras 
would  not  consent  to  either  of  them  taking  his  place  in  the  tribal 
community  until  they  were  satisfied  as  to  his  conduct.  For 
instance,  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  take  a  wife  for  possibly 
several  years. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  229 

Among  the  things  which  are  told  to  the  novice  by  his  Kabos, 
is  the  Budjan,  that  is  his  totem  name.  These  names  are  not 
much  used,  and  a  person  does  not  know  much  of  the  Budjans 
of  others.  It  is  the  personal  name  which  is  used,  not  the  Budjan. 
The  personal  name  is  a  tribal  one  given  to  an  individual  in  child- 
hood, and  the  use  of  the  totem  name  is  avoided,  lest  an  enemy 
might  get  hold  of  it  and  do  him  an  injury  by  evil  magic.  In 
this  there  is  a  difference  between  the  Yuin  and  other  tribes,  in 
which  the  totem  name  is  used,  and  the  personal  name  strictly 
kept  secret.  The  rule  is  that  during  the  period  of  probation  the 
novice  is  absolutely  prohibited  from  holding  any  communication 
with  a  woman,  even  his  own  mother.  He  must  not  even  look 
at  one,  and  this  prohibition  extends  to  the  emu,  for  the  emu  is 
Ngalalbal,  the  mother  of  Daramulun. 

The  food  restrictions  in  connection  with  these  ceremonies 
are  that  the  Gumbang-ira  (raw-tooth  novice)  may  not  eat  any 
of  the  following :  emu,  because  it  is  Ngalalbal ;  any  animal,  e.  g. 
the  wombat,  which  burrows  in  the  ground,  and  therefore  reminds 
of  the  foot-holes.  Such  creatures  as  have  very  prominent  teeth, 
such  as  the  kangaroo,  because  they  remind  of  the  tooth  itself; 
any  animal  that  climbs  to  the  tree-tops,  like  the  koala,  because 
it  is  then  near  to  Daramulun;  any  bird  that  swims,  because 
it  reminds  of  the  final  washing  ceremony.  Other  food  forbidden 
is  spiny  ant-eater,  common  opossum,  lace-lizard,  snakes,  eels, 
perch,  and  others. 

Thus  the  young  man  during  his  probation  is  placed  in  an 
artificial  state  of  scarcity  as  to  food,  although  perhaps  surrounded 
by  plenty.  Included  in  the  forbidden  is  the  Budjan  of  the  novice, 
although  this  rule  is  becoming  more  and  more  disregarded  in  the 
younger  generations. 

The  novices  were  told  that  if  they  eat  any  of  the  forbidden 
animals,  the  Jo'ia  belonging  to  it  would  get  into  them  and  kill 
them.  But  not  only  is  there  an  immaterial  Jo'ia  which  acts 
magically,  but  also  a  special  magical  substance  which  belongs  to 
each  such  animal.  In  fact,  these  magical  substances  are  some 
of  the  Jo'ias  which  the  medicine-men  exhibit  at  the  Kuringal. 
As  each  Gommera  has  a  totem  name,  his  Budjan  and  the  magical 
substance  belonging  to  it  are  his  special  Jo'ias. 


230  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

It  is  the  evil  magic  of  the  Budjan  that  in  great  measure  com- 
mands obedience,  but  there  is  also  the  belief  that  the  Gommcra 
can  see  in  dreams  the  actions  of  the  novices,  and  punish  them  by 
Jo'ia-.  In  the  old  times  a  novice,  known  to  have  broken  the  food 
rules  after  initiation,  would  have  been  killed  by  violence. 

The  strictness  with  which  these  food  rules  are  observed  by 
the  old  men  affords  a  measure  of  their  force  in  the  olden  times. 
The  old  man  whom  I  have  mentioned  as  the  Wolgal  singer,  and 
who  seemed  to  be  about  seventy  years  of  age,  told  me,  when  we 
were  speaking  of  these  rules,  that  he  had  never  eaten  of  the 
flesh  of  the  emu.  He  said  that  he  had  never  been  free  of  its 
flesh,  by  some  one  stealthily  rubbing  a  piece  of  it,  or  the  fat, 
on  his  mouth. 

When  the  Gommeras  are  satisfied  that  the  youth  is  fit  to  take 
his  place  in  the  tribe,  he  is  allowed  to  return.  In  one  case  known 
to  me,  it  was  between  five  and  six  months  before  the  old  men 
were  satisfied  as  to  this.  For  some  reason  they  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  novices,  and  after  a  meeting  was  held  of  the  old  men, 
some  of  them  went  out  to  and  told  the  novices  that  they  must 
not  let  the  women  see  them  stripped  of  their  rugs  for  some 
months  after  coming  in. 

After  the  novice  is  allowed  to  come  into  the  camp,  and  till  he 
is  permitted  to  marry,  the  Gommeras  can  order  him  to  do  things 
for  them,  and  he  obeys  them. 

The  ceremonies  being  now  completed,  there  remained  nothing 
for  the  people  to  do  but  gradually  to  return  to  their  own  districts. 
The  tooth  would  be  carried  by  the  Gommera  of  the  place  most 
distant  from  that  of  the  youth  it  belonged  to.  He  would  then 
send  or  hand  it  to  the  Headman  of  the  locality  next  to  him,  and 
thus  it  would  pass  from  group  to  group  of  the  intermarrying 
community  which  had  attended  the  Kuringal.  It  conveys  its 
message,  which  is  that  so-and-so  has  been  made  a  man.  Finally 
it  returns  to  its  owner. 

I  took  on  myself,  as  being  in  their  eyes  a  "Gommera  of  the 
Kurnai,"  and  as  having  joined  in  causing  the  Kuringal  to  be 
held,  to  carry  off  two  of  the  teeth,  which  were  fastened  with 
grass-tree  gum  one  to  each  end  of  a  piece  of  twisted  fibre.  An 
old  man,  the  father  of  one  of  the  boys,  begged  me  not  to  put  the 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  231 

teeth  into  my  "Joia  bag/'  and  Yibai,  who  was  present,  said  that 
he  would  by  and  by  fetch  them  back. 

Some  twelve  months  after,  I  was  surprised  by  the  arrival  at 
Sale,  in  Gippsland,  where  I  was  then  living,  of  the  man  who  had 
acted  as  my  messenger  during  the  ceremonies.  In  the  usual 
secret  manner  in  which  anything  relating  to  the  Kuringal  is 
spoken  of,  he  whispered  to  me  that  one  of  the  boys  had  been 
taken  ill,  and  that  the  old  men  feared  that  I  had  placed  the  teeth 
in  my  bag  with  Iotas,  and  had  thereby  caused  his  sickness.  The 
old  men  had  therefore  sent  him  to  ask  me  for  them.  I  relieved 
his  mind  by  showing  him  the  teeth  carefully  packed  in  a  small 
tin  box  by  themselves,  and  sent  him  off  with  them  on  his  return 
journey  of  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

In  one  of  the  talks  which  I  had  with  the  old  men  at  their 
Wirri-unrri-than,  I  asked  them  what  would  be  done  if  a  woman 
saw  a  Mudthi.  The  consensus  of  opinion  was  that  if  a  woman 
found  a  Mudthi  and  showed  it  to  a  man,  he  would  kill  her.  If 
a  man  showed  a  Mudthi  to  a  woman  or  a  child,  he  would  be 
killed,  and  not  unlikely  those  belonging  to  him  also.  If  a  woman 
were  seen  in  the  little  Bunan  ground,  she  would  be  killed 

The  intention  of  the  ceremonies  is  evidently  to  make  the 
youths  of  the  tribe  worthy  members  of  the  community,  according 
to  their  lights.  Certain  principles  are  impressed  upon  them  for 
their  guidance  during  life — for  instance,  to  listen  to  and  obey 
the  old  men;  to  generously  share  the  fruits  of  the  chase  with 
others,  especially  with  their  kindred;  not  to  interfere  with  the 
women  of  the  tribe,  particularly  those  who  are  related  to  them, 
nor  to  injure  their  kindred,  in  its  widest  sense,  by  means  of  evil 
magic.  Before  the  novice  is  permitted  to  take  his  place  in  the 
community,  marry,  and  join  in  its  councils,  he  must  possess  those 
qualifications  which  will  enable  him  to  act  for  the  common  wel-  , 
fare. 

As  a  hunter  he  is  sent  into  the  bush  to  find  his  own  living, 
often  for  several  months,  and,  under  the  prohibitions  as  to 
certain  food  animals  which  are  imposed  upon  him,  he  is  prac- 
tically placed  in  a  state  of  privation,  while  being  possibly  sur- 
rounded by  plentiful  but  forbidden  food. 

The  qualifications  of  the  young  men  are  tested  in  some  tribes, 


232  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

especially  those  of  Southern  Queensland,  by  a  ceremonial  combat 
in  which  they  take  part. 

The  extraordinary  restrictive  powers  of  the  food  rules,  and 
the  powerful  effect  of  the  teaching  at  the  ceremonies,  has  been 
shown  in  cases  known  to  me  by  the  serious  and  even  fatal  effects, 
produced  by  what  one  must  call  conscience,  in  novices  who  had 
broken  the  rules  and  eaten  of  forbidden  food. 

All  those  who  have  had  to  do  with  the  native  race  in  its 
primitive  state  will  agree  with  me  that  there  are  men  in  the 
tribes  who  have  tried  to  live  up  to  the  standard  of  tribal  morality, 
and  who  were  faithful  friends  and  true  to  their  word;  in  fact 
men  for  whom,  although  savages,  one  must  feel  a  kindly  respect. 
Such  men  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  later  generation,  which  has 
grown  up  under  our  civilisation,  and  is  rapidly  being  extermi- 
nated by  it. 

In  the  ceremonies  mentioned,  with  few  exceptions,  there  is 
a  similar  mode  of  assembling  the  meeting  for  initiation,  the 
making  of  a  circular  earthen  mound,  the  removal  of  the  boys 
from  their  mothers'  control,  the  knocking  out  of  the  tooth,  the 
investment  in  some  tribes  of  the  novice  with  a  man's  attire,  the 
formation  of  a  new  camp  by  the  women,  and  the  showing  of  the 
boy  to  his  mother,  with  the  severance  of  her  control  over  him 
by  a  formal  act,  and  finally  the  period  of  probation  under  severe 
conditions.  I  have  elsewhere  referred  to  the  belief  inculcated  as 
to  the  existence  of  a  great  supernatural  anthropomorphic  Being, 
by  whom  the  ceremonies  were  first  instituted,  and  who  still 
communicates  with  mankind  through  the  medicine-men,  his 
servants. 

All  this  is  more  or  less  clearly  shown  in  the  ceremonies  in 
Victoria  and  New  South  Wales,  but  less  so  in  those  of  Queens- 
land, where  the  food  rules,  for  instance,  seem  to  be  made  with 
the  object  of  providing  a  plentiful  and  superior  supply  of  food 
for  the  old  men,  and  not,  as  in  the  before-mentioned  tribes,  to 
inculcate  discipline,  under  which  the  novices  are  placed.  Yet 
they  also  act  in  the  same  direction  in  making  the  participation 
in  the  better  class  of  food  dependent  on  age.  Whether  the  rule 
of  the  Queensland  tribes,  or  of  those  of  New  South  Wales  and 
Victoria,  is  the  older  one,  is  a  difficult  question  to  answer.  In 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  233 

my  opinion  the  former  is  probably  the  older,  for  it  seems  to  be 
most  likely  that  where  the  old  men  have  the  power  to  do  so,  they 
will  impose  rules  which  favour  themselves,  leaving  the  disciplin- 
ary rule  to  be  the  secondary  object. 

The  universality  of  the  practice  that  the  guardians  of  the 
novice  are  of  the  relation  to  him  of  sister's  husband,  or  wife's 
brother,  is  clearly  connected  with  the  almost  universal  practice 
of  betrothal,  and  exchange  of  sister  for  sister,  in  marriage.  As, 
moreover,  the  boy  is  initiated  by  the  men  of  the  intermarrying 
moiety  of  the  tribe  other  than  his  own,  those  men  of  the  group 
from  which  his  future  wife  must  come  are  naturally  suggested 
as  his  guardians  and  preceptors  in  the  ceremonies.  Their  selec- 
tion would  be  acceptable  to  both  moieties,  that  to  which  the  novice 
belongs,  and  that  from  which  his  wife  must  come.  As,  more- 
over, the  relation  of  Kabo,  to  use  the  Yuin  term  of  relationship, 
is  not  merely  an  individual,  but  a  group  of  men,  the  arrangement 
would  have  the  strength  of  numbers,  and  a  strong  kindred  behind 
it.  Thus  the  novice,  who  is  taken  from  the  protection  of  his  own 
kindred  during  the  ceremonies,  is  placed  in  that  of  the  kindred 
of  his  future  wife,  whose  interest  it  is  that  no  harm  shall  come 
to  him. 

One  of  the  causes  which  act  strongly  in  producing  uniformity 
of  belief  and  of  practice,  is  the  fact  that  men  come  from  a  wide 
radius  of  country  to  the  ceremonies,  under  what  may  be  called  a 
ceremonial  armistice.  The  component  parts  of  the  several  tribes 
which  thus  meet  together  are  each,  in  their  furthest  limits,  in 
contact  with  still  more  distant  tribes,  with  whom  they  intermarry. 
I  have  referred  to  instances  of  a  contingent  from  a  distant 
locality  being  accompanied  by  people  of  another  tribe,  friendly 
to  them,  but  strangers  to  the  tribe  which  has  convened  the 
ceremonies.  It  is  certain  that  in  each  contingent  there  will  be 
leading  men,  probably  medicine-men,  who  will  take  part  with 
their  fellows  in  the  ceremonies  they  have  come  to  see.  When 
they  return,  they  carry  with  them  the  sacred  mysteries  of  this 
tribe,  and  will  be  able  to  introduce  such  new  beliefs  or  procedure 
as  may  have  recommended  itself  to  them,  and  they  may  on  their 
part  have  contributed  something  to  those  they  visited.  The  effect 
of  this  intercourse,  even  if  slight,  must  be  to  produce  uniformity 


234  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


in  the  procedure  of  the  ceremonies  ;  and  the  period  during  which 
this  may  have  been  going  on  is  not  to  be  measured  in  years,  that 
is,  in  view  of  the  long-continuing  isolation  of  the  Australian 
aborigines,  from  any  material  outside  influence.  The  fact  that 
the  ceremonies  are  the  same  in  principle,  even  where  they  vary 
in  practice,  seems  to  me  to  strongly  confirm  the  theory  which  I 
have  suggested  .....  —  A.  W.  HOWITT,  Native  Tribes  of  South- 
East  Australia,  529-641  (Macmillan,  1904). 

Every  Australian  native,  so  far  as  is  known,  has  in  the  normal 
condition  of  the  tribe  to  pass  through  certain  ceremonies  of  initia- 
tion before  he  is  admitted  to  the  secrets  of  the  tribe,  and  is 
regarded  as  a  fully  developed  member  of  it.  These  ceremonies 
vary  both  in  their  nature  and  number  to  a  very  large  extent  in 
different  tribes.  Those  of  the  eastern  and  south-eastern  coastal 
districts  are  entirely  different  from  those  of  the  central  tribes, 
amongst  whom  they  are  more  elaborate  and  spread  over  a  long 
series  of  years,  the  first  taking  place  at  about  the  age  of  ten  or 
twelve,  whilst  the  final  and  most  impressive  one  is  not  passed 
through  until  probably  the  native  has  reached  the  age  of  at  least 
twenty-five,  or  it  may  be  thirty.  In  the  Arunta  and  Ilpirra  tribes 
the  ceremonies  are  four  in  number  :  — 

(  i)  Painting  and  throwing  the  boy  up  in  the  air  ;  (2)  Circum- 
cision or  Lartna;  (3)  Subincision  or  Ariltha;  (4)  The  Engwura 
or  fire  ceremony. 

The  times  at  which  these  take  place  and  the  details  of  the 
ceremonies  vary  to  a  certain  extent  in  various  parts  of  the  tribes, 
which  it  must  be  remembered,  occupy  an  area  of  country  stretch- 
ing from  Charlotte  Waters  in  the  south  to  at  least  100  miles 
north  of  Alice  Springs,  that  is  over  an  area  measuring  300  miles 
north  and  south  by  at  least  loo  miles  east  and  west,  and  compris- 
ing in  the  south  a  wide  extent  of  upland,  stony  plains  and  sand 
hills,  and  in  the  north  a  succession  of  ranges  running  east  and 
west,  and  reaching  an  elevation  of  5,000  feet 

The  first  ceremony  takes  place  when  a  boy  is  between  ten  and 
twelve  years  of  age.  The  men,  and  in  this  instance  the  women 
also,  assemble  at  a  central  spot  near  to  the  main  camp,  and  the 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  235 

boys  who  have  reached  the  right  age — the  number  varying  from 
ceremony  to  ceremony — are  taken  one  by  one  and  tossed  in  the 
air  several  times  by  the  men,  who  catch  them  as  they  fall,  while 
the  women  dance  round  and  round  the  group,  swinging  their 
arms  and  shouting  loudly,  "pau,  pau,  pau-a-a,"  the  last  cry  being 
very  prolonged.  This  over,  the  boys  are  painted  on  their  chests 
and  backs,  as  shown  in  the  illustration,  with  simple  designs  consist- 
ing of  straight  or  curved  bands  outlined  by  lines  of  red  or  yellow 
ochre.  These  have  not  of  necessity  any  reference  to  the  totem 
of  the  boys.  They  are  painted  by  men  who  stand  to  the  boys 
in  the  relation  of  Umbirna,  that  is,  brother  of  a  woman  whom 
the  boy  may  marry.  In  some  cases,  at  all  events,  they  are  copied 
from  old  rock  paintings,  certain  of  which  are  associated  with 
particular  totems,  but  the  boy  will  not  of  necessity  be  decorated 
with  a  design  of  his  own  totem.  Certain  of  these  particular 
designs  are  described  in  connection  with  the  sacred  drawings. 
If  the  boy  has  what  is  called  an  Unjipinna  man,  then  it  is  the 
latter  who  will  draw  the  design  upon  him  at  the  close  of  the 
ceremony  of  throwing  up. 

In  all  the  ceremonies  of  initiation  the  youth  or  man  has  certain 
designs  painted  on  his  body,  and  in  no  case  have  they  of  necessity 
any  reference  to  his  own  totem,  though  they  are  emblematic 
of  some  totem  with  which  usually  the  man  who  does  the  painting 
is  associated.  These  designs  come  under  the  general  term  of 
Ilkinia,  the  name  applied  to  the  designs,  as  a  whole,  which  are 
emblematic  of  the  totems ;  and  so  long  as  the  boy,  youth  or  man 
has  one  or  other  of  these  painted  on  him,  it  does  not  signify 
which.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  man  who  does  the  paint- 
ing is  usually  the  person  who  decides  upon  the  nature  of  the 
design,  and  it  may  also  be  noted  that  in  the  performance  of 
sacred  ceremonies  men  are  constantly  decorated  with  designs 
of  totems  other  than  their  own. 

In  the  case  of  this,  the  first  of  the  initiatory  ceremonies,  the 
painting  of  each  boy  is  done  as  stated  by  men  who  stand  to  him 
in  the  relationship  of  Umbirna,  that  is,  a  man  who  is  the  brother 
of  a  woman  of  the  class  from  which  his,  i.  e.  the  boy's,  wife  must 
come.  The  design  is  called  Enchichichika,  and  while  they  are 


236  '  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

being  painted  the  boys  are  told  that  the  ceremony  through  which 
they  have  just  passed  will  promote  their  growth  to  manhood,  and 
they  are  also  told  by  tribal  fathers  and  elder  brothers  that  in 
future  they  must  not  play  with  the  women  and  girls,  nor  must 
they  camp  with  them  as  they  have  hitherto  done,  but  henceforth 
they  must  go  to  the  camp  of  the  men,  which  is  known  as  the 
Ungunja.  Up  to  this  time  they  have  been  accustomed  to  go  out 
with  the  women  as  they  searched  for  vegetable  food  and  the 
smaller  animals  such  as  lizards  and  rats ;  now  they  begin  to 
accompany  the  men  in  their  search  for  larger  game,  and  begin 
also  to  look  forward  to  the  time  when  they  will  become  fully 
initiated  and  admitted  to  all  the  secrets  of  the  tribe,  which  are  as 
yet  kept  hidden  from  them. 

The  ceremony  of  throwing  up  is  called  Alkirakiwuma  (from 
alkira  the  sky,  and  iwuma  to  throw),  and  very  shortly  after  this, 
sometimes  even  before  it,  the  boy  has  his  nasal  septum  bored 
through,  usually  by  his  father  or  paternal  grandfather,  and  begins 
to  wear  the  nose  bone.  This  boring  is  practised  by  men  and 
women  alike,  and  the  operation  is  attended  by  a  short  but  inter- 
esting special  ceremony,  which  is  elsewhere  described.  Amongst 
the  women  the  nose  boring  is  usually  done  by  the  husband  immedi- 
ately after  marriage,  and  it  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  in 
both  sexes  the  constant  wearing  of  the  nose  bone  emphasises  the 
flattening  out  of  the  lobes  of  the  nose. 

A  good  many  years  may  elapse  between  the  throwing  up 
ceremony  and  the  performance  of  the  two  much  more  important 
ceremonies  of  circumcision  or  Lartna,  and  that  of  subincision 
or  Ariltha*  Speaking  generally,  it  may  be  said  that  circumcision 
may  take  place  at  any  age  after  the  boy  has  arrived  at  puberty. 

Before  the  time  at  which  the  boy  is  thrown  up  in  the  air  he 
is  spoken  of  as  an  Ambaquerka,  which  is  the  term  applied  to  a 
child  generally,  of  whichever  sex  it  may  be.  After  the  throwing 
up,  and  until  the  ceremony  of  circumcision,  he  is  called  Ulpmerka. 

When  it  has  been  decided  by  the  boy's  elder  male  relatives 
(usually  his  elder  brothers)  that  he  has  arrived  at  the  proper  age, 
preparations  are  made  unknown  to  him,  for  the  carrying  out 
of  the  [Lartna]  ceremony.  These  consist  first  of  all  in  the  gath- 
ering together  of  a  large  supply  of  food  material  for  the  cere- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  237 

monies  are  attended  with  the  performance  of  what  are  usually 
spoken  of  as  corrobborees,  which  last  over  several  days.  If  a 
stranger  belonging  to  any  other  group  happens  to  be  present  in 
camp  when  the  operation  is  being  performed  he  will  take  part 
in  the  proceedings,  but  in  the  Arunta  tribe  there  is  usually  no 
sending  out  of  messengers  to  other  groups  to  bring  them  in  to 
the  performance,  as  there  is  in  the  coastal  tribes ;  nor  is  it  usual 
to  operate  upon  more  than  one,  or  at  most  two,  novices  at  the 
same  time;  each  boy  is  initiated  when  he  is  supposed  to  have 
reached  the  proper  age,  and  the  ceremony  is  controlled  by  the 
men  of  his  own  local  group,  who  may  ask  any  one  to  take  part 
or  not  in  it  just  as  they  feel  disposed. 

In  the  following  account  we  will  describe  what  took  place 
during  an  actual  ceremony,  which  was  conducted  recently  by 
a  group  of  natives  associated  with  a  spot  called  Undiara,  one  of 
the  most  important  centres  of  the  kangaroo  totem  situated  near 
to  the  Finke  River.  It  must  always  be  remembered  that  the 
details  of  these  initiation  ceremonies  vary  to  a  certain  extent 
according  to  the  locality  in  which  they  are  performed;  thus  at 
Undiara  the  men  of  the  kangaroo  totem  directed  the  proceedings, 
and  therefore  sacred  ceremonies  concerned  with  this  particular 
totem  were  much  in  evidence ;  had  Undiara  been  an  emu  locality 
then  emu  ceremonies  would  have  predominated.  Bearing  this 
in  mind,  the  ceremony  now  to  be  described  may  be  regarded  as 
typical  of  the  rite  of  circumcision  as  carried  out  by  the  natives 
living  along  the  Finke  River,  who  are  often  spoken  of  as  Lara- 
pinta  blacks  to  distinguish  them  from  other  groups,  Larapinta 
being  the  native  name  of  the  river. 

The  boy  was  seized  early  in  the  evening  at  the  Ungunja,  or 
men's  camp,  by  three  young  men  who  were  respectively  Okilia, 
Umbirna  and  Unkulla  to  him.  As  soon  as  they  laid  hands  on 
him  they  shouted  loudly,  "Utchai,  utchai,"  while  being  frightened, 
he  struggled,  trying  to  get  free  from  them.  He  was  at  once 
carried  off  bodily  to  the  ceremonial  ground  which  had  been  care- 
fully prepared  at  some  distance  from  and  out  of  sight  of  the 
main  camp,  so  that  the  women,  when  at  the  latter,  could  not  see 
anything  of  what  was  taking  place  at  the  former,  which  is  called 
the  Apulia.  A  path  about  five  feet  wide  is  cleared  of  grass  and 


238  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

shrubs,  and  the  surface  soil  is  heaped  up  on  either  side,  so  as  to 
form  a  low,  narrow  bank  of  the  same  length  as  the  path,  which  is 
some  forty  or  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  always  made  so  as  to  run 
east  and  west.  At  a  distance  of  about  forty  feet  from  the  eastern 
end  was  a  brake  of  boughs  at  which  the  men  were  assembled 
[and  behind  which  the  women  were  grouped]. 

Once  on  the  ground,  and  in  the  presence  of  all  the  men  and 
women,  the  boy  made  no  further  resistance,  but  apparently  re- 
signed himself  to  his  fate.  He  was  taken  to  the  men  and  sat 
down  amongst  them,  while  the  women,  who  had  been  awaiting 
his  arrival,  at  once  began  to  dance,  carrying  shields  in  their  hands. 
The  reason  assigned  for  this  is  that  in  the  Alcheringa  certain 
women  called  Unthippa  carried  along  with  them  as  they  travelled 
over  the  country  a  number  of  young  boys  who  were  just  being 
initiated.  As  they  travelled  along,  dancing  the  whole  way,  they 
also  carried  shields:  and  therefore  it  is  that,  at  the  present  day, 
trfe  initiation  ceremony  must  commence  with  an  imitation  of  the 
Unthippa  dance  of  the  Alcheringa.  Except  in  connection  with 
this  ceremony  women  may  never  carry  shields,  which  are  ex- 
clusively the  property  of  the  men,  just  as  much  as  the  digging- 
stick  is  the  peculiar  property  of  a  woman.  While  the  women 
were  dancing  the  men  sang  of  the  marching  of  the  Unthippa 
women  across  the  country.  After  the  boy  had  watched  and 
listened  for  some  time,  an  Unkulla  man  came  up  and  twined 
round  and  round  his  hair  strands  of  fur  string,  until  it  looked 
as  if  his  head  were  enclosed  in  a  tight-fitting  skull  cap.  Then  a 
man  who  was  Gammona  to  him  came  up  and  fastened  round  his 
waist  a  large  Uliara,  that  is,  the  human  hair  girdle  worn  by  the 
men,  the  girdle  being  provided  by  an  Oknia  of  the  boy.  The 
two  first-named  men  were  respectively  the  brother  of  the  boy's 
mother  and  the  son  of  this  man,  the  Oknia  being  a  tribal  brother 
of  the  boy's  father  who  was  dead,  as  also  was  the  actual  mother. 
After  this  a  council  of  the  Oknia  and  Okilia  of  the  novice  was 
held,  and  three  men,  who  were  respectively  Mura,  Gammona  and 
Chimmia,  were  told  off  to  take  the  boy  away  and  paint  him. 
These  men  are  afterward  called  Wulya,  or  Uwilia,  by  the  boy. 
They  first  of  all  went  away  and  built  a  second  brake  of  bushes 
at  the  western  end  of  the  Apulia,  at  a  distance  of  about  forty 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  239 

feet  from  the  end  of  the  cleared  path,  so  that  in  position  the 
second  brake  corresponded  to  the  first  one  at  the  opposite  end. 
This  was  henceforth  to  be  the  brake  behind  which  the  boy  had 
to  remain  except  when  brought  on  to  the  ground  to  witness  per- 
formances. When  this  had  been  made  the  three  men  returned 
and  led  the  boy  through  the  dancing  women  to  his  brake,  where, 
with  great  deliberation,  they  rubbed  him  all  over  with  grease, 
and  then  decorated  his  body  with  pinkish-white  clay  and  bird's 
down. 

During  all  the  proceedings  every  detail,  such  as  the  appointing 
of  the  various  officials,  was  determined  upon  by  a  council  of  men 
consisting  of  the  Oknia  (tribal  fathers)  and  Okilia  (blood  and 
tribal  elder  brothers)  of  the  novice,  and  of  this  council  the  elder 
Oknia  was  head  man. 

After  painting  him,  the  Uzvilia  told  the  boy  that  he  was  now 
no  longer  an  Ulpmerka  but  a  Wurtja,  that  during  the  proceed- 
ings about  to  follow  he  must  render  implicit  obedience,  and  on 
no  account  must  he  ever  tell  any  woman  or  boy  anything  of 
what  he  was  about  to  see.  Should  he  ever  reveal  any  of  the 
secrets,  then  he  and  his  nearest  relations  would  surely  die.  He 
must  not  speak  unless  spoken  to,  and  even  then  his  words  must 
be  as  few  as  possible,  and  spoken  in  a  low  tone.  He  was  further 
told  to  remain  crouched  down  behind  his  brake  when  left  there, 
and  that  on  no  account  must  he  make  the  slightest  attempt  to 
see  what  the  men  at  their  brake  were  doing.  Should  he  try  to 
see  what  was  going  on  at  the  Apulia,  except  when  taken  there 
and  told  to  watch,  some  great  calamity  would  happen  to  him — 
Twanyikira,  the  great  spirit  whose  voice  was  heard  when  the 
bull-roarers  spoke,  would  carry  him  away.  When  these  instruc- 
tions had  been  given  to  him  by  the  Uwilia  they  went  away,  and 
he  was  then  visited  by  his  Okilia,  who  repeated  precisely  the 
same  instructions,  and  after  this  the  Wurtja  was  left  for  an  hour 
or  two  to  his  own  reflections.  Meanwhile  a  man  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  act  as  Urinthantima,  whose  duty  will  be  seen  shortly, 
and  until  daylight  dawned  the  dancing  and  singing  went  on  with 
astonishing  vigour.  Then  one  of  the  Okilia  went  and  brought 
back  the  Wurtja,  passing  with  him  as  before  through  the  middle 
of  the  dancing  women,  who  opened  out  to  allow  them  to  pass 


240  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

through,  and  placed  him  sitting  on  the  lap  of  the  Urinthantima 
man. 

The  oldest  Mia  woman  of  the  boy  (his  actual  Mia  or  mother 
being  dead)  had  brought  with  her  from  her  own  camp  a  fire-stick, 
which  she  had  been  careful  to  keep  alight  all  night.  At  daylight 
she  lit  a  fire  by  means  of  this,  and  then  took  two  long  sticks  with 
which  she  had  provided  herself,  and  lighting  them  at  the  fire, 
went  and  sat  down,  holding  them  in  her  hands,  immediately 
behind  the  Urinthantima  man.  The  Uwinna,  that  is  the  sisters 
of  the  boy's  father,  went  and  also  sat  down  along  with  her.  Then 
as  the  men  began  to  sing  a  special  fire  song,  she  handed  one  of 
the  fire-sticks  to  the  woman  who  was  the  Mura  tualcha  of  the 
boy,  that  is  the  woman  whose  eldest  daughter,  born  or  unborn, 
has  been  assigned  to  the  Wurtja  as  his  future  wife,  so  that  she 
is  potentially  his  mother-in-law.  While  the  singing  went  on  this 
woman  approached  the  boy,  and,  after  tying  round  his  neck 
bands  of  fur  string,  she  handed  to  him  the  fire-stick,  telling  him 
as  she  did  so  to  always  hold  fast  to  his  own  fire — in  other  words 
not  to  interfere  with  women  assigned  to  other  men.  After  this, 
at  a  signal  from  an  old  Okilia,  the  Wurtja  got  up  and  ran  away, 
followed  by  a  number  of  shouting  boys,  who  after  a  short  time 
returned,  and,  along  with  the  women,  left  the  Apulia  ground  and 
ran  back  to  the  main  camp.  The  old  Mia  took  her  fire-stick  with 
her,  and  in  camp  guarded  it  with  great  care,  fixing  it  at  an  angle 
into  the  ground  so  as  to  catch  the  wind  and  ensure  its  being  kept 
alight.  The  Wurtja  had,  whilst  in  his  camp,  to  guard  his  fire- 
stick  in  just  the  same  way,  and  was  cautioned  that  if  he  lost  it, 
or  allowed  it  to  go  out,  both  he  and  his  Mia  would  be  killed  by 
Kurdaitcha.  On  the  day  on  which  he  was  taken  back  to  the  camp, 
they  both  threw  away  their  fire-sticks. 

When  the  Wurtja  left  the  Apulia,  he  was  accompanied  by 
some  Okilia  and  Unkulla  men  who  remained  out  in  the  bush  with 
him  for  three  days.  During  this  time  nothing  of  any  special 
nature  happened  to  him  beyond  the  fact  that  he  might  not  speak 
unless  he  was  first  spoken  to,  which  seldom  took  place,  and 
that  he  might  not  eat  freely,  though  as  yet  he  was  not  bound 
by  the  restrictions  with  regard  to  food  which  he  would  shortly 
have  to  obey.  The  main  object  of  this  partial  seclusion  is  to 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  241 

impress  him  with  the  fact  that  he  is  about  to  enter  the  ranks  of 
the  men,  and  to  mark  the  break  between  his  old  life  and  the  new 
one ;  he  has  no  precise  knowledge  of  what  is  in  store  for  him,  and 
the  sense  that  something  out  of  the  ordinary  is  about  to  happen 
to  him — something  moreover  which  is  of  a  more  or  less  mysteri- 
ous nature — helps  to  impress  him  strongly  with  a  feeling  of  the 
deep  importance  of  compliance  with  tribal  rules,  and  further  still 
with  a  strong  sense  of  the  superiority  of  the  older  men  who 
know,  and  are  familiar  with,  all  the  mysterious  rites,  some  of 
which  he  is  about  to  learn  the  meaning  of  for  the  first  time. 

On  the  fourth  day  the  Wurtja  was  brought  back,  and  at 
once  placed  behind  his  brake,  which  is  called  Atnumbanta,  and 
from  which  he  might  not  move  without  the  permission  of  one  of 
the  Okilia  who  had  been  told  off  to  guard  him,  and  whose  father 
was  the  Oknia  who  acted  as  the  head  man  of  the  council.  On 
the  night  of  the  fourth  day  the  men  sang  of  the  marchings  of 
the  men  of  the  Ullakuppera  (little  hawk)  totem  in  the  Alcheringa, 
and  of  their  operations  with  their  famous  Lialira  or  stone  knives. 
It  was  these  men  who,  according  to  tradition,  first  introduced 
the  use  of  a  stone  knife  at  circumcision,  the  operation  having 
been  previously  conducted  by  means  of  a  fire-stick.  At  times 
they  broke  into  the  Lartna  song: 

Irri  yulta  yulta  rai 

Ul  katchera  ul  katchar-rai, 

which  is  always  sung  in  loud  fierce  tones.  About  midnight  two 
Okilia  went  to  the  Wwrtjafs  brake,  and  having  put  a  bandage 
round  his  eyes  led  him  to  the  men  who  sat  as  usual  on  the  side 
of  their  brake  facing  towards  the  Apulia.  Here  he  was  placed 
lying  face  downwards,  until  two  men  who  were  going  to  perform 
a  ceremony  were  in  position  between  the  Apulia  lines.  The 
Quabara,  which  they  were  about  to  perform,  was  one  of  a  certain 
number  which  are  only  performed  at  a  time  such  as  this,  though 
in  all  important  respects  these  Quabara  are  identical  with  those 
performed  during  various  ceremonies  concerned  with  the  totems. 
When  the  boy  was  told  by  his  Okilia  and  Oknia  to  sit  up  and  look 
he  saw,  lying  in  front  of  him,  and  on  his  side,  a  decorated  man 
whom  the  Okilia  and  Oknia,  both  of  them  speaking  at  once,  told 
him  represented  a  wild  dog.  At  the  other  end  of  the  Apulia  a 


242  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

decorated  man  stood,  with  legs  wide  apart,  holding  up  twigs  of 
Eucalyptus  in  each  hand,  and  having  his  head  ornamented  with 
a  small  Waninga,  which  is  a  sacred  object  emblematic  of  some 
totemic  animal,  in  this  particular  case  a  kangaroo.  This  man 
moved  his  head  from  side  to  side,  as  if  looking  for  something, 
and  every  now  and  then  uttered  a  sound  similar  to  that  made  by  a 
kangaroo,  which  animal  he  was  supposed  to  represent.  Suddenly 
the  dog  looked  up,  saw  the  kangaroo,  began  barking,  and,  run- 
ning along  on  all  fours,  passed  between  the  man's  legs  and  lay 
down  behind  the  man,  who  kept  watching  him  over  his  shoulder. 
Then  the  dog  ran  again  between  the  kangaroo-man's  legs,  but 
this  time  he  was  caught  and  well  shaken,  and  a  pretence  was 
made  of  dashing  his  head  against  the  ground,  whereupon  he 
howled  as  if  in  pain.  These  movements  were  repeated  several 
times,  and  finally  the  dog  was  supposed  to  be  killed  by  the  kanga- 
roo. After  a  short  pause  the  dog  ran  along  on  all  fours  to  where 
the  Wurtja  sat  and  laid  himself  on  top  of  the  boy,  then  the  old 
kangaroo  hopped  along  and  got  on  top  of  both  of  them,  so  that 
the  Wurtja  had  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  two  men  for  about 
two  minutes.  When  the  performers  got  up,  the  Wurtja,  still 
lying  down,  was  told  by  the  old  men  that  the  Quabara 
represented  an  incident  which  took  place  in  the  Alcheringa, 
when  a  wild  dog-man  attacked  a  kangaroo-man,  and  was  killed 
by  the  latter.  The  article  which  the  kangaroo  wore  on  its  head 
was  a  Waninga,  which  was  a  sacred  object,  and  must  never  be 
mentioned  in  the  hearing  of  women  and  children ;  it  belonged  to 
the  kangaroo  totem,  and  was  indeed  the  representative  of  a 
kangaroo.  When  all  had  been  explained  to  him,  he  was  led 
back  to  his  brake,  and  the  men  continued  singing  at  intervals 
all  night  long. 

The  Quabara,  which  are  performed  at  these  initiation  cere- 
monies, vary  according  to  the  locality  in  which  they  are  being 
performed,  and  the  men  who  are  taking  the  leading  part  in  them. 
If,  for  example,  the  old  man  who  is  presiding  belongs  to  the  emu 
totem,  then  the  Quabara  will  at  all  events  to  a  certain,  and 
probably  a  large  extent,  deal  with  incidents  concerned  with  ances- 
tral emu  men.  In  the  particular  ceremony  upon  which  this 
account  is  based,  the  old  man  presiding  belonged  to  the  kangaroo 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  243 

totem,  and  therefore  Quabara  belonging  especially  to  this  totem 
were  much  in  evidence.  The  totem  of  the  novice  has  no  influence 
whatever  on  the  nature  of  the  particular  Quabara  performed. 
Each  old  man  who  presides  over,  or  takes  the  leading  part  in,  a 
ceremony  such  as  this  has  possession  of  a  certain  number  of 
Quabara,  and  naturally  those  performed  are  chosen  from  this 
series  as  they  are  the  ones  which  he  has  the  right  to  perform. 
It  is  necessary  also  to  remember  that  ceremonial  objects,  such 
as  the  Waninga,  which  figure  largely  in  some  districts,  are  un- 
known in  others  where  their  place  is  taken  by  entirely  different 
objects.  Thus,  for  example,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Arunta 
and  in  the  Ilpirra  tribe,  a  sacred  pole  called  a  Nurtunja  is  used, 
and  in  these  parts  this  has  precisely  the  significance  of  the  Wa- 
ninga,  which  is  never  met  with  in  the  northern  districts,  just  as 
the  Nurtunja  is  never  met  with  in  the  south. 

On  the  fifth  day,  in  the  afternoon,  another  performance  in 
which  two  kangaroos  and  one  dog  figured  was  given.  The 
kangaroos  wore,  as  before,  small  Waninga  in  their  hair,  and 
this  time  carried  between  their  teeth,  and  also  in  their  hair, 
bunches  of  wooden  shavings  soaked  in  blood,  which  were  sup- 
posed to  represent  wounds  received  from  the  bites  of  the  dogs. 
The  performance  was  essentially  similar  to  that  of  the  previous 
day,  and  the  antics  of  the  dog  as  he  ran  round  and  looked  up, 
barking  at  the  kangaroo  or  howled  lustily  as  his  head  was  bumped 
against  the  ground  brought  smiles  to  every  face  except  that  of 
the  Wurtja.  Finally  the  dog  ran  along  and  got  on  top  of  the 
IVurtja,  and  then  the  two  kangaroos  followed,  so  that  this  time 
the  boy  had  three  men  on  top  of  him.  When  all  was  over  he 
was  once  more  instructed,  cautioned,  and  taken  back  to  his  brake. 

On  the  sixth  day  the  Wurtja  was  taken  out  hunting  by  Okilia 
and  Umbirna  men,  and  the  night  was  spent  in  singing  with  little 
intermission  songs  which  referred  to  the  wanderings  of  certain 
of  the  Alcheringa  ancestors,  to  which  the  IVurtja,  sitting  quietly 
at  the  men's  brake,  listened. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  now  for  the  first  time  that 
the  Wurtja  hears  anything  of  these  traditions  and  sees  the  cere- 
monies performed,  in  which  the  ancestors  of  the  tribe  are  repre- 
sented as  they  were,  and  acting  as  they  did  during  life.  In 


244  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

various  accounts  of  initiation  ceremonies  of  the  Australian  tribes, 
as,  for  example,  in  the  earliest  one  ever  published — the  one 
written  by  Collins  in  1804 — we  meet  with  descriptions  of  per- 
formances in  which  different  animals  are  represented,  but  except 
in  the  case  of  the  Arunta  tribe,  no  indication  of  the  meaning  and 
signification  of  these  performances  has  been  forthcoming  beyond 
the  fact  that  they  are  associated  with  the  totems.  In  the  Arunta 
and  Ilpirra  tribes  they  are  not  only  intimately  associated  with  the 
totemic  system,  but  have  a  very  definite  meaning.  Whether  they 
have  a  similar  significance  in  other  tribes  we  have  as  yet  no 
definite  evidence  to  show,  but  it  is  at  all  events  worthy  of  note 
that  whilst  the  actual  initiation  rite  varies  from  tribe  to  tribe, 
consisting  in  some  in  the  knocking  out  of  teeth,  and  in  others 
in  circumcision,  &c.,  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  an  important  part  of 
the  ceremony  consists  in  showing  to  the  novices  certain  dances, 
the  important  and  common  feature  of  which  is  that  they  repre- 
sent the  actions  of  special  totemic  animals.  In  the  Arunta  tribe, 
however,  they  have  a  very  definite  meaning.  At  the  first  glance 
it  looks  much  as  if  all  that  they  were  intended  to  represent  were 
the  behaviour  of  certain  animals,  but  in  reality  they  have  a  much 
deeper  meaning,  for  each  performer  represents  an  ancestral  indi- 
vidual who  lived  in  the  Alcheringa.  He  was  a  member  of  a 
group  of  individuals,  all  of  whom,  just  like  himself,  were  the 
direct  descendants  or  transformations  of  the  animals,  the  names 
of  which  they  bore.  It  is  as  a  reincarnation  of  the  never-dying 
spirit  part  of  one  of  these  semi-animal  ancestors  that  every  mem- 
ber of  the  tribe  is  born,  and,  therefore,  when  born  he,  or  she, 
bears  of  necessity  the  name  of  the  animal  or  plant  of  which  the 
Alcheringa  ancestor  was  a  transformation  or  descendant. 

The  nature  of  these  performances  may  be  gathered  from  one 
which  was  performed  on  the  next — the  seventh  day.  As  usual 
in  all  these  ceremonies,  the  body  of  the  performer  was  decorated 
with  ochre,  and  lines  of  birds'  down,  which  were  supposed  to  be 
arranged  in  just  the  same  way  as  they  had  been  on  the  body  of 
the  Alcheringa  man.  From  his  waist  was  suspended  a  ball  of 
fur  string,  which  was  supposed  to  represent  the  scrotum  of  the 
kangaroo,  and  when  all  was  ready  the  performer  came  hopping 
leisurely  out  from  behind  the  men's  brake,  where  he  had  been 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  245 

decorated,  lying  down  every  now  and  then  on  his  side  to  rest  as 
a  kangaroo  does.  The  boy  had,  as  usual,  been  brought  blind- 
folded on  to  the  ground,  and  at  first  was  made  to  lie  flat  down. 
When  the  performer  hopped  out  he  was  told  to  get  up  and  watch. 
For  about  ten  minutes  the  performer  went  through  the  character- 
istic movements  of  the  animal,  acting  the  part  very  cleverly, 
while  the  men  sitting  round  the  Wurtja  sang  of  the  wanderings 
of  the  kangaroo  in  the  Alcheringa.  Then  after  a  final  and  very 
leisurely  hop  round  the  Apulia  ground  the  man  came  and  lay 
down  on  top  of  the  Wurtja,  who  was  then  instructed  in  the  tradi- 
tion to  which  the  performance  refers.  He  was  told  that  in  the 
Alcheringa  a  party  of  kangaroo  men  started  from  a  place  called 
Ultainta,  away  out  to  the  east  of  what  is  now  called  Charlotte 
Waters,  and  that  after  wandering  about  they  came  to  a  spot 
called  Karinga  (in  the  Edith  Range  about  thirty  miles  south- 
west of  Alice  Springs),  where  one  of  the  party  who  was  named 
Unburtcha  died;  that  is,  his  body  died,  but  the  spirit  part  of 
him  was  in  a  sacred  Churinga,  which  he  carried  and  did  not 
die,  but  remained  behind  along  with  the  Churinga  when  the  party 
travelled  on.  This  spirit,  the  old  men  told  him,  went,  at  a  later 
time,  into  a  woman,  and  was  born  again  as  a  Purula  man,  whose 
name  was,  of  course,  Unburtcha,  and  who  was  a  kangaroo  man 
just  as  his  ancestor  was.  He  was  told  that  the  old  men  know  all 
about  these  matters,  and  decide  who  has  come  to  life  again  in 
the  form  of  a  man  or  woman.  Sometimes  the  spirit  child  which 
goes  into  a  woman  is  associated  with  one  of  the  sacred  Churinga, 
numbers  of  which  every  Alcheringa  individual  carried  about 
with  him  or  her  (for  in  those  days  the  women  were  allowed  to 
carry  them  just  as  the  men  were),  and  then,  in  this  case,  the  child 
has  no  definite  name,  but  of  course  it  belongs  to  the  same  totem 
as  did  the  individual  who  had  carried  the  Churinga  about  in  the 
Alcheringa;  that  is,  if  it  were  a  kangaroo  man  or  woman,  so  of 
course  must  the  child  be,  and  then  the  old  men  determine  what 
shall  be  its  secret  or  sacred  name. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  the  boy  during  the  initiation  ceremonies 
is  instructed,  for  the  first  time,  in  any  of  the  sacred  matters 
referring  to  the  totems,  and  it  is  by  means  of  the  performances 
which  are  concerned  with  certain  animals,  or  rather,  apparently 


246  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

•  *    , 

with  the  animals,  but  in  reality  with  Alcheringa  individuals 
who  were  the  direct  transformations  of  such  animals,  that  the 
traditions  dealing  with  this  subject,  which  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance in  the  eyes  of  the  natives,  are  firmly  impressed  upon 
the  mind  of  the  novice,  to  whom  everything  which  he  sees  and 
hears  is  new  and  surrounded  with  an  air  of  mystery 

The  Engwura,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  some  parts  of  the  tribe, 
Urumpilla,  is  in  reality  a  long  series  of  ceremonies  concerned 
with  the  totems,  and  terminating  in  what  may  be  best  described 
as  ordeals  by  fire,  which  form  the  last  of  the  initiatory  cere- 
monies. After  the  native  has  passed  through  these  he  becomes 
what  is  called  Urliara,  that  is,  a  perfectly  developed  member  of 
the  tribe.  We  cannot  fully  translate  the  meaning  of  either  term, 
but  each  of  them  is  formed,  in  part,  of  the  word  ura,  which 
means  fire.  The  natives  themselves  say  that  the  ceremony  has 
the  effect  of  strengthening  all  who  pass  through  it.  It  imparts 
courage  and  wisdom,  makes  the  men  more  kindly  natured  and 
less  apt  to  quarrel ;  in  short,  it  makes  them  ertwa  murra  oknirra, 
words  which  respectively  mean  "man,  good,  great  or  very,"  the 
word  good  being,  of  course,  used  with  the  meaning  attached  to 
it  by  the  native.  Evidently  the  main  objects  of  it  are,  firstly, 
to  bring  the  young  men  under  the  control  of  the  old  men,  whose 
commands  they  have  to  obey  implicitly;  secondly,  to  teach  them 
habits  of  self-restraint  and  hardihood ;  and  thirdly,  to  show  to  the 
younger  men  who  have  arrived  at  mature  age,  the  sacred  secrets 
of  the  tribe  which  are  concerned  with  the  Churinga  and  the 
totems  with  which  they  are  associated. 

The  Engwura  may  be  performed  in  various  places,  but,  as 
it  is  a  ceremony  at  which  men  and  women  gather  together  from 
all  parts  of  the  tribe,  and  sometimes  also  from  other  tribes,  a 
central  position  is  preferred  if  it  be  intended  to  carry  it  out  on  a 
large  scale.  It  is,  indeed,  a  time  when  the  old  men  from  all 
parts  of  the  tribe  come  together  and  discuss  matters.  Councils 
of  the  elder  men  are  held  day  by  day,  by  which  we  do  not  mean 
that  there  is  anything  of  a  strictly  formal  nature,  but  that  con- 
stantly groups  of  the  elder  men  may  be  seen  discussing  matters 
of  tribal  interest;  all  the  old  traditions  of  the  tribe  are  repeated 
and  discussed,  and  it  is  by  means  of  meetings  such  as  this,  that 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  247 

a  knowledge  of  the  unwritten  history  of  the  tribe  and  of  its 
leading  members  is  passed  on  from  generation  to  generation. 
Not  only  this,  but  while  the  main  effect  is  undoubtedly  to  preserve 
custom,  yet  on  the  other  hand,  changes  introduced  in  one  part  of 
the  tribe  (and,  despite  the  great  conservatism  of  the  native  such 
changes  do  take  place)  can  by  means  of  these  gatherings,  become 
generally  adopted  in  much  less  time  than  would  be  the  case  if 
they  had  to  slowly  filter  through,  as  it  were,  from  one  locality 
to  another. 

Some  idea  of  the  importance  of  the  ceremony  may  be  gathered 
from  the  fact  that  the  one  which  we  witnessed  commenced  in 
the  middle  of  September,  and  continued  till  the  middle  of  the 
succeeding  January,  during  which  time  there  was  a  constant 
succession  of  ceremonies,  not  a  day  passing  without  one,  while 
there  were  sometimes  as  many  as  five  or  six  within  the  twenty- 
four  hours.  They  were  held  at  various  hours,  always  one  or  more 
during  the  daylight,  and  not  infrequently  one  or  two  during  the 
night,  a  favourite  time, being  just  before  sunrise 

For  the  purpose  of  making  things  clear  we  may  briefly  refer 
again  to  the  constitution  of  the  tribe.  The  whole  area  over 
which  it  extends  is  divided  up  into  a  large  number  of  localities, 
each  of  which  is  owned  and  inhabited  by  a  local  group  of  indi- 
viduals, and  each  such  locality  is  identified  with  some  particular 
totem  which  gives  its  name  to  the  members  of  the  local  group. 
The  term  used  by  the  native,  which  is  here  translated  by  the 
word  totem,  is  Oknanikilla.  If  you  ask  a  man  what  is  his 
Oknanikilla  he  will  reply  Erlia  (emu),  Unchichera  (frog), 
Achilpa  (wild-cat),  &c.,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Special  men  of  the  Alcheringa  are  associated  with  special 
localities  in  which  they  become  changed  into  spirit  individuals, 
each  associated  with  a  Churinga,  and  with  each  locality  are 
associated  also  certain  ceremonies  which  in  the  Alcheringa  were 
performed  by  these  individuals,  and  have  been  handed  down 
from  that  time  to  the  present.  Each  local  group  has  also,  as 
already  described,  its  own  Ertnatulunga,  or  sacred  storehouse,  in 
which  the  Churinga  are  kept.  The  men  assembled  at  the  Eng- 
wura  represented  various  local  totem  groups,  and  they — that  is, 


248  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  older  men  of  each  group — had  brought  with  them  numbers 
of  the  Churinga  from  the  storehouses. 

Each  totem  has  its  own  ceremonies,  and  each  of  the  latter  may 
be  regarded  as  the  property  of  some  special  individual  who  has 
received  it  by  right  of  inheritance  from  its  previous  owner,  such 
as  a  father  or  elder  brother,  or  he  may  have,  in  the  case  of  the 
men  who  are  supposed  to  possess  the  faculty  of  seeing  and  holding 
intercourse  with  the  Iruntarinia  or  spirits,  received  it  as  a  gift 
directly  from  the  latter,  who  have  at  some  time,  so  he  tells  his 
fellows,  performed  it  for  his  benefit  and  then  presented  it  to 
him.  This  means  either  that  he  has  had  a  dream  during  which 
he  has  seen  a  ceremony  acted,  which  is  quite  as  real  a  thing  to 
him  as  actually  seeing  it  when  awake,  or  that  being  of  a  more 
original  and  ingenious  turn  of  mind  than  his  fellows — as  the 
men  skilled  in  magic  certainly  are — he  has  invented  it  for  him- 
self and  has  then  told  the  others,  who  implicitly  believe  in  his 
supernatural  powers,  that  the  spirits  have  presented  it  to  him.1 
Each  ceremony,  further,  is  not  only  connected  with  some 
totem,  but  with  a  particular  local  group  of  the  totem,  and  its 
name  indicates  the  fact.  Thus  we  have  the  Quabara  Unjiamba 
of  Ooraminna,  which  is  a  performance  connected  with  the 
Unjiamba  or  Hakea  flower  totem  of  a  place  called  Ooraminna, 
the  Quabara  Ulpmerka  of  Quiurnpa,  which  is  a  ceremony  con- 
cerned with  certain  Ulpmerka,  or  uncircumcised  men  of  the  plum 
tree  totem  of  a  place  called  Quiurnpa,  and  so  on. 

Naturally  the  ceremonies  performed  at  any  Engwura  depend 
upon  the  men  who  are  present — that  is,  if  at  one  Engwura  special 
totems  are  better  represented  than  others,  then  the  ceremonies 
connected  with  them  will  preponderate.  There  does  not  appear 
to  be  anything  like  a  special  series  which  must  of  necessity  be 
performed,  and  the  whole  programme  is  arranged,  so  to  speak, 
by  the  leading  man,  whose  decision  is  final,  but  who  frequently 
consults  with  certain  of  the  other  older  men.  He  invites  the  own- 
attention  may  be  drawn  to  the  fact  that  in  the  Arunta  tribe  the  men 
who  are  supposed  to  be  able  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  spirits  and  to 
receive  these  ceremonies  from  them  are  quite  distinct  from  those  usually 
called  "medicine-men,"  and  that  both  the  former  and  the  latter  are  charac- 
teristically the  reverse  of  nervous  or  excitable  in  temperament. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  249 

ers  of  different  ceremonies  to  perform  them,  but  without  his 
sanction  and  initiation  nothing  is  done.  Very  often  the  perform- 
ance is  limited  to  one  or  perhaps  two  men,  but  in  others  a  larger 
number  may  take  part,  the  largest  number  which  we  saw  being 
eleven.  The  man  to  whom  the  performance  belongs  may  either 
take  part  in  it  himself,  or,  not  infrequently,  he  may  invite  some 
one  else  to  perform  it,  this  being  looked  upon  as  a  distinct  compli- 
ment. The  performer,  or  performers,  need  not  of  necessity 
belong  to  the  totem  with  which  the  ceremony  is  concerned,  nor 
need  they  of  necessity  belong  to  the  same  moiety  of  the  tribe  to 
which  the  owner  does.  In  some  cases  while  preparations  are 
being  made  for  the  ceremony  only  the  members  of  one  moiety 
will  be  present,  but  very  often  there  is  no  such  restriction  as  this. 
In  many  instances  those  who  are  present  during  the  preparation 
are  the  men  who  belong  to  the  district  with  which  the  ceremony 
is  associated.  Frequently  we  noticed,  for  example,  that  the  men 
from  a  southern  locality  would  be  associated  in  preparing  for  a 
ceremony  connected  with  a  southern  locality,  and,  in  the  same 
way,  men  from  the  north  would  be  present  during  the  prepara- 
tions for  a  ceremony  concerned  with  a  northern  locality. 

Not  infrequently  two  performances  would  be  prepared  simul- 
taneously, and  when  this  was  so  one  of  them  would  be  a  ceremony 
concerned  with  Panunga  and  Bukhara  men  and  the  other  with 
Purula  and  Kumara  men.  Under  these  circumstances  one  group 
would  consist  of  the  one  moiety  and  the  other  of  the  other  moiety, 
and  they  would  be  separated  by  some  little  distance  and  so  placed 
in  the  bed  of  the  creek  that  they  could  not  see  one  another. 

Speaking  generally,  it  may  be  said  that  every  man  who  was 
a  member  of  the  special  totem  with  which  any  given  ceremony 
was  concerned  would  have  the  right  of  being  present  during  the 
preparation,  but  no  one  else  would  come  near  except  by  special 
invitation  of  the  individual  to  whom  it  belonged,  and  he  could 
invite  any  one  belonging  to  any  class  or  totem  to  be  present  or  to 
take  part  in  the  performance.  The  mixture  of  men  of  all  groups 
is  to  be  associated  with  the  fact  that  the  Engwura  is  an  occasion 
on  which  members  of  all  divisions  of  the  tribe  and  of  all  totems 
are  gathered  together,  and  one  of  the  main  objects  of  which  is 
the  handing  on  to  the  younger  men  of  the  knowledge  carefully 


250  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

treasured  up  by  the  older  men  of  the  past  history  of  the  tribe 
so  far  as  it  is  concerned  with  the  totems  and  the  Churinga. 

On  this  occasion  everything  was  under  the  immediate  control 
of  one  special  old  man,  who  was  a  perfect  repository  of  tribal 
lore.  Without  apparently  any  trouble  or  the  slightest  hitch  he 
governed  the  whole  camp,  comprising  more  than  a  hundred  full- 
grown  natives,  who  were  taking  part  in  the  ceremony.  Whilst 
the  final  decision  on  all  points  lay  in  his  hands,  there  was  what 
we  used  to  call  the  "cabinet,"  consisting  of  this  old  man  and  three 
of  the  elders,  who  often  met  together  to  discuss  matters.  Fre- 
quently the  leader  would  get  up  from  the  men  amongst  whom 
he  was  sitting,  and  apparently  without  a  word  being  spoken  or 
any  sign  made,  the  other  three  would  rise  and  follow  him  one 
after  the  other,  walking  away  to  a  secluded  spot  in  the  bed  of  the 
creek.  Here  they  would  gravely  discuss  matters  concerned  with 
the  ceremonies  to  be  performed,  and  then  the  leader  would  give 
his  orders  and  everything  would  work  with  perfect  regularity 
and  smoothness.  The  effect  on  the  younger  men  was  naturally 
to  heighten  their  respect  for  the  old  men  and  to  bring  them  under 
the  control  of  the  latter.  With  the  advent  of  the  white  man  on 
the  scene  and  the  consequent  breaking  down  of  old  customs,  such 
a  beneficial  control  exercised  by  the  elder  over  the  younger  men 
rapidly  becomes  lost,  and  the  native  as  rapidly  degenerates.  On 
the  one  hand  the  younger  men  do  not  take  the  interest  in  the 
tribal  customs  which  their  fathers  did  before  them,  and  on  the 
other  the  old  men  will  not  reveal  tribal  secrets  to  the  young  men 
unless  they  show  themselves  worthy  of  receiving  such  knowledge. 

After  these  few  general  remarks  we  may  pass  on  to  describe 
more  in  detail  certain  of  the  ceremonies  which  will  serve  to  illus- 
trate the  long  series. 

The  first  phase  of  the  proceedings  was  opened  by  the  Alice 
Springs  natives  performing  the  Atnimokita  corrobboree,  which 
occupied  ten  evenings.  As  a  mark  of  respect  and  courtesy  it 
was  decided  by  the  Alatunja  of  the  group,  after,  as  usual,  con- 
sultation with  the  older  men,  that  this  corrobboree  should  be 
handed  over  in  a  short  time  to  the  man  who  took  the  leading 
part  in  the  Engwura  and  who  belonged  to  a  more  southern  group. 
When  once  this  handing  over  has  taken  place,  it  will  never  again 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  251 

be  performed  at  Alice  Springs.  As  soon  as  the  Atnimokita  per- 
formance was  concluded,  another  called  the  Illyonpa  was  com- 
menced, and  this  also  occupied  ten  nights.  Two  days  after  it 
had  begun  the  old  leader  of  the  Engwura  went  down  to  the 
ground  which  had  been  chosen — the  corrobborees  mentioned 
taking  place  at  a  separate  spot  visited  by  men  and  women  alike — 
and  digging  up  the  loose,  sandy  soil  he  made  a  low  mound  called 
the  Parra,  measuring  about  thirty  feet  in  length,  two  feet  in 
width  and  one  foot  in  height.  It  was  ornamented  with  a  row  of 
small  gum  tree  boughs,  which  were  fixed  one  after  the  other 
along  the  length  of  the  mound,  and  is  said  to  represent  a  tract 
of  country,  but,  despite  long  inquiry,  we  have  not  been  able  to 
find  out  what  is  the  exact  meaning  of  the  word  Parra.  All  that 
the  men  could  tell  us  was  that  it  had  always  been  made  so  during 
the  Engwura — their  fathers  had  made  it  and  therefore  they  did — 
and  that  it  was  always  made  to  run  north  and  south,  because  in 
the  Alcheringa  the  wild  cat  people  marched  in  that  direction.  On 
the  level  flat  to  the  western  side  of  this  Parra  the  sacred  cere- 
monies forthwith  began  to  be  performed. 

When  the  Illyonpa  corrobboree  had  come  to  an  end,  no  more 
ordinary  dancing  festivals  were  held  until  the  close  of  the  whole 
proceedings  some  three  months  later.  From  this  time  onwards, 
and  until  the  last  act  of  the  Engwura  is  performed  the  younger 
men  who  are  passing  through  the  ceremony  must  separate  them- 
selves completely  from  the  women,  and  are  entirely  under  the 
control  of  the  older  men.  They  must  obey  the  latter  implicitly. 
Their  days  are  spent  either  in  hunting,  so  as  to  secure  food,  the 
greater  part  of  which  is  supposed  to  be  brought  in  to  the  older 
men  who  remain  in  camp,  or  in  watching  the  ceremonies,  or  in 
taking  part  in  them  under  the  guidance  of  the  old  men,  and  their 
nights  are  spent  on,  or  close  to,  the  Engwura  ground. 

With  the  opening  of  the  second  phase,  the  performance  of 
the  sacred  ceremonies  concerned  with  the  totems  began  in  earnest, 
and  as  descriptive  of  this,  we  may  relate  what  took  place  during 
the  last  eight  days  of  the  five  weeks  which  it  occupied. 

About  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  first  day  it  was 
decided  to  perform  a  ceremony  called  the  Quabara  Unjiamba  of 
Ooraminna.  This  is  concerned  with  certain  women  of  the  Unji- 


252  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

amba  or  Hakea  totem,  who  in  the  Alcheringa  came  down  from 
the  north  and  marched  southwards  as  far  as  a  spot  called 
Ooraminna,  about  twenty-five  miles  to  the  south  of  Alice  Springs. 
The  head  men  of  the  local  group  is  the  owner  of  this  ceremony, 
and  together  with  six  Purula  men  and  one  Panunga  man,  he 
repaired  to  the  bed  of  the  small  creek,  where  they  all  sat  down 
under  the  shade  of  a  small  gum  tree.  The  other  men  remained  in 
various  places  round  about  the  Engwura  ground,  but  no  one 
came  near  to  the  place  where  the  preparations  were  being  made. 

On  occasions  such  as  this  every  man  carries  about  with  him 
a  small  wallet,  which  contains  the  few  odds  and  ends  needed  for 
decoration  in  the  performance  of  the  various  ceremonies.  The 
wallet  consists  of  a  piece  of  the  skin  of  some  animal,  such  as  one 
of  the  smaller  marsupials,  with  the  fur  left  on,  or  else  some  flat 
strips  of  a  flexible  bark  tied  round  with  fur  string  are  used.  In 
one  of  these  wallets  will  be  found  a  tuft  or  two  of  eagle-hawk 
and  emu  feathers,  bunches  of  the  tail  feathers  of  the  black  cocka- 
too, some  porcupine-grass  resin,  pieces  of  red  and  yellow  ochre 
and  white  pipe-clay,  an  odd  flint  or  two,  balls  of  human  hair  and 
opossum  fur  string,  a  tuft  or  two  of  the  tail  tips  of  the  rabbit- 
kangaroo,  and  not  least,  a  dried  crop  of  the  eagle-hawk  filled 
with  down. 

The  men  squat  on  the  ground,  and  their  wallets  are  leisurely 
opened  out.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  haste  amongst  the 
Australian  natives.  On  this  occasion  the  owner  of  the  Quabara 
had  asked  his  younger  brother  to  perform  the  principal  part 
in  the  ceremony.  He  was  a  Purula  man  of  the  Hakea  totem, 
and  he  had  also  invited  another  man  who  was  a  Panunga  of  the 
Achilpa  or  wild  cat  totem,  to  assist  in  the  performance.  The 
reason  why  the  latter  man  was  asked,  though  he  belonged  neither 
to  the  same  moiety  nor  totem  as  those  to  which  the  owner  of 
the  ceremony  did,  was  simply  that  his  daughter  had  been  assigned 
as  wife  to  the  owner's  son,  and  therefore  it  was  desired  to  pay 
him  some  compliment.  After  some  preliminary  conversation, 
carried  on  in  whispers,  which  had  reference  to  the  ceremony,  the 
performers  being  instructed  in  their  parts,  and  also  in  what  the 
performance  represented,  a  long  spear  was  laid  on  the  ground. 
One  or  two  of  the  men  went  out  and  gathered  a  number  of  long 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  253 

grass  stalks  in  which  the  spear  was  swathed,  except  about  a  foot 
at  the  lower  end  which  was  left  uncovered.  Then  each  man 
present  took  off  his  hair  waist-girdle  and  these  were  wound 
round  and  round  until  spear  and  grass  stalks  were  completely 
enclosed,  and  a  long  pole,  about  six  inches  in  diameter  and  about 
eight  feet  in  length,  was  formed.  Then  to  the  top  of  it  was  fixed 
a  bunch  of  eagle-hawk  and  emu  feathers.  When  this  had  been 
done  one  of  the  men  by  means  of  a  sharp  bit  of  flint — a  splinter 
of  glass,  if  obtainable,  is  preferred — cut  open  a  vein  in  his  arm, 
which  he  had  previously  bound  tightly  round  with  hair  string  in 
the  region  of  the  biceps.  The  blood  spurted  out  in  a  thin  stream 
and  was  caught  in  the  hollow  of  a  shield,  until  about  half  a  pint 
had  been  drawn,  when  the  string  was  unwound  from  the  arm 
and  a  finger  held  on  the  slight  wound  until  the  bleeding  ceased. 
Then  the  down  was  opened  out  and  some  of  it  was  mixed  with 
red  ochre  which  had  been  ground  to  powder  on  a  flat  stone. 
Four  of  the  Purula  men  then  began  to  decorate  the  pole  with 
alternate  rings  of  red  and  white  down.  Each  of  them  took  a 
short  twig,  bound  a  little  fur  string  round  one  end,  dipped  the 
brush  thus  made  into  the  blood,  and  then  smeared  this  on  over 
the  place  where  the  down  was  to  be  fixed  on.  The  blood  on 
congealing  formed  an  excellent  adhesive  material.  All  the  time 
that  this  was  taking  place,  the  men  sang  a  monotonous  chant, 
the  words  of  which  were  merely  a  constant  repetition  of  some 
such  simple  refrain  as,  "Paint  it  around  with  rings  and  rings," 
"the  Nurtunja  of  the  Alcheringa,"  "paint  the  Nurtunfa  with 
rings."  Every  now  and  again  they  burst  out  into  loud  singing, 
starting  on  a  high  note  and  gradually  descending,  the  singing 
dying  away  as  the  notes  got  lower  and  lower,  producing  the  effect 
of  music  dying  away  in  the  distance.  Whilst  some  of  the  men 
were  busy  with  the  Nurtunja,  the  Panunga  man  taking  no  part 
in  the  work  beyond  joining  in  the  singing,  another  Purula  man 
was  occupied  in  fixing  lines  of  down  across  six  Churinga,  which 
had  been  brought  out  of  the  Purula  and  Kumara  store  for  the 
purpose  of  being  used  in  the  ceremony.  Each  of  them  had  a  small 
hole  bored  at  one  end,  and  by  means  of  a  strand  of  human  hair 
string  passed  through  this  it  was  attached  to  the  pole  from  which, 
when  erect,  the  six  hung  pendant.  Of  the  Churinga  the  two 


254  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

uppermost  ones  were  supposed  to  have  actually  belonged  to  the 
two  Hakea  women  who  in  the  Alcheringa  walked  down  to 
Ooraminna.  Of  the  remaining  four,  two  belonged  to  women  and 
one  to  a  man  of  the  same  totem,  and  the  remaining  one  was  that 
of  a  man  of  the  Achilpa  totem. 

The  decorated  pole  which  is  made  in  this  way  is  called  a 
Nurtunja,  and  in  one  form  or  another  it  figures  largely  in  the 
sacred  ceremonies,  especially  in  the  case  of  those  which  are 
associated  with  northern  localities.  Its  significance  will  be  re- 
ferred to  subsequently. 

As  soon  as  the  Nurtunja  was  ready,  the  bodies  of  the  per- 
formers were  decorated  with  designs  drawn  in  ochre  and  bird's 
down,  and  then,  when  all  was  ready,  the  Nurtunja  was  carried 
by  the  Purula  man  to  the  ceremonial  ground,  and  there,  by  the 
side  of  the  Parra,  the  two  men  knelt  down,  the  hinder  one  of  the 
two  holding  the  Nurtunja  upright  with  both  hands  behind  his 
back.  It  is  curious  to  watch  the  way  in  which  every  man  who  is 
engaged  in  performing  one  of  these  ceremonies  walks ;  the  mo- 
ment he  is  painted  up  he  adopts  a  kind  of  stage  walk  with  a 
remarkable  high  knee  action,  the  foot  being  always  lifted  at 
least  twelve  inches  above  the  ground,  and  the  knee  bent  so  as 
to  approach,  and,  indeed,  often  to  touch  the  stomach,  as  the 
body  is  bent  forward  at  each  step. 

The  Purula  man  who  had  been  assisting  in  the  decoration 
now  called  out  to  the  other  men  who  had  not  been  present  to 
come  up.  This  calling  out  always  takes  the  form  of  shouting 
"pau-au-au"  at  the  top  of  the  voice,  while  the  hand  with  the  palm 
turned  to  the  face,  and  the  fingers  loosely  opened  out  is  rapidly 
moved  backwards  and  forwards  on  the  wrist  just  in  front  of 
the  mouth,  giving  a  very  peculiar  vibratory  effect  to  the  voice. 
At  this  summons  all  the  men  on  the  ground  came  up  at  a  run, 
shouting  as  they  approached,  "wh'a!  wha!  wh'r-rr!"  After  dan- 
cing in  front  of  the  two  performers  for  perhaps  half  a  minute, 
the  latter  got  up  and  moved  with  very  high  knee  action,  the 
Nurtunja  being  slowly  bent  down  over  the  heads  of  the  men  who 
were  in  front.  Then  the  dancers  circled  round  the  performers, 
shouting  loudly  "wha!  wha!"  while  the  latter  moved  around  with 
them.  This  running  round  the  performers  is  called  Wahkutnima. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  255 

Then  once  more  the  performers  resumed  their  position  in  front 
of  the  other  men,  over  whose  heads  the  Nurtunfa  was  again 
bent  down,  and  then  two  or  three  of  the  men  laid  their  hands  on 
the  shoulders  of  the  performers,  and  the  ceremony  came  to  an  end. 
The  Nurtunja  was  laid  on  one  side,  and  the  performers,  taking 
each  a  little  bit  of  down  from  it,  pressed  this  in  turn  against  the 
stomach  of  each  of  the  older  men  who  were  present.  The  idea  of 
placing  hands  upon  the  performers  is  that  thereby  their  move- 
ments are  stopped,  whilst  the  meaning  of  the  down  being  pressed 
against  the  stomachs  of  the  older  men  is  that  they  became  so  agi- 
tated with  emotion  by  witnessing  the  sacred  ceremony  that  their 
inward  parts,  that  is,  their  bowels,  which  are  regarded  the  seat  of 
the  emotions,  get  tied  up  in  knots,  which  are  loosened  by  this 
application  of  a  part  of  the  sacred  Nurtunja.  In  some  ceremonies 
the  Nurtunja  itself  is  pressed  against  the  stomachs  of  the  older 
men,  the  process  receiving  the  special  name  of  tunpulilima. 

The  whole  performance  only  lasted  about  five  minutes,  while 
the  preparation  for  it  had  occupied  more  than  three  hours 

....  The  fourth  phase  was  a  very  well-marked  one,  as 
with  it  were  ushered  in  the  series  of  fire  ordeals  which  are 
especially  associated  with  the  Engwura.  The  young  men  had 
already  had  by  no  means  an  easy  time  of  it,  but  during  the  next 
fortnight  they  were  supposed  to  be  under  still  stricter  discipline, 
and  to  have  to  submit  themselves  to  considerable  discomfort  in 
order  to  prove  themselves  worthy  of  graduating  as  Urliara 

Avoiding  on  this,  the  first  morning  of  the  new  departure  in 
the  ceremonies,  the  women's  camp,  which  lay  out  of  sight  of 
the  Engwura  ground  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  the  Illpong- 
wurra  were  taken  out  through  a  defile  amongst  the  ranges  on  the 
west  side  of  the  camp.  As  the  day  wore  on  it  became  evident 
that  there  was  unusual  excitement  and  stir  in  the  women's  camp. 
One  of  the  older  ones  had  been  informed  that  the  Illpongwurra 
would  return  in  the  evening,  and  that  they  must  be  ready  to 
receive  them.  She  had  been  through  this  part  of  the  ceremony 
before,  and  knew  what  had  to  be  done,  but  the  great  majority 
of  the  women  required  instructing.  About  five  o'clock  in  the 
evening  all  the  women  and  children  gathered  together  on  the  flat 
stretch  of  ground  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  The  Panunga 


256  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  Bukhara  separated  themselves  from  the  Purula  and  Kumara. 
Each  party  collected  grass  and  sticks  with  which  to  make  a  fire, 
the  two  being  separated  by  a  distance  of  about  one  hundred 
yards.  A  man  was  posted  on  the  top  of  a  hill  overlooking  the 
Engwura  ground  on  the  west,  and  just  before  sunset  he  gave 
the  signal  that  the  Illpongwurra  were  approaching.  They 
stopped  for  a  short  time  before  coming  into  camp,  at  a  spot  at 
which  they  deposited  the  game  secured,  and  where  also  they 
decorated  themselves  with  fresh  twigs  and  leaves  of  the  Eremo- 
phila  bush.  These  were  placed  under  the  head-bands,  so  that  they 
drooped  down  over  the  forehead,  under  the  arm-bands,  and 
through  the  nasal  septum.  Then,  forming  a  dense  square,  they 
came  out  from  the  defile  amongst  the  ranges.  Several  of  the 
Urliara  who  were  carrying  Churinga  met  them,  some  going  to 
either  side,  and  some  going  to  the  rear  of  the  square.  Then 
commenced  the  swinging  of  the  bull-roarers.  The  women  on 
the  tip-toe  of  excitement  lighted  their  fires,  close  to  which  were 
supplies  of  long  grass  stalks  and  dry  boughs.  The  Illpongwurra 
were  driven  forwards  into  the  bed  of  the  river,  pausing  every 
now  and  then  as  if  reluctant  to  come  any  further  on.  Climbing 
up  the  eastern  bank,  they  halted  about  twenty  yards  from  the 
first  group  of  women,  holding  their  shields  and  boughs  of  Ere- 
mophila  over  their  heads,  swaying  to  and  fro  and  shouting 
loudly  "whrr!  whrr!"  The  Panunga  and  Bukhara  women  to 
whom  they  came  first  stood  in  a  body  behind  their  fire,  each 
woman,  with  her  arms  bent  at  the  elbow  and  the  open  hand  with 
the  palm  uppermost,  moved  up  and  down  on  the  wrist  as  if  in- 
viting the  men  to  come  on,  while  she  called  out  "kutta,  kutta, 
kutta,"  keeping  all  the  while  one  leg  stiff,  while  she  bent  the  other 
and  gently  swayed  her  body.  This  is  a  very  characteristic  atti- 
tude and  movement  of  the  women  during  the  performance  of 
certain  ceremonies  in  which  they  take  a  part.  After  a  final  pause 
the  Illpongwurra  came  close  up  to  the  women,  the  foremost 
amongst  whom  then  seized  the  dry  grass  and  boughs,  and  setting 
fire  to  them,  threw  them  on  to  the  heads  of  the  men,  who  had 
to  shield  themselves,  as  best  they  could,  with  their  boughs.  The 
men  with  the  bull-roarers  were  meanwhile  running  round  the 
Illpongwurra  and  the  women,  whirling  them  as  rapidly  as  pos- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  257 

sible;  and  after  this  had  gone  on  for  a  short  time,  the  Illpong- 
zvurra  suddenly  turned  and  went  to  the  second  group  of  women, 
followed,  as  they  did  so,  by  those  of  the  first,  and  here  the  same 
performance  was  again  gone  through.  Suddenly  once  more  the 
men  wheeled  round  and,  followed  by  both  parties  of  women  who 
were  now  throwing  fire  more  vigorously  than  ever,  they  ran  in  a 
body  towards  the  river.  On  the  edge  of  the  bank  the  women 
stopped,  turned  round  and  ran  back,  shouting  as  they  did  so, 
to  their  camp.  The  Illpongwurra  crossed  the  river  bed  and  then 
ran  on  to  the  Engwura  ground  where,  sitting  beside  the  Parra, 
was  a  man  decorated  for  the  performance  of  an  Unjiamba  cere- 
mony. Still  holding  their  shields,  boomerangs,  and  boughs  of 
Eremophila,  they  ran  round  and  round  him  shouting  "wha!  wha!" 
Then  came  a  moment's  pause,  after  which  all  the  men  commenced 
to  run  round  the  Parra  itself,  halting  in  a  body,  when  they  came 
to  the  north  end  to  shout  "wha!  wha!  ivhrr!"  more  loudly  than 
before.  When  this  had  been  done  several  times  they  stopped, 
and  then  each  man  laid  down  his  shield  and  boomerangs  and 
placed  his  boughs  of  Eremophila  so  that  they  all  formed  a  line 
on  the  east  side  of  and  parallel  to  the  Parra,  at  a  distance  of  two 
yards  from  this.  When  this  was  done  the  Illpongwurra  came 
and  first  of  all  sat  down  in  a  row,  so  that  they  just  touched  the 
opposite  side  of  the  Parra  to  that  on  which  the  boughs  were 
placed.  In  less  than  a  minute's  time  they  all  lay  down,  in  perfect 
silence,  upon  their  backs,  quite  close  to  one  another,  with  each 
man's  head  resting  on  the  Parra.  All  save  one  or  two  old  men 
moved  away,  and  these  few  stayed  to  watch  the  Illpongwurra. 
For  some  time  not  a  sound  was  to  be  heard.  None  of  them  might 
speak  or  move  without  the  consent  of  the  old  men  in  whose 
charge  they  were.  By  means  of  gesture  language  one  or  two 
of  them  asked  for  permission  to  go  to  the  river  and  drink  at 
a  small  soakage  which  had  been  made  in  the  sand.  In  a  short 
time  they  returned,  and  then  it  was  after  dark  before  they  were 

allowed  to  rise 

....  In  the  early  part  of  the  afternoon  of  this  day  the  Ill- 
pongwurra had  to  submit  themselves  for  the  second  time  to  an 
ordeal  by  fire.  A  secluded  spot  amongst  the  ranges  some  two 
miles  away  from  Alice  Springs  was  selected,  and  here,  while 


258  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  young  men  rested  by  the  side  of  a  water-hole  in  the  bed  of 
the  Todd,  the  Urliara,  who  were  in  charge  of  them,  went  to  the 
chosen  spot  and  made  a  large  fire  of  logs  and  branches  about 
three  yards  in  diameter.  Then  the  young  men,  of  whom  forty 
were  present,  were  called  up,  and  putting  green  bushes  on  the  fire 
they  were  made  to  lie  down  full  length  upon  the  smoking  boughs, 
which  prevented  them  from  coming  into  contact  with  the  red- 
hot  embers  beneath.  The  heat  and  smoke  were  stifling,  but  none 
of  them  were  allowed  to  get  up  until  they  received  the  permission 
of  the  Urliara.  After  they  had  all  been  on  once,  each  one  remain- 
ing for  about  four  or  five  minutes  on  the  fire,  the  old  men  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  must  repeat  the  process,  and  so  mak- 
ing up  the  fire  again,  they  were  once  more  put  on  in  the  midst 
of  dense  clouds  of  smoke,  one  of  the  older  men  lifting  up  the 
green  boughs  at  one  side  with  a  long  pole  so  as  to  allow  of  the 
access  of  air  and  ensure  the  smouldering  of  the  leaves  and  green 
wood.  There  was  no  doubt  as  to  the  trying  nature  of  the  ordeal, 
as,  apart  from  the  smoke,  the  heat  was  so  great  that,  after 
kneeling  down  on  it  to  see  what  it  was  like,  we  got  up  as  quickly 
as  possible,  and  of  course  the  natives  had  no  protection  in  the 
way  of  clothes. 

When  this  was  over,  the  Illpon-givurra  rested  for  an  hour  by 
the  side  of  the  waterhole,  for  the  day  was  a  hot  one,  the  ther- 
mometer registering  110.5°  F.  in  the  shade,  and  156°  F.  in  the 

sun,  while  the  ceremony  was  in  progress — SPENCER  AND 

GILLEN,  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  212-30;  271-86; 
347-51 ;  372-73  (Macmillan.  1901). 

[EFFECT  OF  AUSTRALIAN  EDUCATION  AS  SHOWN  IN  FOOD 
REGULATIONS] 

....  When  I  first  became  acquainted  with  the  Kurnai  tribe, 
I  observed  that  a  man  provided  food  for  his  wife's  father.  This 
custom  is  called  Neborak.  The  food  consists  of  a  certain  part 
of  the  daily  catch  of  game  procured  by  him.  I  found,  for  in- 
stance, that  when  he  caught  say  five  opossums,  he  gave  two  to 
his  wife's  father,  and  two  to  her  brothers.  On  making  inquiries 
and  observing  further,  I  found  that  food,  including  in  that  term 
all  game  caught  by  the  men  and  all  vegetable  food  obtained  by 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  259 

the  women,  was  shared  with  others  according  to  well-understood 
rules.  Thus  there  was  a  certain  community  in  food,  and  there 
was  an  acknowledged  obligation  to  supply  certain  persons  with  it. 
The  following  particulars  which  I  ascertained  and  noted  will 
show  how  it  worked  among  the  Kurnai  and  other  tribes. 

It  is  assumed  that  a  man  kills  a  kangaroo  at  a  distance  from 
the  camp.  Two  other  men  are  with  him,  but  are  too  late  to  assist 
in  killing  it.  The  distance  from  the  camp  being  considerable,  the 
kangaroo  is  cooked  before  being  carried  home.  While  the  first 
man  lights  a  fire,  the  others  cut  up  the  game.  The  three  cook 
the  entrails  and  eat  them.  The  following  distribution  is  made. 
Men  2  and  3  receive  one  leg  and  the  tail,  and  one  leg  and  part 
of  the  haunch,  because  they  were  present,  and  had  helped  to  cut 
the  game  up.  Man  number  I  received  the  remainder,  which  he 
carried  to  the  camp.  The  head  and  back  are  taken  by  his  wife 
to  her  parents,  and  the  remainder  goes  to  his  parents.  If  he  is 
short  of  meat,  he  keeps  a  little,  but  if,  for  instance,  he  has  an 
opossum,  he  gives  it  all  away.  His  mother,  if  she  has  caught 
some  fish,  may  give  him  some,  or  his  wife's  parents  may  give 
him  some  of  their  share,  and  they  also  would  in  such  a  case  give 
her  some  next  morning.  The  children  are  in  all  cases  well 
cared  for  by  their  grandparents. 

The  giving  of  food  by  the  wife's  parents  on  the  following 
morning  is  founded  on  the  assumption  that  their  son-in-law  pro- 
vided for  his  family  on  the  preceding  day,  but  may  want  some 
food  before  going  out  to  hunt  afresh.  The  food  received  by  the 
wife's  parents  and  by  the  husband's  parents  is  shared  by  them 
with  their  family. 

If  a  wombat  were  killed  at  a  distance  from  the  camp,  its 
intestines  would  be  taken  out  and  the  animal  skewered  up  and 
carried  home.  If  it  was,  however,  close  at  hand,  help  might  be 
obtained  and  the  game  carried  whole.  All  the  animal  is  sent  to 
the  wife's  parents,  this  animal  being  considered  as  the  best  of 
food.  The  wife's  father  distributes  it  to  the  whole  camp,  but  he 
does  not  give  any  to  the  hunter  unless  the  animal  has  been  carried 
in  whole,  for  otherwis«  he  is  expected  to  have  eaten  of  the 
entrails  and  therefore  not  to  be  hungry.  On  the  following 


260  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

morning,  however,  he  sends  some  of  it  by  his  daughter  to  her 
husband. 

A  native  sloth  bear  is  either  cooked  where  caught,  or  carried 
home  raw,  according  to  the  distance.  If  one  is  killed,  it  is  given 
to  the  wife's  parents;  if  two,  one  to  the  wife's  parents,  and 
one  to  the  man's  parents;  if  three,  then  two  to  the  wife's 
parents,  and  one  to  the  man's  parents,  and  so  on.  The  hunter 
will  probably  keep  the  liver  for  himself  and  wife.  On  the  fol- 
lowing morning  the  wife's  parents  will  give  her  some  if  she 
has  no  food. 

An  emu  is  cooked  where  killed  unless  it  is  near  the  camp. 
The  intestines,  liver,  and  gizzard  are  eaten  by  the  hunter.  The 
legs  go  to  the  wife's  father  as  Neborak,  and  the  body  is  the 
share  of  his  parents. 

A  lace-lizard  is  shared  with  all  in  the  camp. 

If  a  man  kills  one  opossum,  he  keeps  it  for  himself  and  his 
wife.  Any  others  go  to  the  wife's  father.  I  remember  a  case 
where  a  man  caught  ten,  of  which  he  kept  one,  and  all  the  others 
became  Neborak. 

If  several  swans  are  killed  by  a  hunter,  he  keeps  one  or  more, 
according  to  the  wants  of  his  family.  The  remainder  go  to 
his  wife's  parents,  or,  if  many  have  been  procured,  most  of  them, 
and  the  lesser  number  go  to  his  parents. 

A  conger-eel  should  be  sent  to  his  wife's  father,  who  will 
probably  share  it  with  his  family. 

In  all  cases  the  largest  share  and  the  best  of  the  game  is 
Neborak.  The  grandchildren  are  fed  by  their  grandparents.  The 
supply  of  vegetable  food  obtained  by  the  woman  is  all  devoted 
to  her  children  and  herself. 

The  following  instances  will  show  what  would  be  the  distri- 
bution when  members  of  the  group  other  than  the  wife's  and  the 
man's  parents  are  in  camp. 

A  kangaroo  killed  by  a  married  man  assisted  by  a  Brewit 
(unmarried  man)  would  all  go  to  the  wife's  parents  except  the 
left  leg  to  his  brother,  and  the  right  leg  to  the  Brewit. 

If  a  catch  of  eels  were  made,  the  following  might  be  the 
division  of  them,  if  the  individuals  were  camped  together.  Man 
and  wife,  a  large  eel.  Mother's  brother  and  wife,  a  large  eel. 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  261 

Children  of  mother's  brother,  a  small  eel;  and  to  married 
daughter,  a  small  eel. 

Similar  rules  obtained  in  the  Ngarigo  tribe,  of  which  the 
following  may  be  taken  as  an  example : — 

Of  a  kangaroo  the  hunter  would  take  a  piece  along  the  back- 
bone near  the  loin.  The  father  would  have  the  backbone,  ribs, 
shoulders,  and  head.  The  mother  the  right  leg,  the  younger 
brother  the  left  foreleg.  The  elder  sister  would  have  a  piece 
alongside  the  backbone,  the  younger  sister  the  right  foreleg.  The 
father  shares  his  portion  thus:  to  his  parents,  tail  and  piece  of 
backbone;  and  the  mother  shares  her  portions  with  her  parents, 
giving  them  part  of  the  thigh  and  the  shin. 

A  wombat  is  cooked,  then  cut  open  and  skinned.  The  skin 
is  cut  into  strips  and  divided  with  parts  of  the  animal  thus: — 
The  head  to  the  person  who  killed  the  animal.  His  father  the 
right  ribs;  mother  the  left  ribs  and  the  backbone,  which,  with 
some  of  the  skin,  she  gives  to  her  parents.  Her  husband's 
parents  receive  some  of  the  skin.  The  elder  brother  gets  the 
right  shoulder,  the  younger  the  left.  The  elder  sister  the  right 
hind  leg,  the  younger  the  left  hind  leg,  and  the  rump  and  liver 
are  sent  to  the  young  men's  camp. 

A  native  bear  is  divided  in  the  following  manner: — Self,  left 
ribs;  father,  right  hind  leg;  mother,  left  hind  leg;  elder  brother, 
right  forearm;  younger  brother,  left  forearm.  The  elder  sister 
gets  the  backbone;  and  the  younger  the  liver.  The  right  ribs 
are  given  to  the  father's  brother,  a  piece  of  the  flank  to  the 
hunter's  mother's  brother,  and  the  head  goes  to  the  young  men's 
camp. 

An  emu  was  divided  as  follows : — The  backbone  to  the 
hunter;  left  leg,  left  shoulder,  and  left  flank  to  his  father.  The 
neck  and  head,  right  flank  and  right  ribs  to  his  mother.  To  his 
elder  brother,  the  left  rib;  younger  brother,  part  of  the  backbone ; 
elder  sister,  part  of  the  right  thigh;  younger  sister,  the  right 
shin.  The  left  thigh  and  left  shin  went  to  the  young  men's  camp. 
The  father  and  mother  shared  their  part  with  their  parents. 

A  lace-lizard  is  divided  thus: — The  left  leg  to  the  hunter;  the 
father  and  mother,  the  upper  part  of  the  body;  the  elder  and 
younger  brothers,  the  right  hind  leg;  the  elder  sister,  part  of  the 


262  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

lower  half  of  the  backbone.  The  tail  goes  to  the  younger  sister. 
The  father  and  mother  share  their  portion,  by  giving  to  the 
hunter's  father  the  foreleg,  and  to  her  father  the  backbone.  The 
remainder  goes  to  the  young  men's  camp. 

In  this  last  the  brothers  and  sisters  are  supposed  to  be  grown 
up,  and  to  be  married.  If  these  people  were  not  all  in  the  camp 
at  the  same  time,  the  division  would  be  made  on  the  same  lines. 

As  I  had  not  an  opportunity  of  checking  this  list,  by  further 
personal  inquiries,  and  as  the  Rev.  John  Bulmer  had  Manero 
blacks  at  the  Aboriginal  Station  under  his  control,  I  requested 
him  to  do  so  for  me.  This  he  very  kindly  did,  and  his  reply  was 
that  he  found  the  food  to  be  divided  as  I  have  described.  He 
found  that  when  a  kangaroo  was  killed,  the  whole  was  sent  to 
the  hunter's  father,  if  he  was  at  the  camp,  the  former  only  eating 
a  small  piece  himself.  But,  if  he  had  no  meat,  his  father  would 
send  him  the  head  and  part  of  the  backbone.  His  wife  would 
have  to  rely  for  a  share  of  meat  on  her  relations,  or  on  that  part 
to  which  she  was  entitled  by  custom. 

Speaking  of  the  custom  of  Neborak,  Mr.  Bulmer  said  he  had 
observed  that  it  was  strictly  kept,  and  that  a  man  had  to  keep 
the  parents  of  his  wife  supplied  with  the  best  parts  of  the  game, 
and  if  possible  with  wombat  flesh,  that  being  considered  the  best 
of  all.  He  had  seen  the  whole  of  the  right  side  of  a  wombat  sent 
by  one  of  the  men  as  Neborak.  This  was  always  carried  by  the 
wife  to  her  parents,  as  well  as  to  the  other  camps  for  her  hus- 
band, where  it  was  mostly  thrown  down  near  the  fire,  and  not 
given  by  hand,  as  they  object  to  take  it  direct  from  any  one's 
hand,  lest  some  harm  should  come  to  them  thereby 

There  is  a  passage  in  Protector  Thomas's  report  to  Governor 
La  Trobe  which  is  worth  quoting  as  giving  the  customs  of  the 
Wurunjerri  and  other  neighbouring  tribes  when  the  State  of 
Victoria  was  first  settled.  He  says : — 

"In  the  Kulin  tribes,  they  seldom  travel  more  than  six  miles 
a  day.  In  their  migratory  movements  all  are  employed.  Children 
are  getting  gum,  knocking  down  birds;  women  are  digging  up 
roots,  killing  bandicoots,  getting  grubs;  the  men  hunting  and 
scaling  trees  for  opossums.  They  are  mostly  at  the  encampment 
an  hour  before  sundown;  the  women  first,  who  get  the  fire  and 


•    MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  263 

water ;  by  this  time  their  spouses  arrive.  They  hold  that  the  bush 
and  all  it  contains  are  men's  general  property ;  that  private  prop- 
erty is  only  what  utensils  are  carried  in  the  bag ;  and  this  general 
claim  to  nature's  bounty  extends  even  to  the  success  of  the  day ; 
hence  at  the  close,  those  who  have  been  successful  divide  with 
those  who  have  not  been,  so  'that  none  lacketh  while  others  have 
it/  nor  is  the  gift  considered  as  a  favour,  but  as  a  right,  brought 
to  the  needy  and  thrown  down  at  his  feet." 

So  far  as  I  know,  the  throwing  down  of  food  on  the  ground 
arises  out  of  the  fear  of  receiving  anything  from  the  hand  of 
another  person  and  thus  being  infected  by  evil  magic. 

In  the  Gringai  tribe  game  taken  in  hunting  is  usually  divided 
equally. 

All  the  males  of  the  Chepara  tribe  are  expected  to  provide 
food,  if  not  sick.  If  a  man  is  lazy  and  stays  in  camp,  he  is 
jeered  at  and  insulted  by  the  others.  Men,  women,  and  children 
leave  the  camp  in  the  early  morning  for  the  purpose  of  hunting 
for  food  where  they  think  that  game  will  be  plentiful.  After 
hunting  sufficiently,  the  men  and  women  carry  the  various  catches 
of  game  to  the  nearest  water-hole,  where  fires  are  made  and  the 
game  cooked.  The  men,  women,  and  children  all  eat  together 
amicably,  the  food  being  distributed  among  them  by  the  old 
men  equally  to  all  the  men,  women,  and  children.  After  the 
meal,  the  women  carry  what  is  left  of  the  cooked  food  to  the 
camp,  the  men  hunting  by  the  way.  In  this  tribe  a  man  is  not 
bound  to  provide  his  wife's  parents  with  food,  unless  the  old  man 
is  sick,  or  too  feeble  to  hunt,  or  unless  the  wife's  mother  is  a 
widow 

Mr.  Christison  tells  me  that  when  he  has  been  out  on  expedi- 
tions, accompanied  by  his  blackboys  only,  and  the  food  ran  short, 
and  the  division  of  rations  was  very  scanty,  they  have  refused 
to  take  their  share,  intimating  that  he  stood  more  in  need  of  it. 
On  previous  occasions,  when  he  had  his  own  countrymen  with 
him,  the  contrary  was  the  case,  for  the  ration-bags  were  broached, 
and  when  in  any  difficulties,  grumbling  was  the  rule.  In  their 
wild  state  the  Dalebura  seemed  to  live  peaceably  enough.  He 
had  seen  a  camp  of  three  hundred  live  for  three  months  without 
a  quarrel. 


264  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Mr.  M'Alpine,  whom  I  have  already  mentioned,  said  that 
he  had  a  Kurnai  blackboy  in  his  employ  about  1856-57.  The  lad 
was  strong  and  healthy,  until  one  day  Mr.  M'Alpine  found  him 
ill.  He  explained  that  he  had  been  doing  what  he  ought  not  to 
have  done,  that  he  had  "stolen  some  female  'possum,"  before  he 
was  permitted  to  eat  it ;  that  the  old  men  had  found  him  out,  and 
that  he  would  never  grow  up  to  be  a  man.  He  lay  down  under 
that  belief,  so  to  say,  and  never  got  up  again,  dying  within  three 

weeks — A.   W.   HOWITT,   Native   Tribes  of  South-East 

Australia,  756-70. 

AUSTRALIAN   MESSENGERS  AND  MESSAGE-STICKS 

In  all  tribes  there  are  certain  men  who  are,  so  to  say,  free  of 
one  or  more  of  the  adjacent  tribes.  This  arises  out  of  tribal 
intermarriage;  and,  indeed,  marriages  are  sometimes  arranged 
for  what  may  be  termed  "state  reasons,"  that  is,  in  order  that 
there  may  be  means  of  sending  ceremonial  communications  by 
some  one  who  can  enter  and  traverse  a  perhaps  unfriendly 
country,  with  safety  to  himself  and  with  security  for  the  delivery 
of  his  message.  In  some  cases  these  ceremonial  messengers,  as 
will  be  seen  later  on,  are  women.  But  the  bearing  of  merely 
friendly  messages  within  the  tribe  is  usually  by  a  relative  of  the 
sender.  The  message  itself  is,  in  other  tribes,  conveyed  by  what 
the  whites  in  certain  districts  call  a  "blackfellow's  letter" — a 
message-stick.  There  has  been  much  misunderstanding,  not  to 
say  misstatement,  as  to  the  real  character  of  these  message-sticks, 
and  the  conventional  value  of  the  markings  on  them.  It  has 
been  said  that  they  can  be  read  and  understood  by  the  person  to 
whom  they  are  sent  without  the  marks  on  them  being  explained 
by  the  bearer.  I  have  even  heard  it  said  that  persons,  other  than 
the  one  to  whom  a  stick  is  sent,  can  read  the  marks  with  as  much 
ease  as  educated  people  can  read  the  words  inscribed  on  one  of 
our  letters. 

The  subject  is  important  in  so  far  that  a  right  understanding 
of  the  method  by,  and  the  manner  in,  which  the  markings  on  the 
sticks  are  made  to  convey  information,  is  well  calculated  to  afford 
some  measure  of  the  mental  status  of  the  persons  using 
them.  , 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  265 

If  the  message  is  to  call  together  a  meeting  of  the  elder  men 
of  the  tribe,  the  messenger  is  some  noted  old  man,  nominated  by 
the  Pimiaru  (Headman)  who  sent  the  message.  The  same 
would  be  the  case  when  neighbouring  tribes  are  invited  to  attend 
the  ceremonies  of  initiation.  But  in  any  other  matter  which  might 
be  attended  by  danger,  or  where  treachery  is  feared,  it  is  not  men 
but  women  who  are  sent. 

The  most  important  messages  sent  by  the  Dieri  to  neighbour- 
ing tribes  are  those  relating  to  disputes  between  them.  For  such 
purposes  women  are  chosen,  and  if  possible  such  women  as 
belong  to  the  tribe  to  which  the  embassy,  if  it  may  be  so  called, 
is  sent.  Women  are  chosen  in  such  a  case  for  two  reasons :  first, 
because  they  are  going  to  a  tribe  in  which  they  have  near  rela- 
tions ;  and  second,  because  it  would  be  less  likely  that  they  would 
be  treacherously  made  away  with  than  men. 

Forty  years  ago  these  women  were  usually  the  wives  of  Head- 
men of  the  Murdus  (totems),  and  occasionally  one  of  the  wives 
of  the  principal  Headman,  Jalina-piramurana,  was  among  them. 

The  women  are  accompanied  by  their  Pirraurus,  for  the 
Dieri  consider  that  on  such  a  mission  a  man  would  be  more  com- 
plaisant as  regards  the  acts  of  his  Pirrauru  wife  than  as  regards 
those  of  his  Tippa-malku  wife.  For  on  such  occasions  it  is 
thoroughly  understood  that  the  women  are  to  use  every  influence 
in  their  power  to  obtain  a  successful  issue  for  their  mission,  and 
are  therefore  free  of  their  favours.  After  what  I  have  said  in 
the  earlier  part  of  this  work  as  to  the  class  rules,  it  is  perhaps 
hardly  necessary  to  say  here  that  in  these  cases  the  class  rules 
are  obeyed. 

If  the  mission  is  successful,  there  is  a  time  of  licence  between 
its  members  and  the  tribe,  or  part  of  a  tribe,  to  which  it  has  been 
sent.  This  is  always  the  case,  and  if  the  Dieri  women  failed  in 
it,  it  would  be  at  peril  of  death  on  their  return.  This  licence  is 
not  regarded  with  any  jealousy  by  the  women  of  the  tribe  to 
which  the  mission  is  sent.  It  is  taken  as  a  matter  of  course. 
They  know  of  it,  but  do  not  see  it,  as  it  occurs  at  a  place  apart 
from  the  camp. 

The  members  of  such  a  mission  are  treated  as  distinguished 
guests.  Food  is  provided  for  them,  and  on  their  return  home, 


266  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

after  about  a  week's  stay,  they  are  loaded  with  presents.  If  the 
mission  is  unsuccessful,  messages  of  dreadful  threatening  are 
sent  back  by  them. 

The  mode  of  announcing  a  mission,  whether  by  male  or 
female  messengers,  is  by  telling  it  to  the  Pinnaru  of  the  camp, 
when  alone,  .as  soon  as  the  former  arrive.  Nothing  is  then  said 
to  any  one,  but  when  all  the  people  are  in  the  camp  about  the 
time  of  going  to  rest,  the  Pinnaru  announces  the  visit.  There 
is  then  an  excited  discussion  on  it,  if  it  be  a  matter  of  moment 
or  general  interest,  for  an  hour  or  two;  to  be  again  resumed  at 
daybreak,  and  so  on,  night  and  morning,  for  a  day  or  two,  until 
some  definite  determination  is  arrived  at. 

The  arguments  of  the  old  men  who  speak  are  noted  by  the 
messengers,  and  on  their  return  they  repeat  as  nearly  as  they 
are  able  the  popular  sentiments  of  the  tribe. 

Mr.  Gason  has  described  to  me  how  he  was  present  on  several 
occasions  on  the  return  of  a  mission  which  had  been  entrusted 
to  women.  The  Headman  and  the  principal  old  men  received 
them  kindly,  and  congratulated  them  on  their  safe  return,  but 
appeared  anxious,  and  clutched  their  spears  in  an  excited  manner. 
No  one  but  the  Headman  spoke  to  the  women  immediately  on 
their  return;  but  when  all  the  men  were  seated,  they  were  ques- 
tioned as  to  the  result  of  their  mission.  The  result  was  at  once 
told  to  all  the  people  in  the  camp,  who  rejoiced  if  it  were  favour- 
able, but  who  became  fearfully  excited  and  seemed  to  lose  all 
control  over  themselves  if  it  had  failed,  rushing  to  and  fro, 
yelling,  throwing  sand  into  the  air,  biting  themselves,  and  bran- 
dishing their  weapons  in  the  wildest  manner  imaginable. 

In  cases  where  such  a  mission  had  been  successful,  women 
of  the  other  tribe  usually  accompanied  it  back,  to  testify  its 
approval  by  their  tribe.  Agreements  so  made  are  probably 
observed  as  faithfully  as  are  many  treaties  more  formally  made 
by  civilised  people. 

During  my  expedition  to  the  north  of  Cooper's  Creek  an 
attempt  was  made  by  some  of  the  Yaurorka  tribe  to  surprise  my 
camp  by  night.  As  it  was  most  important  for  the  success  of 
my  expedition  that  I  should  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the  people 
of  the  Barcoo  delta,  I  went  on  the  following  morning  to  their 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  267 

camp,  which  was  near  at  hand  on  the  same  water,  taking  with 
me  my  black  boy,  who  spoke  their  language,  and  at  an  interview 
with  the  old  men,  apart  from  the  others,  I  cautioned  them  against 
in  any  way  molesting  us,  who  were  travelling  peaceably  in  their 
country.  I  told  them  that  if  I  found  blackfellows  prowling 
about  my  camp  at  night,  I  should  certainly  shoot  them  after 
this  notice. 

After  some  discussion  the  old  men  promised  that  none  of 
their  people  should  go  near  our  camp  at  night,  and  that  when 
doing  so  in  the  daytime  they  would  lay  down  their  arms  at  a 
little  distance,  and  on  my  part  I  promised  not  to  do  them  any 
hurt.  I  must  say  that  this  agreement  was  kept  by  them;  and  I 
observed  that  not  only  they  but  their  fellow-tribesmen  also  in 
future  laid  down  their  weapons  when  visiting  us.  This  corrobo- 
rates Mr.  Gason's  statement  that  the  Dieri  keep  to  the  agree- 
ments which  they  make. 

As  the  Dieri  send  missions  to  the  surrounding  tribes,  so  do 
these  also  send  them  to  the  Dieri  when  occasion  requires,  and 
the  proceedings  are  such  as  I  have  described. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that  a  Dieri  man  of  no  note  or  influence, 
arriving  at  a  camp  as  a  messenger,  sits  down  near  to  it  without 
saying  anything.  After  remaining  a  few  minutes  in  silence,  the 
old  men  gather  round  him,  and  ask  whence  he  comes  and  what 
has  befallen  him.  He  then  delivers  his  message  and  details  his 
news.  Two  of  the  old  men  then  stand  up,  one  retailing  the 
message  and  the  other  repeating  it  in  an  excited  manner.  The 
newcomer,  if  he  is  a  friendly  stranger,  is  hospitably  entertained, 
living  in  the  hut  of  some  man  of  the  same  totem  as  himself. 

I  remember  an  instance  of  such  a  visit  when  I  was  camped 
close  to  a  small  number  of  Yaurorka,  some  distance  to  the  north 
of  Cooper's  Creek,  with  whom  I  was  on  friendly  terms  under 
the  agreement  spoken  of.  A  stranger  had  arrived  from  the  south, 
and  so  far  as  I  remember,  was  a  Dieri.  I  could  watch  all  their 
movements  by  the  light  of  their  fire,  and  hear  what  was  spoken 
in  a  loud  tone,  for  we  were  separated  only  by  a  deep  though 
narrow  water  channel.  They  spent  the  evening  in  great  feasting, 
and  the  women  were  busy  till  late  at  night  in  pounding  and  grind- 
ing seeds  for  food.  The  stranger  related  his  news,  and  it  was 


268  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

repeated  in  a  loud  tone  to  the  listening  tribesmen  sitting  or  stand- 
ing at  their  fires.  I  was  unable  to  understand  more  than  the 
general  meaning  of  the  announcements,  but  my  black  boy,  who 
was  acquainted  with  the  Dieri  speech,  explained  that  this  man 
was  a  "walkabout  black  fellow,"  in  other  words,  a  messenger 
who  was  telling  them  his  news. 

Messengers  from  time  to  time  arrived  at  that  branch  of  the 
Yantruwunta  tribe  which  lived  where  I  had  established  my  depot, 
and  with  whom  I  was  on  the  best  of  terms.  The  old  men,  the 
Pinnarus,  told  me  on  several  occasions  that  a  messenger  had 
arrived  from  beyond  the  "great  stones,"  or  stony  country,  that 
is  Sturt's  Stony  Desert,  bringing  news  of  the  Whil-pra-pinnaru, 
meaning  the  explorer  M'Kinlay.  They  first  reported  that  he  was 
surrounded  by  flood  waters,  and,  after  some  time,  that  the  waters 
had  fallen  and  that  he  had  "thrown  away"  his  cart,  and  was  gone 
northwards  they  knew  not  where.  These  messengers  came  from 
the  tribe  living  about  where  Birdsville  is  situated.  The  account 
given  of  M'Kinlay's  movements  was  correct,  and  I  afterwards  saw 
the  country  which  had  been  flooded.  This  shows  how  news  is 
carried  from  one  tribe  to  another,  in  this  case  for  a  distance  of 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  at  least 

The  use  of  message-sticks  appears  to  have  been  common 
in  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  country  through  which  the  Darling 
River  flows.  The  following  particulars  relate  to  the  tribes  of 
the  Itchumundi  nation. 

Message-sticks  can  be  sent  by  any  one.  The  marks  placed 
on  the  sticks  are  an  aid  to  memory.  [Figs.  I  and  2]  represent  a 
message-stick  sent  to  inform  the  Kongait  tribe  that  the  Tonga- 
ranka  intended  holding  an  initiation  ceremony,  and  inviting  their 
attendance.  The  notches  on  [  Fig.  i  ]  have  the  following  explana- 
tion, counting  from  the  top: — 

1.  Jumba=make  young  men. 

2.  Yantoru=sticks  for  knocking  out  teeth. 

3.  Purtali=small  bull-roarer. 

4.  Bungumbelli=large  bull-roarer. 

5.  Not  explained. 

6.  (Large  notch)  Tallyera=marking  with  red  ochre. 

On    [Fig.  2]    the  notches  refer  to  different  localities   from 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION 


269 


J 


ill 


270  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

which  the  blacks  are  to  come  to  Yancannia,  which  is  the  larger 
notch. 

[Figs.  3  and  4]  represent  another  Tongaranka  stick,  from 
the  son  of  the  Headman  to  a  man  at  Tarella.  The  message  was 
to  tell  him  that  the  sender,  his  brothers,  and  two*  old  men  were 
at  a  certain  water-hole,  and  wished  him  to  bring  his  son  to  be 
initiated,  as  there  were  two  other  boys  ready  for  the  ceremony. 
In  3  the  large  notch  is  the  recipient  of  the  message,  and  the 
three  smaller  ones  his  son  and  the  other  boys.  The  group  of 
three  notches  in  No.  4  represent  the  sender  of  the  stick  and  his 
two  brothers,  while  the  two  small  cuts  are  the  old  men. 

[Fig.  5]  represents  a  message-stick  sent  by  a  man  of  the 
Tongaranka  tribe,  inviting  two  of  his  friends  at  a  distance  to 
come  and  see  him,  as  his  wife  was  ill  and  could  not  travel.  The 
lower  notch  represents  the  sender,  and  the  two  others  the  men 
invited. 

This  message-stick  is  made  of  part  of  a  small  branch  of  a 
tree,  and  is  wrapped  round  with  a  few  strands  of  a  man's  kilt, 
with  which  article  of  man's  attire  the  boy  is  invested  after  initia- 
tion. The  whole  is  tied  up  in  about  two  feet  of  the  cord  made  of 
twisted  opossum  fur,  which  the  novice  wears  for  a  time,  after 
his  initiation,  as  evidence  of  his  having  been  made  a  "young  man." 

The  message-stick  was  known  and  made  use  of  by  the 
Ngarigo,  but  not  to  such  an  extent  as  by  other  tribes.  It 
was  a  piece  of  wood  a  few  inches  long,  with  notches  at  the 
edges  which  referred  to  the  message  with  which  the  bearer 
was  entrusted. 

About  the  year  1840  my  friend,  the  late  Mr.  A.  M.  M'Keachie, 
met  two  young  men  of  the  Ngarigo  tribe  at  the  Snowy  River, 
near  to  Barnes's  Crossing;  one  of  them  carried  two  peeled  sticks 
each  about  two  feet  long,  and  with  notches  cut  in  them,  which 
they  told  him  reminded  them  of  their  message.  The  sticks  were 
about  one  half -inch  in  diameter.  Their  message  was  that  they 
were  to  collect  their  tribe  to  meet  those  of  the  Tumut  River  and 
Queanbeyan,  at  a  place  in  the  Bogong  Mountains,  to  eat  the 
Bogong  moths. 

A  messenger  in  the  Wiradjuri  tribe  is  provided  with  a  mes- 
sage-stick, the  notches  of  which  remind  him  of  his  message,  and 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  271 

if  it  is  to  call  the  people  together  for  initiation  ceremonies,  he 
carries  a  bull-roarer  (Bobu  or  Mudjigang),  a  belt  (Gulir),  a 
man's  kilt  (Bur an  or  Tala-bulg)  made  of  kangaroo-rat  skin,  a 
head-string  (Ulungau-ir),  and  a  white  head-band  (Kambrun). 
The  messenger  having  made  known  his  message  to  the  man 
to  whom  he  is  sent,  and  delivered  his  message  with  the  other 
emblems  above  mentioned,  the  recipient  assembles  the  men 
at  the  council-place  (Ngulubul).  He  then  shows  them  the 
message-stick  and  other  articles,  and  delivers  to  them  the  message 
which  he  has  received.  Sometimes,  when  the  kilt  is  sent,  the 
strands  of  skin  forming  it  are  used  instead  of  a  notched  stick, 
to  remind  the  bearer  of  his  message. 

The  recipient  of  the  message-stick  sends  it  on,  with  all  the 
articles  which  he  has  received,  by  one  of  his  own  people,  and  it 
thus  travels  until  the  farthest  point  is  reached 

In  the  case  of  a  message  sent  by  the  Turrbal  tribe  to  call 
another  tribe  to  come  to  an  expiatory  combat,  a  message-stick 
sent  would  be  marked  with  certain  notches,  which  the  messenger 
in  delivering  it  would  explain  in  the  following  manner.  Pointing 
to  a  certain  set  of  notches,  he  would  say,  for  instance,  "There  are 
the  men  of  a  big  division  of  the  Wide  Bay  Tribe,  who  are  coming 
to  see  us,  to  have  this  fight  about  one  of  their  people  whose  death 
they  blame  you  for."  Pointing  to  another  set  of  notches,  he 
would  say,  "These  other  people  are  coming  to  help  them.  This 
stick  is  sent  you  by  the  great  man  who  sent  me,  and  who  says 
that  you  are  to  meet  him,  at  such  and  such  a  place.  You  are  to 
send  word  on,  and  tell  your  friends  or  the  other  tribes  to  come 
and  help  you." 

The  messenger  who  is  sent  to  call  people  for  a  Dora  cere- 
mony not  only  carries  a  message-stick,  but  also  a  bull-roarer,  to 
show  to  the  old  men. 

In  the  tribes  within  fifty  miles  of  Maryborough  (Queensland), 
the  sender  of  a  message-stick  makes  it  in  the  presence  of  his 
messenger  and  explains  it  to  him.  If  the  messenger  cannot 
deliver  it,  he  in  his  turn  explains  it  to  some  other  man  who 
undertakes  to  deliver  it.  If  shown  to  a  man  to  whom  it  has  not 
been  explained,  he  may  say,  "I  know  this  means  something,  but 
I  do  not  know  what  it  means." 


272  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  following  will  give  an  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  a 
message-stick  is  prepared  and  used  in  these  tribes.  [See  Fig.  6.] 

It  is  assumed  to  be  from  a  blackfellow  living  at  some  place 
distant  twenty  to  thirty  miles  from  where  some  friend  is  camped, 
whom  the  sender  desires  to  inform  of  the  following  message : 
"I  am  here,  five  camps  distant  from  you.  In  such  and  such  a 
time  I  will  go  and  see  you.  There  are  so  and  so  with  me  here. 
Send  me  some  flour,  tea,  sugar,  and  tobacco.  How  are  Bulkoin 
and  his  wife  and  Bunda?" 

Having  his  messenger  beside  him  he  would  make  the  marks 
shown. 

Five  notches  represent  the  five  camps  (stages),  distance  to  the 
recipient;  a  flat  place  cut  on  the  stick  shows  a  break  in  the  mes- 
sage; ten  notches  the  time  after  which  the  sender  will  visit  his 
friend;  eight  notches  the  eight  people  camped  with  the  sender; 
four  notches  the  articles  asked  for;  another  flat  piece  on  the 
stick  shows  another  break  in  the  message ;  and  three  notches  the 
three  persons  asked  after.  Having  made  these  marks,  and  having 
explained  them  to  the  messenger,  he  carves  the  ends  of  the  stick 
to  make  it  look  ornamental,  and  gives  it  to  him  for  delivery. 

The  Headmen  of  a  branch  of  the  Wotjobaluk  tribe  having 
consulted  and  decided  that,  for  instance,  some  other  part  of  the 
tribe  should  be  summoned  to  meet  them  on  some  special  occasion, 
the  principal  man  among  them  prepares  a  message-stick  by  mak- 
ing notches  on  it  with  a  knife.  In  the  old  times  this  was  done 
with  a  sharp  flint  or  a  mussel  shell.  The  man  who  is  to  be 
charged  with  the  message  looks  on  while  this  is  being  done,  and 
he  thus  receives  his  message,  and  learns  the  reference  which  the 
marks  on  the  stick  have  to  it.  A  notch  is  made  at  one  end  to 
indicate  the  sender,  and  probably  also  notches  for  those  who  join 
him  in  sending  the  message.  A  large  notch  is  made  on  one  side 
for  each  tribal  group  which  is  invited  to  attend.  If  all  the 
people  are  invited  to  attend,  then  the  stick  is  notched  from  end 
to  end.  If  very  few  are  invited,  a  notch  is  made  for  each 
individual,  as  he  is  named  to  the  messenger.  [Fig.  7]  represents 
one  of  these  sticks,  which  was  made  to  convey  an  invitation  from 
the  Headman  of  the  Gromilluk  horde  to  the  Yarik-kulluk  horde 
at  Lake  Coorong,  both  being  local  divisions  of  the  Wotjobaluk 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  273 

tribe.  All  the  people  were  invited  to  attend.  The  three  notches 
at  the  upper  end  on  the  right-hand  side  show  the  sender  and  his 
friends,  who  were  the  principal  Gromilluk  men.  The  large  notch 
represents  the  Yarik-kulluk  horde  and  its  Headman,  to  whom  the 
message  was  sent.  The  notches  continuing  along  the  edge  to 
the  end  and  along  the  other  edge  indicate  all  the  people  of  the 
horde  being  invited. 

The  oldest  man  having  made  such  a  message-stick,  hands  it 
to  the  next  oldest  man,  who  inspects  it,  and,  if  necessary,  adds 
some  further  marks  and  gives  corresponding  instructions.  Finally 
the  stick,  having  passed  from  one  to  the  other  of  the  old  men,  is 
handed  to  the  messenger,  who  has  been  duly  told  off  for  this 
duty,  and  he  is  informed  at  the  same  time  when  the  visitors  will 
be  expected  to  arrive.  The  enumeration  of  the  days,  or  the 
stages  of  the  journey  of  the  visitors,  is  made  in  the  following 
manner.  Commencing  at  one  little  finger,  the  enumeration  is  as 
follows : — 

1.  Giti-munya,  or  little  hand,  that  is,  little  finger. 

2.  Gaiup-munya,  from  gaiup,  one,  and  munya,  a  hand ;  the 
third  finger. 

3.  Marung-munya,  from  Marung,  the  desert  pine   (Callitris 
verrucosa).    The  middle  finger,  being  longer  than  the  others,  is 
like  that  tree,  which  is  taller  than  the  other  trees  growing  in  the 
Wotjo  country. 

4.  Yollop-yollop-munya,  from  yollop,  to  point  or  aim  at;  thus 
yollop-bit,  the  act  of  aiming  a  spear,  as  by  the  fore-finger  being 
used  as  a  throwing-stick ;  the  fore-finger. 

5.  Bap-munya,   from  bap,  mother,  therefore  mother  of  the 
hand ;  the  thumb. 

6.  Dart-gur,  from  dart,  a  hollow,  and  gur,  the  fore-arm ;  the 
hollow  formed  by  the  end  of  the  radius  and  the  wrist. 

7.  Boi-bun,  a  small  swelling,  i.  e.  the  swelling  of  the  flexor 
muscle  of  the  fore-arm. 

8.  Bun-dan,  a  hollow,  i.  e.  the  inside  of  the  elbow-joint. 

9.  Gengen-dartchuk,  from  gengen,  to  tie,  and  dartchuk,  the 
upper  arm.     This  is  the  name  of  the  place  where  the  armlet  of 
opossum  pelt  is  tied  round  the  biceps  for  ornament. 

10.  Borporung,  the  point  of  the  shoulder. 


274  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

11.  Jarak-gourn,   from  jar  ok,  a  reed,  and  gourn,  the  neck. 
This  refers  to  the  place  where  the  reed  necklace  is  worn. 

12.  Ner  up -wrembul,  from  nerup,  the  butt,  as  nerup-galk,  the 
butt  or  base  of  a  tree,  and  wrembul,  the  ear. 

13.  Wurt-wrembul,  from  wurt,  above,  and  also  behind,  and 
wrembul,  the  ear;  that  is,  the  head  above  and  just  behind  the  ear. 

14.  Doke-doke,  from  doka,  to  move,  i.  e.  "that  which  moves," 
being  the  muscle  which  can  be  seen  when  in  the  act  of  eating. 

15.  Det-det,  hard.     This  is  the  crown  of  the  head.     From 
this  place  the  count  goes  down  the  other  side  by  corresponding 
places. 

This  method  of  counting  seems  to  do  away  with  the  often- 
repeated  statement  that  the  Australian  aborignes  are  unable  to 
count  beyond  four  or  at  the  most  five.  By  the  above  manner  of 
counting  they  are  able  to  reckon  up  to  thirty,  with  names  for 
each  place. 

The  messenger  carries  the  message-stick  in  a  net  bag,  and  on 
arriving  at  the  camp  to  which  he  is  sent,  he  hands  it  to  the  Head- 
man, at  some  place  apart  from  the  others,  saying,  "So  and  so 
sends  you  this,"  and  he  then  gives  his  message,  referring  as  he 
does  so  to  the  marks  on  the  stick;  and,  if  his  message  requires  it, 
also  to  the  time  in  days,  or  the  stages  to  be  made,  in  the  manner 
already  pointed  out. 

The  Headman,  having  examined  the  message-stick,  hands  it 
to  the  other  old  men,  and  having  satisfied  himself  how  many 
people  are  wanted,  and  how  many  hordes  are  to  be  present,  and 
having  made  such  further  inquiries  as  seem  necessary,  calls  all 
the  people  together  and  announces  the  message  to  them. 

This  kind  of  message-stick,  called  galk,  that  is,  wood  or  stick, 
may  be  seen  by  any  one.  It  is  retained  by  the  recipient,  who 
carries  it  back  to  the  meeting  to  which  he  has  been  called.  The 
messenger  lives  in  the  camp  with  some  of  his  friends,  until  they 
all  depart  to  the  meeting,  when  he  accompanies  them. 

Such  a  messenger  would  never  be  interfered  with.  No  one 
would  think  of  injuring  a  man  who  brings  news  of  important 
matters.  But  if  any  one  were  to  molest  him,  the  whole  of  the 
people  would  take  the  matter  up,  and  especially  his  own  friends. 
The  messenger  does  not  carry  anything  emblematical  of  his 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  275 

mission  beyond  the  stick,  even  when  carrying  a  message  calling 
a  meeting  for  an  expiatory  combat,  or  for  a  Ganitch,  the  initia- 
tion ceremony.  But  when  conveying  news  of  death,  he  smears 
his  face  with  pipe-clay  in  token  of  his  message 

As  an  instance  of  the  procedure  of  the  tribes  of  the  Kulin 
nation,  I  take  that  of  the  Wurunjerri. 

It  was  the  Headman  who  sent  out  messengers  (Wirrigiri)  to 
collect  people  for  festive  occasions,  for  ceremonial  or  expiatory 
fights,  or  for  other  matters  concerning  the  tribe,  and  he  did  this 
after  consulting  with  the  other  old  men.  The  messenger  was 
usually  one  of  the  younger  men,  and  if  possible  one  whose 
sister  was  married  to  some  one  in  that  place  to  which  he  was  to 
go,  for  under  such  circumstances  a  man  could  go  and  return  in 
safety,  being  protected  by  his  friends  and  connections.  Mes- 
sengers were  chosen  who  were  not  implicated  in  any  blood-feud. 
People  were  always  pleased  to  receive  news,  and  no  messenger 
known  as  such  was  ever  injured. 

The  message-stick,  called  Mungu  or  Kalk  (wood)  or  Barn- 
dana  (that  is,  "mark  it"),  was  made  by  the  sender,  and  was 
retained  by  the  recipient  of  the  message  as  a  reminder  of  what 
he  had  to  do,  perhaps  to  meet  the  sender  at  a  certain  time  and 
place,  or  to  meet  and  feast  on  fish  or  game.  For  friendly 
meetings,  when  there  was  no  quarrel  or  danger,  the  messenger 
carried  a  man's  belt  (Branjep),  and  a  woman's  apron  (Kaiung) 
hung  upon  a  reed.  For  meetings  to  settle  quarrels  or  grievances, 
such  as  a  bodily  injury  inflicted,  or  the  death  of  some  one  by 
evil  magic,  by  a  set  combat,  or  to  concert  an  attack  on  another 
tribe,  the  Branjep  was  hung  upon  a  jag-spear  made  of  ironbark 
wood,  and  when  calling  a  meeting  for  the  initiation  of  boys 
(Talangun),  the  messenger  carried  also  a  bull-roarer  and  a  man's 
kilt  hung  upon  a  reed.  The  bull-roarer  was  kept  secret  from  the 
sight  of  women  and  children. 

If  a  message  was  to  call  the  people  together  for  a  corrobboree 
or  for  ball-playing,  a  ball  made  of  opossum  pelt,  cut  in  strips  and 
rolled  up  tightly,  was  sent.  This  was  called  Mangurt,  and  was 
sent  also  from  one  person  to  another  as  a  friendly  mark  of  regard. 
For  ball-playing,  the  ball,  made  from  the  scrotum  of  an  old-man 
kangaroo,  stuffed  with  dry  grass  was  also  sent. 


276  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  place  of  meeting  being  named  in  the  message,  which  the 
messenger  "carried  in  his  mouth,"  it  might  be  further  necessary 
to  indicate  the  day  on  which  the  people  should  assemble,  and  this 
was  done,  as  with  the  Wotjobaluk,  by  enumerating  parts  of  the 
human  body,  commencing  with  the  little  finger  of  one  hand. 
The  names  of  these  enumerations  are  as  follows: — 

1.  Bubupi-muningya,  the  child  of  the  hand,  the  little  finger. 

2.  Bulato-ravel,  a  little  larger,  the  third  finger. 

3.  Bulato,  larger,  the  middle  finger. 

4.  Urnung-meluk,   from  Urnung,  a  direction,  and  Meluk,  a 
large  grub  found  in  some  eucalypti ;  the  forefinger. 

5.  Babungyi-muningya,  the  mother  of  the  hand,  the  thumb. 

6.  Krauel,  the  wrist- joint. 

7.  Ngurumbul,  a  fork,  the  divergence  of  the  radial  tendons. 

8.  Jeraubil,  the  swelling  of  the  radial  muscles. 

9.  Thambur,  a  round  place,  the  inside  of  the  elbow-joint. 

10.  Berbert,   the   ringtail   opossum.     Also   the  name   of  the 
armlet  made  from  the  pelt  of  that  animal,  hence  the  name  of 
the  biceps  round  which  the  armlet  is  worn  on  festive  occasions. 

11.  Wulung,  the  shoulder- joint. 

12.  Krakerap,  the  bag  place,  the  place  where  the  bag  hangs 
by  its  band,  i.  e.  the  collar-bone. 

13.  Gurnbcrt,  the  reed  necklace,  the  neck,  or  place  where 
the  reed  necklace  is  worn. 

14.  Kurnagor,  the  point  or  end  of  a  hill,  or  of  a  spur  or 
ridge,  hence  the  lobe  of  the  ear. 

15.  Ngarabul,  a  range  or  the  ridge  of  a  hill,  hence  the  side 
suture  of  the  skull. 

1 6.  Bundial,    the    cutting-place,    i.  e.    the    place    where    the 
mourner  cuts  himself  with  some  sharp  instrument,  from  Buda- 
gra,  "to  cut,"  e.  g.  Budagit-kalk,  "cut  the  log."    This  is  the  top 
of  the  head.     From  this  place  the  count  follows  the  equivalents 
on  the  other  side. 

The  message-stick,  [Fig.  8]  is  one  which  Berak  made  to 
show  what  they  were  like  as  used  by  his  tribe  formerly.  The 
explanation  is  as  follows.  The  notches  on  the  upper  end  at  the 
left  hand  of  the  stick  represent  the  sender  and  other  old  men 
with  him.  The  remainder  of  the  stick  being  notched  along  the 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  277 

whole  of  the  two  sides,  means  that  all  the  men  of  both  localities 
are  to  be  present.  The  markings  on  the  flat  side,  at  the  lower 
end,  are  only  for  ornament,  as  are  also  the  crescent-shaped  ends 
of  the  stick.  This  message  is  an  invitation  to  some  people  at  a 
distance  to  come  to  a  corrobboree. 

The  Jajaurung  counted  the  number  of  days  or  camps  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  Wotjobaluk  and  Wurunjerri,  thus  showing 
that  this  system  was  probably  universal  among  the  tribes  of,  at 
any  rate,  the  Wotjo  and  Kulin  nations.  But  the  Wudthaurung 
tribe,  about  Geelong,  with  which  Buckley  lived  for  over  thirty 
years,  had,  according  to  him,  a  different  method.  He  says  that 
a  messenger  came  from  another  tribe  saying  they  were  to  meet 
them  some  miles  off.  Their  method  of  describing  time  is  by 
signs  on  the  fingers,  one  man  of  each  party  marking  his  days  by 
chalking  on  the  arm  and  then  rubbing  one  off  as  each  day  passes. 
Elsewhere  he  says  that  before  he  left  a  certain  place,  a  Bihar  or 
messenger  came  to  them.  He  had  his  arms  striped  with  red  clay 
to  denote  the  number  of  days  it  would  take  them  to  reach  the 
tribe  he  came  from.  On  another  occasion,  when  a  large  party 
left  on  a  distant  hunting  excursion,  they  marked  their  arms  in 
the  usual  manner  with  stripes  to  denote  how  many  days  they 
would  be  absent ;  and  one  of  the  men  who  remained  did  the  same, 
rubbing  off  one  mark  each  day,  to  denote  the  lapse  of  time. 

I  have  seen  counting  done  by  the  Kulin  by  the  hand  combined 
with  the  other  method.  The  little  finger  being  Kanbo  or  one,  the 
third  finger  Benjero  or  two,  the  middle  finger  Kanbo-ba-benjero, 
three,  the  forefinger  Benjero-ba-benjero,  four,  and  the  thumb 
Benjero-ba-benjero-ba-kanbo,  five.  The  enumeration  was  then 
carried  on  in  the  manner  described,  commencing  with  Krauel, 
the  wrist-joint. 

In  the  Narrang-ga  tribe  meetings  of  the  elders  are  called 
together  by  messengers  who  carry  message-sticks.  The  mes- 
sengers are  chosen  by  the  principal  Headman,  or  in  matters  of 
local  importance  by  the  Headman  of  the  locality,  or  the  Head- 
man who  had  initiated  the  proceedings  in  question.  If  a  reply 
is  required,  the  same  or  some  other  messenger  will  carry  it  back ; 
sometimes  with  a  message-stick,  but  very  often  by  word  of 
mouth  only.  There  is  apparently  no  rule  as  to  the  return  message. 


278  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

When  a  part  of  the  tribe  is  at  a  distance,  and  the  Headman 
wishes  some  of  them  to  return  to  him,  he  sends  a  message-stick, 
on  which  he  cuts  a  notch  representing  himself  and  others  for 
the  old  men  next  to  him  in  authority.  These  are  cut  on  the  upper 
edge  of  the  stick,  while  the  notches  cut  on  the  other  edge  repre- 
sent the  number  of  people  he  wants  to  come  to  him. 

The  message-stick  is  called  Mank,  and  is  rolled  up  in  the 
skin  of  any  kind  of  animal.  At  the  present  time  a  handkerchief 
is  commonly  used.  If  the  message  is  a  challenge  to  fight,  the 
messenger  in  handing  the  message-stick  says,  "Dudla,"  which 
means  fight.  If  the  message  is  one  calling  people  together  for  a 
dancing  corrobboree,  a  piece  of  wood  is  used,  marked  in  a  special 
manner,  which  is  understood  without  further  explanation.  [Figs. 
9  and  10]  represent  the  two  sides  of  such  a  stick.  In  [9]  which 
is  a  message  about  a  dancing  corrobboree,  the  four  notches  on 
the  upper  part  of  the  right-hand  edge  represent  four  old  men 
who  are  invited  to  attend,  those  lower  down  are  the  women,  and 
those  on  the  left-hand  edge  represent  the  men  who  accompany  the 
old  men.  In  [10]  the  notch  at  the  upper  part  of  the  right-hand 
edge  is  the  sender  of  the  message,  the  three  at  the  bottom  are 
singers,  and  the  intermediate  notches  represent  the  women.  The 
notches  along  the  edge  at  the  opposite  side  are  the  men  of  the 
tribe.  [Figs,  n  and  12]  are  the  two  sides  of  a  stick  sent  to 
summon  to  an  initiation  ceremony.  The  longer  notches  at  the 
top  of  the  right-hand  edge  of  [n]  represent  the  old  men  to 
whom  the  stick  is  sent,  those  lower  down  are  the  women,  and  the 
edge  on  the  other  side  being  notched  indicates  that  the  men  are 
to  come.  On  [12]  the  three  upper  notches  represent  the  sender 
of  the  message  and  two  other  old  men.  The  notches  all  down 
the  edge  represent  all  the  men  of  that  moiety  of  the  tribe.  The 
five  notches  at  the  bottom  of  the  right-hand  edge  are  the  boys 
to  be  initiated,  and  the  five  pairs  of  notches  above  represent 
couples  of  men  to  look  after  the  boys  during  the  ceremony. 

It  is  not  lawful  for  women  to  see  this  stick,  which  would  be 
sent  rolled  up  with  a  corrobboree  stick  in  some  covering. 

Two  of  the  three  old  men  referred  to  on  [12]  are  two  princi- 
pal men  who  have  already  been  instructed  by  the  sender  of  the 
message,  and  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that  everything  in  their 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  279 

department  is  done  correctly.  These  two  old  men  are  next  in 
authority  to  the  Headman  and  sit  with  him  in  consultation.  It 
seems  from  my  information  that  these  two  old  men  are  analogous 
to  the  man  in  the  Wurunjerri  tribe  who  stood  by  Billi-billeri  and 
"gave  his  words  to  other  people,"  as  before  mentioned. 

The  five  boys  may  be  of  any  division  of  the  tribe.  One  of 
the  men  in  each  couple  is  the  father's  brother  of  the*  boy,  and 
the  other  man's  duty  is  to  hold  his  hands  over  the  boy's  eyes 
during  a  certain  part  of  the  initiation  ceremonies. 

The  plan  on  which  these  sticks  are  marked  seems  to  be  this. 
Assuming  that  the  Headman  of  one  part  of  the  tribe  wishes  to 
send  a  message  to  the  Headman  of  the  other  part,  he  cuts  a  notch 
on  one  end  of  the  upper  side  for  himself,  with  one  or  more 
notches  close  to  it,  according  to  the  number  of  old  men  with  him. 
At  the  other  end  he  cuts  a  notch  for  the  recipient  of  the  message, 
and  a  number  of  notches  for  the  people  he  wishes  to  be  sent  to 
him.  If  there  is  not  enough  room  he  cuts  their  notches  on  the 
under  side.  It  seems  from  this  that  the  marks  themselves,  for 
instance,  on  the  corrobboree  and  initiation  sticks,  might  from 
constant  use  by  the  same  person,  or  a  succession  of  persons  using 
the  same  method,  and  for  substantially  the  same  objects,  come 
to  have  a  certain  meaning.  This  might  then  become  a  first  step 
to  a  rude  style  of  communicating  thought  by  marks,  unaccom- 
panied by  verbal  explanation.  I  was  told  of  a  case  in  which  a 
message-stick  was  carried  by  my  correspondent,  Mr.  Sutton,  for 
one  of  the  Narrang-ga,  which  was  merely  a  flat  piece  of  wood 
with  one  notch  at  one  end  and  two  notches  close  together  at 
the  other.  He  delivered  it  without  saying  more  than,  "This  is 
from  so-and-so,"  not  having  received  any  message  with  it.  The 
recipient,  however,  knew  that  the  sender  had  been  separated  from 
his  wife,  and  he  understood  the  stick  to  mean  that  the  two  had 
been  reconciled,  and  were  together  again,  and  this  was  the  correct 
reading  of  the  marks  on  the  stick.  This  supports  the  view 
which  I  have  suggested. 

In  the  Narrinyeri  tribe  a  messenger  is  called  Brigge.  When 
on  a  mission,  he  carries  some  part  of  his  totem  as  an  emblem. 
For  instance,  a  messenger  of  the  Tanganarin  carried  a  pelican's 
feather,  one  of  the  Rangulinyeri  a  dingo's  tail,  one  of  the 


280  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Karowalli  a  snake's  skin.  The  messenger  was  safe  from  harm 
by  reason  of  his  office,  and  he  was  chosen  to  carry  the  message 
by  the  council  of  old  men.  The  messenger  delivered  his  message 
to  the  Headman  of  the  clan  to  which  he  was  sent,  who  sometimes 
escorted  him  part  of  the  way  back. 

The  message-stick  was  in  the  most  rudimentary  state  in  the 
Kurnai  tribe.  If,  for  instance,  a  man  desired  to  send  a  message 
to  men  of  another  division  of  his  clan,  or  of  another  clan,  asking 
them  to  meet  him  at  a  certain  time  and  place,  he  would  probably 
do  so  in  the  following  manner.  I  assume,  as  an  illustration,  that 
the  meeting  is  to  be  at  a  locality  indicated  by  name,  that  it  will 
take  place  after  "two  moons,"  and  that  such  and  such  persons 
are  to  be  there.  The  sender  in  giving  his  message  to  his  Baiara, 
or  messenger,  would,  if  he  used  anything  to  aid  his  memory, 
break  off  a  number  of  short  pieces  of  stick,  equal  in  number  to 
the  people  he  asks  to  meet  him,  one  for  each  person,  or  the 
people  of  a  certain  place.  By  delivering  them  one  by  one, 
his  messenger  checks  the  accuracy  of  his  memory  as  to  the 
verbal  message  given  him.  The  number  of  stages  to  be  travelled 
are  fixed  by  telling  them  off  on  the  fingers  of  one  or  of  both 
hands.  If  they  were  insufficient,  the  count  would  be  again  over 
the  same  fingers,  or  recourse  would  be  had  to  the  toes. 

If  the  message  was  sent  by  the  Headman  of  the  locality,  or  of 
the  clan,  relating,  for  instance,  to  the  Jeraeil  ceremonies,  the 
messenger  would  also  carry  with  him  as  his  credentials  a  bull- 
roarer,  which  he  would  deliver  with  his  message  in  secret. 

It  was  not  infrequently  the  case  that  a  Headman,  to  authenti- 
cate his  messenger,  gave  him  some  weapon,  for  instance  a  club, 
known  to  the  recipient  of  the  message 

The  evidence  shows  that  the  message-sticks  are  merely  a  kind 
of  tally,  to  keep  record  of  the  various  heads  of  the  message,  and 
that  the  markings  have  no  special  meaning  as  conventional  signs 
conveying  some  meaning.  The  instances  which  I  have  noted  in 
the  Narrang-ga  and  Mundainbura  tribes  merely  show  how  such 
markings  might,  under  favourable  conditions,  become  the  first 
steps  to  a  system  of  conveying  a  message  otherwise  than  verbally. 
What  we  find  here  may  perhaps  be  considered  as  early  stages, 
the  ultimate  result  of  which  might  be  a  system  of  writing,  in 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  281 

which   symbols   would   bear   some   resemblance   to   the   original 

notches  on  these  message-sticks — A.  W.  HOWITT,  Native 

Tribes  of  South-East  Australia,  678-710. 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  MEDICINE-MAN  TO  THE  ORIGIN 
OF  THE  PROFESSIONAL  OCCUPATIONS 

In  the  last  volume  of  his  Synthetic  Philosophy  (Principles 
of  Sociology,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  179-324,  "Professional  Institutions") 
Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  has  made  an  attempt  to  work  out  a  special 
application  of  his  ghost  theory  of  the  origin  of  worship,  in  the 
thesis  that  the  medicine-man  is  the  source  and  origin  of  the 
learned  and  artistic  occupations.  This  is  a  very  fascinating 
theory  and  has  in  it  elements  of  truth  and  of  verisimilitude,  but  it 
is  very  far  from  affording  a  true  view  either  of  the  place  of  the 
medicine-man  in  the  development  of  society  or  of  the  origins 
of  the  occupations.  It  does  not,  indeed,  seem  probable  that  Spen- 
cer would  have  made  this  elaborate  and  somewhat  strained  effort 
to  give  the  medicine-man  a  pre-eminent  place  in  the  development 
of  the  occupations  if  he  had  not  been  in  a  way  committed  to  this 
course  by  his  defective  theory  of  the  origin  of  worship  in  at- 
tention to  dead  ancestors.  But  having  settled  upon  this  theory, 
Spencer  in  these  chapters  pushes  to  the  limit  his  habit  of  select- 
ing the  evidence  favorable  to  his  theory  and  omitting  or  brushing 
away  the  unfavorable  evidence.  Moreover,  he  has  here  resorted 
to  a  device  which  I  believe  he  has  not  before  used  to  any  extent, 
that  of  giving  evidence  of  an  indeterminate  character  and  claim- 
ing that  "by  implication"  it  is  favorable  to  his  argument.  But 
after  these  detractions  we  must,  as  usual,  admit  that  Spencer  has 
opened  up  a  new  field  of  investigation  and  has  treated  it  in  a  most 
suggestive  manner.  With  a  view  to  determining  the  amount  of 
truth  in  the  conclusions  of  Spencer,  I  will  examine  his  state- 
ments in  approximately  the  order  they  are  made ;  and  I  will  at 
the  same  time  present  some  evidence,  both  from  the  sources  used 
by  Spencer  and  from  other  sources,  tending  to  establish  a  dif- 
ferent view  of  the  relation  of  the  medicine-man  to  the  occupa- 
tions. 

The    following    preliminary    statement    of    Spencer's    general 
standpoint  should  be  given  first  of  all,  in  order  that  the  bearing 


282  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  his  particular  claims  may  be  well  understood:  "Recognizing 
the  general  truth,  variously  illustrated  in  the  preceding  parts  of 
this  work,  that  all  social  structures  result  from  specializations 
of  a  relatively  homogeneous  mass,  our  first  inquiry  must  be — in 
which  part  of  such  mass  do  professional  institutions  originate? 
Stated  in  a  definite  form,  the  reply  is  that  traces  of  the  pro- 
fessional agencies,  or  some  of  them,  arise  in  the  primitive 
politico-ecclesiastical  agency;  and  that  as  fast  as  this  becomes 
divided  into  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  the  ecclesiastical  more 
especially  carries  with  it  the  germs  of  the  professional,  and 
eventually  develops  them.  Remembering  that  in  the  earliest 
social  groups  there  is  temporary  chieftainship  in  time  of  war, 
and  that  where  war  is  frequent  the  chieftainship  becomes  per- 
manent; remembering  that  efficient  co-operation  in  war  requires 
subordination  to  him,  and  that  when  his  chieftainship  becomes 
established  such  subordination,  though  mainly  limited  to  war- 
times, shows  itself  at  other  times  and  favors  social  co-operation ; 
remembering  that  when  under  his  leadership  his  tribe  subju- 
gates other  tribes  he  begins  to  be  propitiated  by  them,  while  he 
is  more  and  more  admired  and  obeyed  by  his  own  tribe;  remem- 
bering that  in  virtue  of  the  universal  ghost  theory  the  power  he 
is  supposed  to  exercise  after  death  is  even  greater  than  the  power 
he  displayed  during  life — we  understand  how  it  happens  that 
ministrations  to  him  after  death,  like  in  kind  to  those  received 

by  him  during  life,  are  maintained  and  often  increased 

Laudations  are  uttered  before  him  while  he  is  alive,  and  the 
like  or  greater  laudations  when  he  is  dead.  Dancing,  at  first 
a  spontaneous  expression  of  joy  in  his  presence,  becomes  a  cere- 
monial observance  on  occasions  of  worshipping  his  ghost.  And 
of  course  it  is  the  same  with  the  accompanying  music :  instru- 
mental or  vocal,  it  is  performed  before  the  natural  ruler  and  the 
supernatural  ruler.  Obviously,  then,  if  any  of  these  actions  and 
agencies  common  to  political  loyalty  and  divine  worship  have 
characters  akin  to  certain  professional  actions  and  agencies,  these 
last  named  must  be  considered  as  having  double  roots  in  the 
politico-ecclesiastical  agency.  It  is  also  obvious  that  if,  along 
with  increasing  differentiation  of  these  twin  agencies,  the  eccle- 
siastical develops  more  imposingly  and  widely,  partly  because 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  283 

the  supposed  superhuman  being  to  which  it  ministers  continually 
increases  in  ascribed  power,  and  partly  because  worship  of  him, 
instead  of  being  limited  to  one  place,  spreads  to  many  places, 
these  professional  actions  and  agencies  will  develop  more  es- 
pecially in  connection  with  it And  naturally  the  agencies 

of  which  laudatory  orations,  hymnal  poetry,  dramatized  triumphs, 
as  well  as  sculptured  and  painted  representations  in  dedicated 
buildings,  are  products,  will  develop  in  connection  chiefly  with 
those  who  permanently  minister  to  the  apotheosized  rulers — the 
priests A  further  reason  why  the  professions  thus  im- 
plied, and  others  not  included  among  them,  such  as  those  of 
the  lawyer  and  the  teacher,  have  an  ecclesiastical  origin  is  that 
the  priest-class  comes  of  necessity  to  be  distinguished  above 
other  classes  by  knowledge  and  intellectual  capacity.  His  cun- 
ning, skill,  and  acquaintance  with  the  nature  of  things  give  the 
primitive  priest  or  medicine-man  influence  over  his  fellows ;  and 
those  traits  continue  to  be  distinctive  of  him  when,  in  later  stages, 
his  priestly  character  becomes  distinct.  His  power  as  priest  is 
augmented  by  those  feats  and  products  which  exceed  the  ability 
of  the  people  to  achieve  or  understand;  and  he  is  therefore  under 
a  constant  stimulus  to  acquire  the  superior  culture  and  mental 
powers  needed  for  those  activities  which  we  class  as  professional. 
Once  more  there  is  the  often-recognized  fact  that  the  priest-class, 
supplied  by  other  classes  with  the  means  of  living,  becomes,  by 
implication,  a  leisured  class.  Not  called  upon  to  work  for  sub- 
sistence, its  members  are  able  to  devote  time  and  energy  to  that 
intellectual  labor  and  discipline  which  are  required  for  pro- 
fessional occupations  as  distinguished  from  other  occupations." 
It  will  be  seen  that  two  different  classes  of  callings,  laudatory 
and  scientific,  are  assumed  to  have  their  origin  in  attention  to 
rulers,  either  living  or  dead,  and  that,  according  to  Spencer's 
view,  attentions  and  services  to  dead  rulers  are  so  much  more 
important  than  attentions  and  services  to  living  rulers  that  the 
occupations  representing  these  attentions  and  services  are  devel- 
oped by  the  representatives  of  the  dead  rather  than  of  the  living. 
On  the  contrary,  we  shall  see  reason  to  doubt  that  the  pro- 
fessional occupations  originated  or  developed  exclusively  in  con- 
nection with  either  living  or  dead  rulers,  and  that,  in  so  far  as 


284  SOCIAL  ORIGINS  • 

their  development  and  origin  were  connected  with  rulers  at  all, 
the  court  hanger-on  played  a  more  important  part  than  the 
medicine-man. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  professions  separately  we  find 
that  the  profession  of  medicine  is  largely  in  the  hands  of  the 
medicine-man  to  begin  with,  and  we  naturally  assume  that  he 
is  the  sole  practitioner,  and  that  he  is  the  forerunner  of  the 
physician,  if  of  any  representative  of  the  professional  occupa- 
tions. But  while  it  is  true  that  the  medicine-man  is  in  a  way  a 
physician,  he  has  not  a  monopoly  of  medical  practice  in  his  tribe, 
and  he  does  not  practice  in  all  branches  of  medicine,  nor  is  it 
apparent  that  he  has  conspicuously  led  the  way  in  the  develop- 
ment of  a  science  of  medicine.  His  function  is,  in  fact,  a  lim- 
ited one.  He  is  concerned  with  the  practice  of  magic,  and  works 
almost  wholly  by  suggestive  means.  He  relieves  pain  by  pre- 
tending to  have  charmed  out  or  sucked  out  the  causa  nocens;  he 
brings  ill  upon  other  people,  and  he  ascertains  by  suggestive 
means  who  is  responsible  for  the  death  of  a  native,  or  pretends 
to  do  so.  Alongside  the  medicine-man  there  are  often  lay  prac- 
titioners, both  men  and  women,  who  rely  more  on  drugs  and 
surgery  than  the  medicine-man,  and  who  are  more  in  the  line  of 
scientific  medical  practice  than  the  medicine-man  himself.  This 
condition  of  things  is  very  well  illustrated  among  the  Arau- 
canians,  who  "have  three  kinds  of  physicians,  the  ampives,  the 
vileus,  and  the  machis.  The  ampives,  a  word  equivalent  to  em- 
pirics, are  the  best.  They  employ  in  their  cures  *only  simples, 
are  skilful  herbalists,  and  have  some  very  good  ideas  of  the 
pulse,  and  other  diagnostics.  The  vileus  correspond  to  the  regu- 
lar physicians.  Their  principal  theory  is  that  all  contagious  dis- 
orders proceed  from  insects The  machis  are  a  super- 
stitious class  that  are  to  be  met  with  among  all  the  savage  nations 
of  both  continents.  They  maintain  that  all  serious  disorders  pro- 
ceed from  witchcraft,  and  pretend  to  cure  them  by  supernatural 
means,  for  which  reason  they  are  employed  in  desperate  cases, 

when  the  exertions  of  the  ampives  or  vileus  are  ineffectual 

They  have  besides  these  other  kinds  of  professors  of  medicine. 
The  first,  who  may  be  styled  surgeons,  are  skilful  in  replacing  dis- 
locations, in  repairing  fractures,  and  in  curing  wounds  and 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  285 

ulcers;  they  are  called  gutarre."  Of  the  Tasmanians,  one  of  the 
most  primitive  of  all  ethnological  groups,  Bonwick  reports  that 
they  had  various  remedies.  They  relieved  inflammation  and 
assuaged  the  pains  of  rheumatism  by  bleeding;  pain  in  the  head 
or  stomach  was  relieved  by  tight  and  wet  bandages ;  the  Mesem- 
bryanthemum,  or  pig-face,  and  other  herbs  were  used  as  purga- 
tives ;  a  bath  of  salt  water,  or  the  application  of  ashes  to  the  skin, 
was  the  prescription  for  cutaneous  diseases ;  drinking  copiously 
of  cold  water  and  then  lying  by  the  fire  was  used  to  promote 
perspiration ;  alum  was  used  variously ;  shampooing,  especially 
with  the  utterance  of  favorite  charms,  was  held  efficacious  in 
various  disorders ;  cold  water  was  sprinkled  on  the  body  in  fevers ; 
a  decoction  of  certain  leaves  was  applied  to  relieve  pain ;  ashes 
were  used  for  syphilitic  sores,  and  the  oil  of  the  mutton-bird  for 
rheumatism;  blood  was  staunched  in  severe  wounds  by  clay  and 
leaves,  while  women  constantly  poured  water  over  the  part; 
leaves  of  the  Ziera  (stink-weed)  were  worn  around  the  head  to 
relieve  pain ;  massage  was  in  use ;  and,  on  the  magical  side, 
various  charms  and  incantations.  Among  the  Hottentots,  ac- 
cording to  Kolben,  there  is  in  every  kraal  a  physician,  and  in  the 
large  ones  two,  skilled  in  the  botany,  surgery,  and  medicine  of 
the  tribe,  and  chosen  by  election  out  of  the  sages  of  each  kraal 
to  look  after  the  health  of  the  inhabitants.  They  practice  with- 
out reward,  and  keep  their  preparations  very  secret.  There  are 
also  several  old  women  in  every  kraal  who  pretend  to  great  skill 
in  the  virtues  of  roots  and  herbs.  These  are  mortally  hated  by 
the  doctors.  There  is  also  a  cattle  doctor  in  every  kraal.  In 
Madagascar  also  there  was  a  popular  medicine  developed,  in 
connection  with  which,  indeed,  the  sorcerers  played  a  large  part, 
but  the  knowledge  of  the  virtues  of  plants  was  shared  and  used 
by  the  people  in  general.  They  collected  the  leaves,  bark, 
flowers,  and  seeds  of  various  plants,  several  kinds  of  moss,  and 
grass,  tobacco,  and  capsicum,  and  understood  correctly  the  aperi- 
ent, cathartic,  diuretic,  tonic,  and  sedative  qualities  of  these. 

While  not  losing  sight,  then,  of  the  fact  that  among  the 
groups  lowest  in  culture  the  medicine-man  played  the  most  im- 
portant role  of  all  in  medicine,  we  find  here  a  rude  medicine,  much 
of  it  entirely  independent  of  magic,  participated  in  by  both  lay 


286  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

men  and  women,  and  derived  from  the  experience  of  the  group  as 
a  whole,  not  through  the  activities  of  the  medicine-man  in  par- 
ticular. And  when  in  the  somewhat  higher  stages  of  culture  we 
find  the  medical  art  more  developed  and  specialized,  we  certainly 
do  not  find  that  it  is  the  medicine-man  or  priest  who  has  special- 
ized in  this  direction,  but  someone  who,  unlike  the  priest,  did  not 
have  a  paying  specialty  already.  Thus  in  ancient  Peru,  as  Gar- 
cilasso  de  la  Vega  reports,  purges  and  bleedings  were  prescribed 
by  those  most  experienced,  who  were  "generally  old  women  and 
great  herbalists."  The  herbalists  had  a  great  reputation,  knew  the 
use  of  many  herbs,  and  taught  their  knowledge  to  their  children. 
"These  physicians  were  not  employed  to  cure  anyone  but  only  the 
king,  the  royal  family,  the  curacas,  and  their  relatives.  The 
common  people  had  to  cure  each  other  from  what  they  had 
heard  concerning  the  remedies."  In  Mexico  also  medicine  was 
found  in  a  surprisingly  advanced  stage,  and  to  some  degree 
specialized,  partly  by  women,  but  more  especially  by  a  class  of 
men  who  were  not  of  the  priestly  class.  The  Mexican  physicians, 
according  to  Clavigero,  communicated  to  Dr.  Hernandez  the 
knowledge  of  1,200  plants,  with  their  proper  Mexican  names, 
more  than  200  species  of  birds,  and  a  large  number  of  quadru- 
peds, reptiles,  fish,  insects,  and  minerals.  "Europe  has  been 
obliged  to  the  physicians  of  Mexico  for  tobacco,  American  bal- 
sam, gum  copal,  liquid  amber,  sarsaparilla,  tecamaca,  jalap,  barley, 
and  the  purgative  pine-seeds,  and  other  simples  which  have  been 
much  used  in  medicine."  "Blood-letting,  an  operation  which  their 
physicians  performed  with  great  dexterity  and  safety  with  the 
lancets  of  Itztli,  was  extremely  common  among  the  Mexicans, 
and  other  nations  of  Anahuac ;"  and  Herrera  says  that  the  physi- 
cians of  Guazacualco  were  for  the  most  part  women.  The  existing 
evidence  in  ancient  Peru  and  Mexico  indicates  that  medical  prac- 
tice was  still  associated  with  sorcery  and  superstitious  cere- 
monies, as  we  should  expect  to  find  it  (in  view  of  the  belief  that 
diseases  were  spirit-caused),  but  there  had  at  the  same  time 
grown  up  a  body  of  empirical  knowledge,  in  the  hands  of 
specialists,  tending  to  displace  the  practices  of  the  medicine- 
man. We  may  note  also  that  the  same  state  of  things  existed  in 
Assyria  and  Babylonia,  countries  not  unlike  Mexico  in  their 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  287 

general  condition  of  culture :  "The  doctor  had  long  been  an 
institution  in  Assyria  and  Babylonia.  It  is  true  that  the  great 
bulk  of  the  people  had  recourse  to  religious  charms  and  cere- 
monies when  they  were  ill,  and  ascribed  their  sickness  to  pos- 
session by  demons  instead  of  to  natural  causes.  But  there  was 
a  continually  increasing  number  of  the  educated  who  looked  for 
aid  in  their  maladies  rather  to  the  physician  with  his  medicines 
than  to  the  sorcerer  or  priest  with  his  charms"  (Sayce). 

The  assumption  of  Spencer  in  connection  with  evidence  such 
as  the  last  given,  that  the  doctors  had  arisen  as  one  division 
of  the  priestly  class,  seems  unwarranted.  The  medicine-man 
and  the  priest  relied  almost  wholly,  as  had  been  said,  on  sug- 
gestion, and  before  the  development  of  a  knowledge  of  drugs 
and  surgery  medicine  was  almost  altogether  on  the  suggestive 
basis.  With  the  natural  development  of  knowledge,  however, 
in  a  growing  society,  the  priest,  if  for  no  other  reason,  because 
there  were  some  limitations  to  the  objects  of  his  attention,  con- 
tinued to  work  on  the  suggestive  basis,  while  there  arose  rival 
schools  of  medicine,  operating  on  scientific  or  empirical  prin- 
ciples. It  must  be  noticed  also  that  the  priest  had  never  had  much 
prominence  in  surgery,  because  this  is  not  favorable  to  the  use 
of  suggestion.  Instead,  therefore,  of  contributing  conspicuously 
to  the  development  of  a  scientific  medicine,  the  medicine-man  and 
priest  retained  a  precarious  hold  on  medical  practice  until  entirely 
displaced  by  lay  specialists,  who  relied  more  on  drugs  and  surgery 
than  on  suggestion. 

In  his  treatment  of  the  dancer  and  musician  Spencer  shows 
that  music  and  dancing  accompany  strong  emotion,  and  were 
used  particularly  after  victory  by  those  welcoming  the  warriors 
home.  He  also  shows  that  a  special  class  was  developed,  some- 
times women,  sometimes  men,  to  dance  and  sing  before  chiefs 
and  rulers,  and  to  express  admiration  and  praise  for  these  as 
well  as  to  amuse  them.  This  proposition  is  quite  true,  but  it  is 
a  far  cry  from  this  to  the  conclusion  that  the  medicine-men, 
who  sang  and  danced  in  connection  with  religious  observances, 
rather  than  the  people  in  general  or  the  court  hangers-on  in  par- 
ticular, became  differentiated  into  professional  musicians  and 
dancers.  There  is,  in  fact,  scarcely  a  shred  of  evidence  to  in- 


288  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

dicate  that  the  priestly  class  was  conspicuously  associated  in 
early  times  with  the  development  of  music  and  dancing.  The 
evidence  is  all  to  the  contrary.  The  professionals  were  plainly 
not  medicine-men,  but  a  class  of  court  hangers-on,  correspond- 
ing to  the  troubadours  and  the  troupes  of  strolling  players  of 
early  times  in  Europe,  while  spontaneous  expressions  continued 
to  be  manifested  by  the  populace  in  general. 

A  few  examples  will  illustrate  sufficiently  the  nature  of  early 
spontaneous  and  professional  music  and  dancing  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  participants.  In  I  Sam.  18:6,  7,  we  read:  "And  it 
came  to  pass  as  they  came,  when  David  was  returned  from  the 
slaughter  of  the  Philistine,  that  the  women  came  out  of  all  cities  of 
Israel,  singing  and  dancing  to  meet  King  Saul,  with  tabrets,  with 
joy,  and  with  instruments  of  music.  And  the  women  answered 
one  another  as  they  played,  and  said,  'Saul  hath  slain  his 
thousands  and  David  his  ten  thousands.' "  Somewhat  more  or- 
ganized, but  still  essentially  spontaneous,  are  the  dances  of  the 
North  American  Indians.  The  Iroquois,  according  to  Morgan, 
had  thirty-two  distinct  dances,  and  to  each  a  separate  object  and 
history  was  attached  as  well  as  a  different  degree  of  popular 
favor.  Some  were  war  dances,  some  costume  dances ;  some 
designed  exclusively  for  females,  others  for  warriors ;  but  the 
greater  part  of  them  were  open  to  all  of  both  sexes  who  de- 
sired to  participate.  Both  the  dancing  and  the  singing  were  re- 
vivals or  repetitions  of  the  various  activities  of  the  group,  par- 
ticularly of  the  emotional  crises  of  the  group  or  individual  life. 
In  Africa,  where  despotic  forms  of  government  flourish,  and 
a  consequent  patronage  of  the  arts,  we  find  professional  musicians 
and  dancers.  These  either  attach  themselves  to  some  court  or 
wander  from  place  to  place.  A  chief  usually  keeps  two  or  three 
of  them,  who  sing  his  praises  and  those  of  his  white  visitors. 
These  singers  also  attach  themselves  temporarily  to  any  great 
man  and  praise  his  wit  and  exploits.  But  in  case  the  expected 
presents  are  not  given  or  are  not  satisfactory,  they  then  go  to  the 
villages  round  about  and  retract  all  that  they  had  previously  said 
of  their  "protectors."  They  do  a  prosperous  business,  and  their 
wives  have  more  beads,  it  is  said,  than  the  chief's  wife.  In  spite 
of  this  they  are  considered  disreputable,  and  are  not  allowed  the 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  289 

rite  of  burial,  but  their  bodies  are  placed  upright  in  a  hollow  tree 
and  allowed  to  rot.  Further  evidence  cited  by  Spencer  shows 
the  importance  of  the  court  in  encouraging  the  professional 
musician  and 'dancer:  "Schweinfurth  records  that  at  the  court  of 
King  Munza,  the  Monbutto  ruler,  there  were  professional  mu- 
sicians, ballad-singers,  and  dancers,  whose  function  it  was  to 
glorify  and  please  the  king.  And  in  Dahomy,  according  to  Bur- 
ton, 'the  bards  are  of  both  sexes,  and  the  women  dwell  in  the 
palace  ....  ;  the  king  keeps  a  whole  troupe  of  these  laureates. 
.  .  .  .'  In  processions  in  Ashantee,  'each  noble  is  attended  by  his 
flatterers,  who  proclaim,  in  boisterous  songs,  the  "strong  names" 
of  their  master;'  and  on  the  Gold  coast  'every  chief  has  a  horn- 
blower  and  a  special  air  of  his  own.'  Similarly  we  learn  from 
Park  that  among  the  Mandingos  there  are  minstrels  who  'sing 
extempore  songs  in  honor  of  their  chief  men,  or  any  other  per- 
sons who  are  willing  to  give  "solid  pudding  for  empty  praise."  ' 

Without  multiplying  instances  from  the  lower  races,  we  may 
say  that  the  evidence  all  goes  to  show  that  the  patronage  of  the 
rich  is  important  or  essential  to  the  development  of  specialists 
in  music  and  dancing.  Following  his  usual  method  at  this  point 
— that  is,  the  one  corresponding  with  his  ghost  theory  of  the 
origin  of  worship — Spencer  attempts  to  show  that  the  praised 
when  living  became  also  the  praised  when  dead,  and  that  the 
praise  of  the  dead  became  the  office  of  those  concerned  with  the 
dead,  namely,  the  medicine-men  or  priests,  and  that  music  and 
dancing  were  further  developed  by  this  class.  "Since  it  was  the 
function  of  the  minstrel  now  to  glorify  his  chief,  and  now  to 
glorify  his  chief's  ancestors,  we  see  that  in  the  one  capacity  he 
lauded  the  living  potentate,  and  in  the  other  capacity  he  lauded 
the  deceased  potentate  as  a  priest  lauds  a  deity."  But  the  evi- 
dence does  not  hold  out  very  far  along  this  line.  All  that  can 
reasonably  be  claimed  is  that  the  church  in  many  places  became 
a  very  powerful  agency,  and  consequently  a  powerful  patron, 
and  that  the  offices  of  the  church  were  promoted  in  a  great  degree 
by  music,  and  in  a  very  slight  degree  by  dancing,  and  that  church- 
men, having  leisure,  taste,  and  the  stimulation  to  do  so,  made  im- 
portant contributions,  especially  in  Europe,  to  the  development  of 
music — but  not  more  important  than  we  should  expect  in  view 


290  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  the  importance  of  music  as  a  piece  of  church  machinery. 
That  the  professional  musician  is  a  product  of  attention  to  the 
dead  rather  than  the  living  is  a  baseless  contention,  and  that 
the  professional  dancer  is  a  church  product  is  perhaps  the  slen- 
derest claim  that  Spencer  anywhere  makes  on  our  imagination. 

In  connection  with  his  view  of  the  relation  of  the  priestly 
class  to  the  development  of  poets,  orators,  dramatists,  and  actors, 
Spencer  says:  "Ovations,  now  to  the  living  king  and  now  to 
the  dead  king,  while  taking  saltatory  and  musical  forms,  took  also 
verbal  forms,  originally  spontaneous  and  irregular,  but  presently 
studied  and  measured:  whence,  first,  the  unrhythmical  speech 
of  the  orator,  which  under  higher  emotional  excitement  grew  into 
the  rhythmical  speech  of  the  priest-poet,  chanting  verses — verses 
that  finally  became  established  hymns  of  praise.  Meanwhile 
from  accompanying  rude  imitation  of  the  hero's  acts,  performed 
now  by  one  and  now  by  several,  grew  dramatic  representations, 
which,  little  by  little  elaborated,  fell  under  the  regulations  of  a 
chief  actor,  who  prefigured  the  playwright.  And  out  of  these 
germs,  all  pertaining  to  worship,  came  eventually  the  various 
professions  of  poets,  actors,  dramatists,  and  the  subdivisions  of 
these." 

In  this  relation,  as  constantly  in  his  whole  discussion,  Spencer 
seeks  a  more  remote  and  complex  explanation  when  there  is  a 
simpler  one  at  hand.  Races  so  low  in  the  scale  of  organization 
that  they  have  no  political  rulers  both  make  and  recite  and  act 
poems  and  dramas ;  and  if  this  it  not  connected  with  "living  po- 
tentates," it  is  much  the  more  not  connected  with  "dead  poten- 
tates." It  is  perhaps  true  that  there  is  not  a  lower  race  in 
existence  today  than  the  central  Australians,  and  yet  among  them 
Mr.  Baldwin  Spencer  and  Mr.  F.  J.  Gillen  were  present  on  the 
occasion  of  one  of  the  gatherings  in  connection  with  the  initiation 
of  the  young  men,  commencing  in  the  middle  of  September  and 
lasting  until  the  middle  of  the  following  January,  during  which 
time  there  was  a  constant  succession  of  essentially  dramatic  cere- 
monies, not  a  day  passing  without  one,  while  there  were  some- 
times as  many  as  five  or  six  during  the  twenty-four  hours. 
These  ceremonies  or  quabara  related  to  the  wanderings  of  the 
alcheringa,  or  mythical  ancestors  of  the  tribe;  each  ceremony 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  291 

was  the  property  of  some  individual  who  either  made  it  himself 
or  inherited  it  from  someone — generally  a  father  or  elder  brother 
— and  it  could  be  acted  only  by  his  permission.  A  single  instance 
will  suffice  to  illustrate  the  crude  but  dramatic  character  of  these 
performances:  "[The  men]  were  supposed  to  represent  two 
eagle-hawks  quarreling  over  a  piece  of  flesh,  which  was  repre- 
sented by  the  downy  mass  in  one  man's  mouth.  At  first  they 
remained  squatting  on  their  shields,  moving  their  arms  up  and 
down,  and  still  continuing  this  action,  which  was  supposed  to 
represent  the  flapping  of  wings,  they  jumped  off  the  shields,  and 
with  their  bodies  bent  up  and  arms  extended  and  flapping,  began 
circling  around  each  other  as  if  each  were  afraid  of  coming  to 
close  quarters.  Then  they  stopped  and  moved  a  step  or  two  at  a 
time,  first  to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other,  until  finally  they 
came  to  close  quarters  and  began  fighting  with  their  heads  for 

the  possession  of  the  piece  of  meat The  attacking  man 

at  length  seized  with  his  teeth  the  piece  of  meat  and  wrenched  it 
out  of  the  other  man's  mouth.  The  acting  in  this  ceremony  was 
especially  good,  the  actions  and  movements  of  the  birds  being 
admirably  represented,  and  the  whole  scene  with  the  decorated 
men  in  front  and  the  group  of  interested  natives  in  the  back- 
ground was  by  no  means  devoid  of  picturesqueness." 

It  is  well  known  also  that  the  North  American  Indians  pro- 
duced some  very  tender  poems  of  love  and  sentiment ;  and  there 
are  several  delicate  nature  poems  in  the  poetry  of  the  Eskimo. 
Neither  does  the  prose  literature  of  the  natural  races  show  the 
influence  of  the  medicine-man  which  Spencer  alleges ;  Mr.  Ellis's 
chapters  on  the  proverbs,  fables,  and  folklore  of  the  Africans 
of  the  Slave  Coast  show  no  signs  of  connection  with  the  medi- 
cine-man. The  stories  remind  us  sometimes  of  the  stories  of 
Uncle  Remus  and  sometimes  of  Grimm's  fairy-talcs :  "The 
fables  in  vogue  amongst  the  Ewe-speaking  people,  and  of  which 
tiiere  are  a  great  number,  are  always  material,  and  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  metaphor.  They  are  tales  pure  and  simple,  are  not 
designed  to  account  for  events  or  phenomena  in  nature  or  life, 
and  have  no  analogy  with  the  moral  fables  which  were  once 
popular  in  Europe,  and  of  which  those  of  ^sop  afford  an  en- 
sample.  They  are  merely  stories  of  the  adventures  of  beasts  and 


292  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

birds,  to  whom  the  Ewe-speaking  native  ascribes  a  power  of 
speech,  and  whose  moral  nature  he  conceives  to  be  at  least  as 

analogous  to  that  of  man  as  their  physical  nature The 

fables  are  usually  recounted  on  moonlight  nights,  when  the  young 
people  of  the  town  or  village  gather  together  in  one  of  the  open 
spaces  amongst  the  houses.  It  is  usual  for  the  story-teller  to  be 
accompanied  by  the  sound  of  a  drum,  whose  rhythm  occurs  after 
each  sentence." 

There  is,  in  fact,  almost  no  end  to  the  instances  of  poetry 
and  drama  and  literature  under  conditions  which  preclude  the 
assumption  that  they  were  produced  by  priests  or  directed  to- 
ward great  men.  But  in  connection  with  literature,  as  with  music 
and  dancing,  we  find  that  wherever  court  life  and  consequently 
court  patronage  existed  professional  poets  and  actors  were  de- 
veloped. These  naturally  sang  the  praises  of  their  patrons,  but 
they  were,  for  the  most  part,  laymen,  and  not  priests,  and  their 
art  celebrated  the  living,  and  not  the  dead.  The  ancient  kingdoms 
of  Mexico  and  Peru  represent  highly  developed  political  and 
ecclesiastical  control,  but  the  literature  of  these  countries  does 
not  show  marked  priestly  influences.  Of  the  ancient  Nahuatl 
poetry  Brinton  says:  "The  profession  of  poet  stood  in  highest 
honor.  It  was  the  custom  before  the  Conquest  for  every  town, 
every  ruler,  and  every  person  of  importance  to  maintain  a  com- 
pany of  singers,  and  dancers,  paying  them  fixed  salaries,  and  the 
early  writer,  Duran,  tells  us  that  this  custom  continued  in  his 

own  time,  long  after  the  Conquest In  the  training  of  these 

artists  their  patrons  took  a  deep  personal  interest,  and  were  not  at 
all  tolerant  of  neglected  duties.  We  are  told  that  the  chief 
selected  the  song  which  was  to  be  sung  and  the  tune  by  which  it 
was  to  be  accompanied ;  and  did  any  one  of  the  choir  sing  falsely, 
a  drummer  beat  out  of  time,  or  a  dancer  strike  an  incorrect  atti- 
tude, the  unfortunate  artist  was  instantly  called  forth,  placed  in 
bonds  and  summarily  executed  the  next  morning. 

"The  antiquary  Boturini,  writing  about  two  centuries  after 
the  Conquest,  classified  all  the  ancient  Nahuatl  songs  under  two 
heads,  those  treating  mainly  of  historical  subjects,  and  those  of  a 
fictitious,  emotional,  or  imaginative  character." 

About,  the  same  state  of  literatufe  is  reported  by  Garcilasso 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  293 

among  the  Peruvians:  "The  Amautas,  who  were  philosophers, 
were  not  wanting  in  ability  to  compose  comedies  and  tragedies, 
which  were  represented  before  their  kings  on  solemn  festivals, 
and  before  the  lords  of  the  court.  The  actors  were  not  common 
people,  but  Yncas  and  noblemen,  sons  of  Curacas,  or  the  Curacas 
themselves,  down  to  masters  of  the  camp.  For  the  subject-mat- 
ter of  the  tragedy  should,  it  was  considered,  be  properly  repre- 
sented, as  it  always  related  to  military  deeds,  triumphs,  and 
victories,  or  to  the  grandeur  of  former  kings  and  other  heroic 
men.  The  arguments  of  the  comedies  were  on  agriculture  and 

familiar  household  subjects They  did  not  allow  improper 

or  vile  farces They  understood  the  composition  of  long 

and  short  verses,  with  the  right  number  of  syllables  in  each. 
Their  love  songs  were  composed  in  this  way,  with  different  tunes. 
....  They  also  recorded  the  deeds  of  their  kings  in  verse, 

and  those  of  other  famous  Yncas  and  Curacas They  did 

not  use  rhymes  in  the  verses,  but  all  were  blank Other 

verses  are  on  the  subject  of  astrology ;  and  the  Ynca  poets  treated 
of  the  secondary  causes,  by  means  of  which  God  acts  in  the 
region  of  the  air,  to  cause  lightning  and  thunder,  hail,  snow,  and 
rain." 

We  find,  indeed,  some  signs  of  priestly  influence  and  of  re- 
membrance of  the  dead  in  the  poems  of  these  two  countries,  but 
the  relation  between  patron  and  court  attendant  is  so  plain,  and 
the  nature  of  the  poetic  subjects  treated  so  varied,  as  to  preclude 
the  theory  that  the  ecclesiastic  is  the  dominant  influence. 

After  confessing  in  this  connection  that  among  various  groups, 
notably  some  African  tribes  and  the  nomads  of  Asia,  "eulogies 
of  the  living  ruler,  whether  or  not  with  rhythmical  words  and 
musical  utterance,  are  but  little  or  not  at  all  accompanied  by 
eulogies  of  the  apotheosized  ruler,"  Spencer  passes  on  to  some 
of  the  higher  stages  of  development,  and  shows  that  among  the 
Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  Christians  the  arts  in  question  were 
practiced  by  the  priesthood.  And  all  that  he  claims  may  be  ad- 
mitted, or  at  any  rate  there  is  no  occasion  to  question  the  evi- 
dence that  the  priests  were  concerned  with  the  production  of 
poetry  and  literature ;  for  here,  as  in  the  case  of  music,  the 
church  availed  itself  of  all  the  modes  of  suggestion  and  all  the 


294  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

emotional  helps  within  its  reach.  It  is  a  mistake  to  assume,  how- 
ever, that  this  development  in  the  church  was  later  in  point  of 
time  or  more  important  than  the  corresponding  development  in 
the  world.  The  true  statement  seems  to  be  that  these  forms 
of  art  developed  naturally  both  in  the  world  and  in  the  church, 
as  answering  to  the  needs  of  human  nature;  and  the  church 
may  be  regarded  as  a  microcosm,  reproducing  in  small  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  world,  or  at  any  rate  those  activities  essential  to 
its  own  maintenance.  A  passage  in  Clavigero  illustrates  that 
priests  did  various  things,  some  of  them  artistic,  contributing  to 
the  up-keep  of  the  church:  "All  the  offices  of  religion  were 
divided  among  the  priests.  Some  were  the  sacrificers,  others 
the  diviners;  some  were  the  composers  of  hymns,  others  those 
who  sung.  Amongst  the  singers  some  sang  at  certain  hours  of 
the  day,  others  sang  at  certain  hours  of  the  night.  Some  priests 
had  the  charge  of  keeping  the  temple  clean,  some  took  care  of 
the  ornaments  of  the  altars;  to  others  belonged  the  instructing 
of  youth,  the  correcting  of  the  calendar,  the  ordering  of  festivals, 
and  the  care  of  mythological  paintings." 

The  church  is  here  a  patron  of  the  arts,  and  the  arts  flourish 
under  patronage.  Under  certain  conditions,  particularly  with  the 
dominance  of  theocratic  ideas,  the  church  may  become  a  more 
powerful  patron  than  the  court  or  the  world  at  large.  The  re- 
flective, speculative,  and  artistic  interests  of  society  may  even 
become  identified  to  i  large  degree  with  the  church  and  be 
fostered  by  it,  while  the  motor  activities  are  appropriated  by 
the  court  and  the  world  at  large.  In  mediaeval  and  feudal 
Europe  the  church  became  a  temporal  power,  and  in  consequence 
a  very  powerful  patron ;  and  it  did  appropriate  and  represent 
certain  characteristic  mental  interests,  owing  to  peculiar  con- 
ditions in  the  world  at  large.  Among  these  interests  were  read- 
ing and  writing.  And,  as  Spencer  points  out,  many  churchmen 
were  contributors  to  poetry ;  and  the  church  developed  also  a 
body  of  dramatic  literature  of  very  slight  artistic  value.  But  to 
say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  churchmen  alone  were  able  to  read 
and  write,  and  that  consequently  their  productions  had  the  best 
chance  to  survive,  the  array  of  names  of  churchmen  connected 
with  literature  in  England  which  Spencer  presents  is  not  at  all 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  295 

impressive,   and  is  besides   meaningless,   since  on   the  principle 
which  he  follows  of  naming  only  poets  and  literary  men  who  are 
at  the  same  time  churchmen  it  would  be  equally  possible  to  show  ' 
that  there  was  never  a  novelist  in  England  who  was  not  at  the 
same  time  a  lawyer,  or  that  all  British  poets  have  blue  eyes. 

In  his  treatment  of  the  beginnings  of  painting,  sculpture,  and 
architecture,  Spencer  has  singled  out  a  slight  and,  so  to  speak, 
incidental  connection  which  these  arts  have  with  spirit  belief  and 
the  medicine-man,  and  has  greatly  overstated  its  importance :  "Un- 
questionably ....  pictorial  art  in  its  first  stages  was  occupied 
with  sacred  subjects,  and  the  priest,  when  not  himself  the  execu- 
tant, was  the  director  of  the  executants 

"A  rude  carved  or  model  image  of  a  man  placed  on  his  grave 
gave  origin  to  the  sculptured  representation  of  the  god  inclosed 
in  his  temple.  A  product  of  priestly  skill  at  the  outset,  it  con- 
tinued in  some  cases  to  be  such  among  early  civilized  peoples; 
and  always  thereafter,  when  executed  by  an  artisan,  conformed 
to  priestly  direction.  Extending  presently  to  the  representation 
of  other  than  divine  and  semi-divine  personages,  it  eventually 
thus  passed  into  its  secularized  form 

"The  art  [of  architecture]  was  first  used  either  for  the 
preservation  of  the  dead  or  as  ancillary  to  ceremonies  in  honor 
of  the  apotheosized  dead.  In  either  case  the  implication  is  that 
architecture  in  these  simple  beginnings  fulfilled  the  ideas  of  the 
primitive  medicine-men,  or  priests.  Some  director  there  must 
have  been;  and  we  can  scarcely  help  concluding  that  he  was  at 
once  the  specially  skilful  man  and  the  man  who  was  supposed  to 
be  in  communication  with  the  departed  spirits  to  be  honored." 

These  are  among  the  conclusions  which  Spencer  says  "leap 
to  the  eyes ;"  but  in  this  neither  the  lay  reader  nor  the  student  of 
these  matters  will  probably  agree  with  him.  The  interest  in 
reviving  in  consciousness  the  emotional  aspects  of  past  activity, 
which  we  have  seen  in  the  arts  of  poetry  and  music,  is  common 
also  to  painting  and  sculpture.  Spencer  was  familiar  with  the 
etchings  and  carvings  of  the  prehistoric  cave-men,  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  that  he  counted  these  records  of  hunting  activity 
and  interests  among  the  products  of  the  medicine-men.  There 
are,  besides,  among  the  natural  races  of  today,  particularly  among 


296  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  Australians  and  Africans,  numerous  rock  carvings  and  paint- 
ings. Among  the  Bushmen  are  found  thousands  of  animal  forms, 
often  twenty  on  a  single  stone.  They  use  in  the  painting  a  lively 
red,  brown  ochre,  yellow,  and  black,  and  occasionally  green. 
The  subjects  are  men  and  animals.  One  especially  fine  piece 
represents  a  fight  between  the  Bushmen  and  Kafirs,  in  connec- 
tion with  a  cattle  raid  which  the  former  had  made  on  the  latter. 
Art  of  this  character,  we  may  believe,  has  no  especial  connection 
with  the  medicine-man.  The  person  who  scratched  on  a  mam- 
moth's tusk  a  representation  of  a  vicious-looking  mammoth  was 
pretty  certainly  no  medicine-man,  but  one  of  the  men  foremost 
in  the  hunt,  in  whose  imagination  and  memory  the  picture  stuck. 
The  connection  which  the  medicine-man  has  with  the  art  of 
sculpture  and  painting  is  a  secondary  one — the  manufacture  of 
images  of  other  men  to  be  used  magically  in  bringing  disaster  on 
these  men.  This  is  essentially  a  fetishistic  practice,  and  cannot  be 
regarded  as  having  a  very  far-reaching  influence  in  art.  It  was  as 
prevalent  in  the  Middle  Ages  as  among  savages,  and  in  neither 
case  had  a  serious  influence  on  art.  As  to  architecture,  that 
this  originated  in  the  construction  of  tombs  is  a  conclusion  so  far 
from  "leaping  to  the  eyes"  that  quite  the  contrary  takes  place; 
and  we  shall  not  go  far  astray  if  we  decide  that  architecture 
originated  in  the  construction  of  habitations  for  the  living,  rather 
than  tombs  for  the  dead.  Even  the  lower  animals,  notably  the 
beaver  and  the  bower-bird,  have  made  a  beginning  in  architecture, 
while  making  no  special  provision  for  the  dead.  It  is,  besides, 
in  keeping  with  Spencer's  ghost  theory  of  worship  that  no  atten- 
tions to  the  dead  shall  be  found  which  are  not  foreshadowed  in 
attentions  to  the  living,  and  in  accordance  with  this  view  we 
should  expect  him  to  claim  that  the  tendency  to  build  imposing 
structures  is  to  be  looked  for,  as  in  fact  it  is,  in  connection  with 
political  centralization  and  court  life.  The  earliest  imposing 
structures  in  the  way  of  fortifications  and  strongholds  represent 
the  needs  of  the  living,  not  of  the  dead;  the  castle  precedes  the 
cathedral,  and  the  builder  in  either  case  is  the  result  of  patronage, 
not  of  priestly  predisposition.  This  is  by  no  means  denying  that 
the  church  made  particular  uses  of  architecture  and  that  church- 
men made  notable  contributions  to  it.  But  in  these  cases,  as  in 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  297 

the  others,  the  simplest  assumption  is  the  safest,  and  is  sus- 
tained by  the  mass  of  evidence.  As  soon  as  there  developed  at 
any  point,  either  at  the  court  or  in  the  church,  an  amount  of 
wealth  making  the  support  of  a  class  of  professionals  possible, 
these  appeared.  This  condition  is  seen  first  of  all  in  connection 
with  court  life,  and  is  very  well  illustrated  in  old  Mexico:  "Net- 

zahualcoyotzin  ordered  all  artists  to  make  his  likeness 

The  goldsmiths  made  a  golden  statue,  the  feather-workers  manu- 
factured a  portrait  so  like  that  it  seemed  to  be  living,  the  painters 
made  another,  the  sculptors  made  his  statue,  and  the  architects 
erected  a  lion  ....  which  had  his  figure;  even  the  blacksmiths 
made  their  work." 

Both  the  court  and  the  church  used  the  arts  for  their  own 
glorification,  and  in  some  historical  periods  the  church  is  pre- 
eminently the  patron  of  the  arts ;  but  the  arts  originated  in  com- 
mon consciousness ;  their  connection  with  church  and  state  is 
adventitious,  and  dependent  on  economic  rather  than  psychological 
principles. 

In  explaining  the  origin  of  the  historian,  Spencer  says :  "The 
great  deeds  of  the  hero-god,  recited,  chanted  or  sung,  and 
mimetically  rendered,  naturally  came  to  be  supplemented  by  de- 
tails, so  growing  into  accounts  of  his  life;  and  thus  the  priest- 
poet  gave  origin  to  the  biographer,  whose  narratives,  being  ex- 
tended to  less  sacred  personages,  became  secularized.  Stories  of 
the  apotheosized  chief  or  king,  joined  with  stories  of  his  com- 
panions and  amplified  by  narratives  of  accompanying  transac- 
tions, formed  the  first  histories." 

But  men  in  very  early  times  invented  means  of  keeping  a 
record  of  their  activities  and  of  past  events,  and  in  this,  rather 
than  in  the  praise  of  apotheosized  chiefs,  we  find  the  beginning  of 
history.  The  Indian  wampum  is  an  example  of  a  device  of  this 
kind.  "The  laws  explained  at  different  stages  of  the  ceremonial 
were  repeated  from  strings  of  wampum,  into  which  they  'had 
been  talked'  at  the  time  of  their  enactment.  In  the  Indian  method 
of  expressing  the  idea,  the  string  or  the  belt  can  tell,  by  means  of 
an  interpreter,  the  exact  law  or  transaction  of  which  it  was  made 
at  the  time  the  sole  evidence."  A  still  simpler  device  is  reported 
of  the  Chippewas  by  Schoolcraft :  "A  subordinate  here  handed 


298  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

him,  at  his  request,  a  bundle  of  small  sticks.  'This/  handing 
theni  to  me,  'is  the  number  of  Leech  Lake  Chippewas  killed  by 
the  Sioux  since  the  treaty  of  Prairie  du  Chien.'  There  were  43 
sticks."  And  a  more  elaborate  development  than  wampum  was 
the  quipu,  or  knot-writing,  of  the  ancient  Peruvians. 

The  stimulation  to  historical  and  biographical  interest  is, 
however,  found  mainly  in  connection  with  great  men  who  are 
pleased  to  have  themselves  and  their  deeds  glorified.  Historical 
writing  is  consequently  developed  mainly  at  the  court;  the  ruler 
was  its  object,  and  out  of  the  hangers-on  was  developed  a  class 
of  specialists  in  this  line.  The  beginnings  of  this  we  see  very 
clearly  in  Africa,  where  the  king  of  the  Zulus  kept  men  who 
acted  as  heralds  at  the  dances,  and  "at  every  convenient  oppor- 
tunity recounted  the  various  acts  and  deeds  of  their  august  mon- 
arch in  a  string  of  unbroken  sentences ;"  and  among  the  Da- 
homans,  where  on  special  occasions  professional  singers,  sitting 
at  the  king's  gate,  rehearse  the  whole  history  of  the  country, 
the  recital  taking  up  several  days.  On  the  Slave  Coast  there  are 
"arokin,  or  narrators  of  the  national  traditions,  several  of  whom 
are  attached  to  each  king,  or  paramount  chief,  and  who  may  be 
regarded  as  the  depositaries  of  the  ancient  chronicles.  The  chief 
of  the  arokin  is  a  councillor,  bearing  the  title  of  Ologbo,  'one  who 
possesses  the  old  times,'  and  a  proverb  says,  'Ologbo  is  the  father 
of  chroniclers.'  "  At  the  stage  of  culture  reached  by  the  ancient 
Mexicans  the  profession  of  historian  is  already  fully  developed : 
"It  ought  to  be  known  that  in  all  the  republics  of  this  country 
....  there  was,  amongst  other  professions,  that  of  the  chron- 
iclers and  historians.  They  possessed  a  knowledge  of  the  earliest 
times,  and  of  all  things  concerning  religion,  the  gods  and  their 
worship.  They  knew  the  founders  of  cities  and  the  early  his- 
tory of  their  kings  and  kingdoms.  They  knew  the  modes  of 
election  and  the  right  of  succession ;  and  they  could  tell  the  num- 
ber and  characters  of  their  ancient  kings,  their  works  and  mem- 
orable achievements,  whether  good  or  bad,  and  whether  they  had 
governed  well  or  ill They  knew,  in  fact,  whatever  be- 
longed to  history,  and  were  able  to  give  an  account  of  all  the 
events  of  the  past These  chroniclers  had,  likewise,  to  cal- 
culate the  days,  months,  and  years ;  and,  though  they  had  no 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  299 

writing  like   our   own,   they  had   their   symbols   and   characters 

through    which    they    understood    everything There    was 

never  a  lack  of  those  chroniclers.  It  was  a  profession  which 
passed  from  father  to  son,  highly  respected  in  the  whole  re- 
public; each  historian  instructed  two  or  three  of  his  relatives. 
He  made  them  practice  constantly,  and  they  had  recourse  to  him 

whenever  a  doubt  arose  on  a  point  of  history Whenever 

there  was  a  doubt  as  to  ceremonies,  precepts  of  religion,  religious 
festivals,  or  anything  of  importance  in  the  history  of  the  ancient 
kingdoms,  everyone  went  to  the  chroniclers  to  ask  for  informa- 
tion" (Las  Casas). 

From  evidence  of  this  character  we  find  that  the  original  nar- 
rator of  historical  events  and  personal  history  was  not  usually  a 
priest,  and  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of  development,  as  shown 
in  the  last  citation,  it  does  not  appear  that  the  historians  are  from 
the  priestly  class.  At  the  same  time  it  is  true  that  the  priests 
had  special  interest  in  being  in  possession  of  historical  knowledge, 
in  order  to  further  their  own  interests.  Bastian  reports  that 
"the  only  kind  of  history  which  is  found  among  the  Congo 
people  is  the  traditions  of  important  events,  which  are  secretly 
transmitted  among  the  fetish-priests,  in  order,  through  the 
knowledge  of  the  past  of  different  families,  to  make  the  people 
who  come  to  them  for  advice  imagine  that  they  possess  super- 
natural knowledge."  From  the  same  motives  of  self-interest 
the  church  at  all  times,  and  perhaps  pre-eminently  the  Christian 
church  in  Europe,  has  used  history  and  created  supposed  history 
(to-wit,  miracle)  both  to  preserve  and  to  magnify  its  past.  On 
this  account  we  may  well  expect  to  find  that  when  the  church 
is  powerful  and  able,  like  the  court,  to  support  a  number  of 
hangers-on,  its  representatives  will  have  a  prominent  place  in 
history  and  in  letters;  and  of  course  this  was  particularly  true 
in  Europe  during  the  period  when  the  church  had  a  monopoly 
of  learning.  But  this  participation  of  the  clergy  in  a  general 
activity  is  quite  different  from  the  claim  that  history  is  a  priestly 
creation.  An  interest  in  the  past  is  common  to  human  nature, 
and  wherever  there  was  an  economic  surplus  applicable  to  the 
cultivation  of  this  interest  a  class  of  men  sprang  up  who  cul- 
tivated it.  The  economic  conditions  were  met  primarily  by  the 


300  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

court  and  secondarily  by  the  church,  and  either  of  these  alone 
would  have  developed  historians  and  men  of  letters. 

Finally,  we  may  examine  together  Spencer's  claims  that  the 
teacher,  the  philosopher,  the  judge,  and  the  scientist  are  of 
ecclesiastical  origin,  because  there  is,  perhaps,  more  to  be  said 
in  favor  of  his  theory  as  applied  to  these  occupations  than  the 
others,  medicine  excepted.  Yet  Spencer's  claim  with  reference 
to  these  is  also  fundamentally  unsound.  He  says  that  "the  primi- 
tive conception  of  the  teacher  is  the  conception  of  one  who  gives 
instruction  in  sacred  matters.  Of  course  the  knowledge  thus 
communicated  is  first  of  all  communicated  by  the  elder  priests  to 
the  younger,  or  rather  by  the  actual  priests  to  those  who  are  to 
become  priests.  In  many  cases,  and  for  a  long  time,  this  is  the 
sole  teaching.  Only  in  the  course  of  evolution,  along  with  the 
rise  of  a  secular  cultured  class,  does  the  teacher  as  we  now  con- 
ceive him  come  into  existence." 

Spencer  also  alleges  that  in  the  initiatory  ceremonies  of  the 
Australians  the  youth  is  dedicated  to  a  god,  and  that  the  medi- 
cine-men are  the  operators  and  instructors  during  the  ceremony. 
These  statements,  as  they  stand,  are  unquestionably  incorrect. 
The  most  important  evidence  bearing  on  initiatory  ceremonies 
among  the  Australians,  that  of  Spencer  and  Gillen,  to  which  ref- 
erence has. been  made,  had  not  appeared  when  Spencer  wrote. 
In  this  work  we  have,  in  fact,  the  first  exhaustive  and  satisfac- 
tory account  of  these  ceremonies,  and  among  the  Central  Aus- 
tralian tribes,  to  whom  the  description  is  limited,  the  initiatory 
ceremonies  are  a  very  remarkably  well  organized  and  successful 
attempt  to  teach  the  young  men  the  traditions  of  the  tribe  and 
to  bring  them  under  the  influence  and  control  of  the  older  men. 
The  old  men,  particularly  those  distinguished  by  their  superior 
knowledge  and  good  sense,  are  the  teachers  and  operators  dur- 
ing these  ceremonies,  one  part  of  which,  it  will  be  remembered, 
lasts  about  four  months.  The  medicine-men,  as  such,  do  not  ap- 
pear at  all,  but  all  possible  suggestive  means  are  employed,  and 
with  an  almost  endless  repetition,  to  impress  the  youth  with  re- 
spect for  the  older  men  of  his  tribe  and  for  his  alcheringa  or 
mythical  ancestors. 

"It  may  be  noted  here  that  the  deference  paid  to  the  old  men 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  301 

during  the  ceremonies  of  examining  the  churinga  is  most 
marked;  no  young  man  thinks  of  speaking  unless  he  be  first  ad- 
dressed by  one  of  the  elder  men,  and  then  he  listens  solemnly  to 

all  that  the  latter  tells  him The  old  man  just  referred  to ' 

was  especially  looked  up  to  as  an  oknirabata  or  great  instructor, 
a  term  which  is  only  applied,  as  in  this  case,  to  men  who  are  not 
only  old,  but  learned  in  all  the  customs  and  traditions  of  the 
tribe,  and  whose  influence  is  well  seen  at  ceremonies  such  as  the 
engwura  [fire-ceremony],  where  the  greatest  deference  is  paid 
to  them.  A  man  may  be  old,  very  old  indeed,  but  yet  never  at- 
tain to  the  rank  of  oknirabata." 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  only  instance  of 
levity  recorded  by  Spencer  and  Gillen  was  in  connection  with  the 
churinga  (sacred  object)  of  an  oruncha  or  "devil-man" — one  of 
the  three  classes  of  medicine  men — "and  on  the  production  of 
this  there  was,  for  the  first  and  only  time,  general  though  sub- 
dued laughter."  The  medicine-men  of  the  other  classes  were  held 
in  respect,  practiced  sorcery  of  various  kinds,  and  in  some  cases 
taught  their  arts  to  others,  but  they  figured  in  no  way  in  the 
general  education  of  the  youth.  In  other  parts  of  Australia 
some  participation  of  the  medicine-man  in  the  ceremonies  of  in- 
itiation is  found,  but  this  is  slight.  • 

With  reference  to  the  other  three  professions  named,  that  of 
philosopher,  that  of  judge,  and  that  of  scientist,  we  may  say, 
in  brief,  that  the  first  form  of  philosophy  is  the  mythology  grow- 
ing out  of  the  attempt  of  primitive  man  to  understand  such  phe- 
nomena as  echoes,  clouds,  stars,  thunder,  wind,  shadows,  dreams, 
etc.  The  creation  of  a  mythology  is  not  the  work  of  a  medicine- 
man alone,  but  the  work  of  the  social  mind  in  general.  Among 
the  first  forms  of  science  are  the  number,  time,  and  space  concep- 
tions, and  a  vague  body  of  experiential  knowledge  growing  out 
of  the  general  activities  of  the  group  or  the  individuals  of  the 
group,  and  essential  to  the  control  of  these  activities  and  the  de- 
velopment of  new  and  more  serviceable  habits.  The  first  de- 
cision of  cases  was  made  by  old  men,  and  later  by  men  in 
authority,  particularly  those  to  whom  pre-eminent  ability, 
particularly  in  war,  gave  uncommon  authority;  and  these  were 
first  of  all  rulers  rather  than  priests. 


302  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

A  particular  reason,  however,  for  the  development  of  the 
teacher,  the  philosopher,  the  judge,  and  the  scientist  within  the 
church  is  found  in  the  fact  that  they  were  peculiarly  fitted  to 
further  the  needs  and  claims  of  the  church.  The  medicine-man, 
as  we  have  seen,  operated  by  means  of  suggestion,  and  the 
church  in  all  times  and  without  interruption  has  operated  on  the 
same  basis.  The  medicine-man  claimed  that  he  had  connection 
with  spirits,  claimed  to  mediate  spirit  intervention,  and  claimed 
superior  knowledge  from  spirits.  The  church  made  all  these 
claims,  and  hence  its  knowledge  and  utterances  were  regarded 
as  inspired.  Aided  by  this  inspirational  claim,  the  church  in 
several  quarters  of  the  world  grew  more  powerful  than  the 
temporal  powers,  and  developed  within  itself  many  special  agents. 
Europe,  as  is  well  known,  passed  through  a  period  of  dominance 
by  ecclesiastical  forces,  and  in  this  period  the  offices  of  teacher, 
philosopher,  judge,  and  scientist  were  in  great  part  assumed  by 
the  church;  for  inspired  teachers  and  thinkers  naturally  out- 
classed uninspired  teachers  and  thinkers.  And  if  we  accept  the 
power  of  the  church  as  a  fact  in  early  European  history,  and  have 
in  mind  the  necessity  of  patronage  to  the  development  of  pro- 
fessional life,  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  the  functions  of 
thinking,  teaching,  and  judging  were  specially  claimed  and  de- 
veloped by  the  church.  But  these  functions  originated  in  society 
at  large,  their  emphasis  in  the  church  is  adventitious  (if  the  as- 
sumption of  temporal  power  by  the  church  may  itself  be  called 
adventitious),  and  they  pass  again  into  the  hands  of  the  lay 
specialists  whenever  the  world  at  large  becomes  again  a  more 
powerful  patron  than  the  church. 

The  most  general  explanation  of  the  rise  of  the  professional 
occupations  is  that  they  need  patronage;  and  when  either  the 
court  or  the  church  is  developed  the  patronage  is  at  hand.  With 
the  division  of  labor  incident  to  a  growing  society,  and  the  con- 
sequent increasing  irksomeness  of  labor,  particularly  of  "hard 
labor,"  there  are  always  at  hand  a  large  number  of  men  to  do  the 
less  irksome  work.  Both  the  court  hanger-on  class  and  the 
priest  class  have,  under  the  patronage  of  the  court  and  of  the 
church,  furthered  the  development  of  the  learned  and  artistic 
professions,  and  some  of  the  professions  have  received  more 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  303 

encouragement  than  others  from  the  church  because  their  pres- 
ence favored  the  needs  and  claims  of  the  church.  But  their  de- 
velopment must  be  regarded  as  a  phase  of  the  division  of 
labor,  dependent  on  economic  conditions  rather  than  on  the 
presence  in  society  of  any  particular  set  of  individuals  or  any 
peculiar  psychic  attitude  of  this  set. — W.  I.  THOMAS,  Decen- 
nial Publications  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  First  Series 
4:241-56. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  INDIAN  MYTHOLOGIES 

In  a  collection  of  Indian  traditions  recently  published  ("India- 
nische  Sagen  von  der  Nord-Pacifischen  Kuste  Nordamerikas," 
Berlin,  A.  Asher  &  Co.),  I  have  discussed  the  development  of 
the  mythologies  of  the  Indians  of  the  North  Pacific  Coast.  I 
will,  in  the  following  paper,  briefly  sum  up  the  results  at  which  I 
arrived  in  my  investigation,  and  try  to  formulate  a  number  of 
principles  which,  it  seems  to  me,  may  be  derived  from  it,  and 
which,  I  believe,  ought  to  be  observed  in  all  work  on  mytholo- 
gies and  customs  of  primitive  people. 

The  region  with  which  I  deal,  the  North  Pacific  coast  of  our 
continent,  is  inhabited  by  people  diverse  in  language  but  alike  in 
culture. 

The  arts  of  the  tribes  of  a  large  portion  of  the  territory  are  so 
uniform  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  discover  the  origin  of 
even  the  more  specialized  forms  of  their  productions  inside  of 
a  wide  expanse  of  territory.  Acculturation  of  the  various  tribes 
has  had  the  effect  that  the  plane  and  the  character  of  the  culture 
of  most  of  them  is  the  same ;  in  consequence  of  this  we  find  also 
that  myths  have  travelled  from  tribe  to  tribe,  and  that  a  large 
body  of  legends  belongs  to  many  in  common. 

As  we  depart  from  the  area  where  the  peculiar  culture  of  the 
North  Pacific  coast  has  reached  its  highest  development,  a  grad- 
ual change  in  arts  and  customs  takes  place,  and,  together  with  it, 
we  find  a  gradual  diminution  in  the  number  of  myths  which 
the  distant  tribe  has  in  common  with  the  people  of  the  North 
Pacific  coast.  At  the  same  time,  a  gradual  change  in  the  incidents 
and  general  character  of  the  legends  takes  place. 

We  can  in  this  manner  trace  what  we  might  call  a  dwindling 


304  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

down  of  an  elaborate  cyclus  of  myths  to  mere  adventures,  or  even 
to  incidents  of  adventures,  and  we  can  follow  the  process  step  by 
step.  Wherever  this  distribution  can  be  traced,  we  have  a  clear 
and  undoubted  example  of  the  gradual  dissemination  of  a  myth 
over  neighboring  tribes.  The  phenomena  of  distribution  can  be 
explained  only  by  the  theory  that  the  tales  have  been  carried  from 
one  tribe  to  its  neighbors,  and  by  the  tribe  which  has  newly  ac- 
quired them  in  turn  to  its  own  neighbors.  It  is  not  necessary  that 
this  dissemination  should  always  follow  one  direction;  it  may 
have  proceeded  either  way.  In  this  manner  a  complex  tale  may 
dwindle  down  by  gradual  dissemination,  but  also  new  elements 
may  be  embodied  in  it. 

It  may  be  well  to  give  an  example  of  this  phenomenon.  The 
most  popular  tradition  of  the  North  Pacific  coast  is  that  of  the 
raven.  Its  most  characteristic  form  is  found  among  the  Tlingit, 
Tsimshian,  and  Haida.  As  we  go  southward,  the  connection  be- 
tween the  adventures  becomes  looser  and  their  number  less. 
It  appears  that  the  traditions  are  preserved  quite  fully  as  far 
south  as  the  north  end  of  Vancouver  Island.  Farther  south  the 
number  of  tales  which  are  known  to  the  Indians  diminishes  very 
much.  At  Newettee,  near  the  north  point  of  Vancouver  Island, 
thirteen  tales  out  of  a  whole  of  eighteen  exist.  The  Comox  have 
only  eight,  the  Nootka  six,  and  the  Coast  Salish  only  three.  Fur- 
thermore, the  traditions  are  found  at  Newettee  in  the  same  con- 
nection as  farther  north,  while  farther  south  they  are  very  much 
modified.  The  tale  of  the  origin  of  daylight,  which  was  liberated 
by  the  raven,  may  serve  as  an  instance.  He  had  taken  the  shape 
of  a  spike  of  a  cedar,  was  swallowed  by  the  daughter  of  the  owner 
of  the  daylight,  and  then  born  again;  afterwards  he  broke  the 
box  in  which  the  daylight  was  kept.  Among  the  Nootka,  only 
the  transformation  into  the  spike  of  a  cedar,  which  is  swallowed 
by  a  girl  and  then  born  again,  remains.  Among  the  Coast  Salish 
the  more  important  passages  survive,  telling  how  the  raven  by  a 
ruse  compelled  the  owner  of  the  daylight  to  let  it  out  of  the  box 
in  which  he  kept  it.  The  same  story  is  found  as  far  south  as 
Grey's  Harbor  in  Washington.  The  adventure  of  the  pitch, 
which  the  raven  kills  by  exposing  it  to  the  sunshine,  intending  to 
use  it  for  caulking  his  canoe,  is  found  far  south,  but  in  an  en- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  305 

tirely  new  connection,  embodied  in  the  tradition  of  the  origin 
of  sun  and  moon. 

But  there  are  also  certain  adventures  embodied  in  the  raven 
myths  of  the  north  which  probably  had  their  origin  in  other  parts 
of  America.  Among  these  I  mention  the  tale  how  the  raven  was 
invited  and  reciprocated.  The  seal  puts  his  hands  near  the  fire, 
the  grease  drips  out  of  them  into  a  dish  which  he  gives  to  the 
raven.  Then  the  latter  tries  to  imitate  him,  but  burns  his  hands, 
etc.  This  tale  is  found,  in  one  or  the  other  form,  all  over  North 
America,  and  there  is  no  proof  that  it  originally  belonged  to 
the  raven  myth  of  Alaska.  For  other  examples  I  refer  to  my 
book. 

I  believe  the  proposition  that  dissemination  has  taken  place 
among  neighboring  tribes  will  not  encounter  any  opposition. 
Starting  from  this  point,  we  will  make  the  following  consid- 
erations : — 

If  we  have  a  full  collection  of  the  tales  and  myths  of  all  the 
tribes  of  a  certain  region,  and  then  tabulate  the  number  of  in- 
cidents which  all  the  collections  from  each  tribe  have  in  common 
with  any  selected  tribe,  the  number  of  common  incidents  will  be 
the  larger  the  more  intimate  the  relation  of  the  two  tribes  and 
the  nearer  they  live  together.  This  is  what  we  observe  in  a  tabu- 
lation of  the  material  collected  on  the  North  Pacific  coast.  On 
the  whole,  the  nearer  the  people,  the  greater  the  number  of  com- 
mon elements ;  the  farther  apart,  the  less  the  number. 

But  it  is  not  the  geographical  location  alone  which  influences 
the  distribution  of  tales.  In  some  cases,  numerous  tales  which 
are  common  to  a  certain  territory  stop  short  at  a  certain  point, 
and  are  found  beyond  it  in  slight  fragments  only.  These  limits 
do  not  by  any  means  coincide  with  the  linguistic  divisions.  An 
example  of  this  kind  is  the  raven  legend,  to  which  I  referred  be- 
fore. It  is  found  in  substantially  the  same  form  from  Alaska  to 
northern  Vancouver  Island;  when  it  suddenly  disappears  almost 
entirely,  and  is  not  found  among  the  southern  tribes  of  Kwakiutl 
lineage,  nor  on  the  west  coast  of  Vancouver  Island,  although  the 
northern  tribes,  who  speak  the  Kwakiutl  language,  have  it.  Only 
fragments  of  these  legends  have  strayed  farther  south,  and  their 
number  diminishes  with  increasing  distance.  There  must  be  a 


306  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

cause  for  such  a  remarkable  break.  A  statistical  inquiry  shows 
that  the  northern  traditions  are  in  close  contact  with  the  tales 
of  the  tribes  as  far  south  as  the  central  part  of  Vancouver  Island, 
where  a  tribe  of  Salish  lineage  is  found ;  but  farther  they  do  not 
go.  The  closely  allied  tribes  immediately  south  do  not  possess 
them.  Only  one  explanation  of  this  fact  is  possible,  viz.,  lack  of 
acculturation,  which  may  be  due  either  to  a  difference  of  charac- 
ter, to  continued  hostilities,  or  to  recent  changes  in  the  location 
of  the  tribes,  which  has  not  allowed  the  slow  process  of  accul- 
turation to  exert  its  deep-going  influence.  I  consider  the  last  the 
most  probable  cause.  My  reason  for  holding  this  opinion  is  that 
the  Bilxula,  another  Salish  tribe,  who  have  become  separated 
from  the  people  speaking  related  languages  and  live  in  the  far 
north,  still  show  in  their  mythologies  the  closest  relations  to  the 
southern  Salish  tribes,  with  whom  they  have  many  more  traits 
in  common  than  their  neighbors  to  the  north  and  to  the  south. 
If  their  removal  were  a  very  old  one,  this  similarity  in  mytholo- 
gies would  probably  not  have  persisted,  but  they  would  have  been 
quite  amalgamated  by  their  new  neighbors. 

We  may  also  extend  our  comparisons  beyond  the  immediate 
neighbors  of  the  tribes  under  consideration  by  comparing  the 
mythologies  of  the  tribes  of  the  plateaus  in  the  interior,  and  even 
of  those  farther  to  the  east  with  those  of  the  coast.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  available  material  from  these  regions  is  very  scanty. 
Fairl}  good  collections  exist  from  the  Athapascan,  from  the 
tribes  of  Columbia  River  and  east  of  the  mountains,  from  the 
Omaha,  and  from  some  Algonquin  tribes.  When  comparing  the 
mythologies  and  traditions  which  belong  to  far-distant  regions, 
we  find  that  the  number  of  incidents  which  they  have  in  common 
is  greater  than  might  have  been  expected ;  but  some  of  those  in- 
cidents are  so  general  that  we  may  assume  that  they  have  no  con- 
nection, and  may  have  arisen  independently.  There  is,  however, 
one  very  characteristic  feature,  which  proves  beyond  cavil  that 
this  is  not  the  sole  cause  of  the  similarity  of  tales  and  incidents. 
We  know  that  in  the  region  under  discussion  two  important  trade 
routes  reached  the  Pacific  coast,  one  along  the  Columbia  River, 
which  connected  the  region  inhabited  by  Shoshonean  tribes  with 
the  coast  and  indirectly  led  to  territories  occupied  by  Siouan  and 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  307 

Algonquin  tribes;  another  one  which  led  from  Athapascan  terri- 
tory to  the  country  of  the  Bilxula.  A  trail  of  minor  importance  led 
down  Fraser  River.  A  study  of  the  traditions  shows  that  along 
these  routes  the  points  of  contact  of  mythologies  are  strongest, 
and  rapidly  diminish  with  increasing  distances  from  these  routes. 
On  Columbia  River,  the  points  of  contact  are  with  the  Algon- 
quin and  Sioux ;  among  the  Bilxula  they  are  with  the  Athapascan. 
I  believe  this  phenomenon  cannot  be  explained  in  any  other  way 
but  that  the  myths  followed  the  line  of  travel  of  the  tribes,  and 
that  there  has  been  dissemination  of  tales  all  over  the  continent. 
My  tabulations  include  the  Micmac  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  Eskimo 
of  Greenland,  the  Ponca  of  the  Mississippi  Basin,  and  the  Atha- 
pascan of  the  Mackenzie  River,  and  the  results  give  the  clearest 
evidence  of  extensive  borrowing. 

The  identity  of  a  great  many  tales  in  geographically  con- 
tiguous areas  has  led  me  to  the  point  of  view  of  assuming  that 
wherever  a  greater  similarity  between  two  tales  is  found  in  North 
America,  it  is  more  likely  to  be  due  to  dissemination  than  to 
independent  origin. 

But  without  extending  these  theories  beyond  the  clearly  dem 
onstrated  truths  of  transmission  of  tales  between  neighboring 
tribes,  we  may  reach  some  further  conclusions.  When  we  com- 
pare, for  instance,  the  legend  of  the  culture  hero  of  the  Chinook 
and  that  of  the  origin  of  the  whole  religious  ceremonial  of  the 
Kwakiutl  Indians,  we  find  a  very  far-reaching  resemblance  in 
certain  parts  of  the  legends  which  make  it  certain  that  these  parts 
are  derived  from  the  same  source.  The  grandmother  of  the 
divinity  of  the  Chinook,  when  a  child,  was  carried  away  by  a 
monster.  Their  child  became  the  mother  of  the  culture  hero, 
and  by  her  help  the  monster  was  slain.  In  a  legend  from  Van- 
couver Island,  a  monster,  the  cannibal  spirit,  carries  away  a  girl, 
and  is  finally  slain  by  her  help.  Their  child  becomes  later  on  the 
new  cannibal  spirit.  There  are  certain  intermediate  stages  of 
these  stories  which  prove  their  identity  beyond  doubt.  The  im- 
portant point  in  this  case  is  that  the  myths  in  question  are  per- 
haps the  most  fundamental  ones  in  the  mythologies  of  these  two 
tribes.  Nevertheless,  they  are  not  of  native  growth,  but,  partly,  at 
least,  borrowed.  A  great  many  other  important  legends  prove 


308  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  be  of  foreign  origin,  being  grafted  upon  mythologies  of  various 
tribes.  This  being  the  case,  I  draw  the  conclusion  that  the  myth- 
ologies of  the  various  tribes  as  we  find  them  now  are  not  organic 
growths,  but  have  have  gradually  developed  and  obtained  their 
present  form  by  accretion  of  foreign  material.  Much  of  this 
material  must  have  been  adopted  ready-made,  and  has  been 
adapted  and  changed  in  form  according  to  the  genius  of  the 
people  who  borrowed  it.  The  proofs  of  this  process  are  so  ample 
that  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  fact.  We  are,  therefore, 
led  to  the  conclusion  that  from  mythologies  in  their  present  form 
it  is  impossible  to  derive  the  conclusion  that  they  are  mytholo- 
gical explanations  of  phenomena  of  nature  observed  by  the 
people  to  whom  the  myths  belong,  but  that  many  of  them,  at  the 
place  where  we  find  them  now,  never  had  such  a  meaning.  If 
we  acknowledge  this  conclusion  as  correct,  we  must  give  up  the 
attempts  at  off-hand  explanation  of  myths  as  fanciful,  and  we 
must  admit  that,  also,  explanations  given  by  the  Indians  them- 
selves are  often  secondary,  and  do  not  reflect  the  true  origin  of 
the  myths. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood  in  what  I  said.  Certainly, 
the  phenomena  of  nature  are  at  the  bottom  of  numerous  myths, 
else  we  should  not  find  sun,  moon,  clouds,  thunder-storm,  the 
sea  and  the  land  play  so  important  a  part  in  all  mythologies. 
What  I  maintain  is  only  that  the  specific  myth  cannot  be  simply 
interpreted  as  the  result  of  observation  of  natural  phenomena. 
Its  growth  is  much  too  complex.  In  most  cases  the  present  form 
has  undergone  material  change  by  disintegration  and  by  accre- 
tion of  foreign  material,  so  that  the  original  underlying  idea  is, 
at  best,  much  obscured. 

Perhaps  the  objection  might  be  raised  to  my  argument  that 
the  similarities  of  mythologies  are  not  only  due  to  borrowing, 
but  also  to  the  fact  that,  under  similar  conditions  which  prevail 
in  a  limited  area,  the  human  mind  creates  similar  products. 
While  there  is  a  certain  truth  in  this  argument  so  far  as  ele- 
mentary forms  of  human  thought  are  concerned,  it  seems  quite 
incredible  that  the  same  complex  theory  should  originate  twice 
in  a  limited  territory.  The  very  complexity  of  the  tales  and 
their  gradual  dwindling  down  to  which  I  have  referred  before, 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  309 

cannot  possibly  be  explained  by  any  other  method  than  by  dis- 
semination. Wherever  geographical  continuity  of  the  area  of 
distribution  of  a  complex  ethnographical  phenomenon  is  found, 
the  laws  of  probability  exclude  the  theory  that  in  this  continuous 
area  the  complex  phenomenon  has  arisen  independently  in  various 
places,  but  compels  us  to  assume  that  in  its  present  complex  form 
its  distribution  is  due  to  dissemination,  while  its  composing  ele- 
ments may  have  originated  here  and  there. 

It  may  be  well  to  dwell  on  the  difference  between  that  compara- 
tive method  which  I  have  pursued  in  my  inquiry  and  that  applied 
by  many  investigators  of  ethnographical  phenomena.  I  have 
strictly  confined  my  comparisons  to  contiguous  areas  in  which  we 
know  intercourse  to  have  taken  place.  I  have  shown  that  this 
area  extends  from  the  Pacific  coast  to  considerable  distances.  It  is 
true  that  the  mythologies  of  the  far  east  and  the  extreme  north- 
east are  not  as  well  connected  with  those  of  the  Pacific  coast  by 
intermediate  links  as  they  might  be,  and  I  consider  it  essential 
that  a  fuller  amount  of  material  from  intermediate  points  be  col- 
lected in  order  that  the  investigation  which  I  have  begun  may  be 
carried  out  in  detail.  But  a  comparison  of  the  fragmentary  notes 
which  we  possess  from  intermediate  points  proves  that  most  of 
those  tales  which  I  have  enumerated  as  common  to  the  east,  to 
the  north,  and  to  the  west,  will  be  found  covering  the  whole  area 
continuously.  Starting  from  this  fact,  we  may  be  allowed  to 
argue  that  those  complex  tales  which  are  now  found  only  in 
isolated  portions  of  our  continent  either  are  actually  continuous 
but  have  not  been  recorded  from  intermediate  points ;  or  that 
they  have  become  extinct  in  intermediate  territory;  or,  finally, 
that  they  were  carried  over  certain  areas  accidentally,  without 
touching  the  intermediate  field.  This  last  phenomenon  may 
happen,  although  probably  not  to  a  very  great  extent.  I  ob- 
served one  example  of  this  kind  on  the  Pacific  coast,  where  a 
tale  which  has  its  home  in  Alaska  is  found  only  in  one  small 
group  of  tribes  on  southern  Vancouver  Island,  where,  as  can 
be  proved,  it  has  been  carried  either  by  visitors  or  by  slaves. 

The  fundamental  condition,  that  all  comparisons  must  be 
based  on  material  collected  in  contiguous  areas,  differentiates 
our  method  from  that  of  investigators  like  Petitot  and  many 


310  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

others,  who  see  a  proof  of  dissemination  or  even  of  blood  rela- 
tionship in  each  similarity  that  is  found  between  a  certain  tribe 
and  any  other  tribe  of  the  globe.  It  is  clear  that  the  greater  the 
number  of  tribes  which  are  brought  forward  for  the  purposes 
of  such  comparisons,  the  greater  also  the  chance  of  finding  sim- 
ilarities. It  is  impossible  to  derive  from  such  comparisons  sound 
conclusions,  however  extensive  the  knowledge  of  literature  that 
the  investigator  may  possess,  for  the  very  reason  that  the  com- 
plex phenomenon  found  in  one  particular  region  is  compared 
to  fragmentary  evidence  from  all  over  the  world.  By  means 
of  such  comparisons,  we  can  expect  to  find  resemblances  which 
are  founded  in  the  laws  of  the  development  of  the  human  mind, 
but  they  can  never  be  proofs  of  transmission  of  customs  or  ideas. 

In  the  Old  World,  wherever  investigations  on  mythologies 
of  neighboring  tribes  have  been  made,  the  philological  proof 
has  been  considered  the  weightiest,  i.  e.,  when,  together  with  the 
stories,  the  names  of  the  actors  have  been  borrowed,  this  has 
been  considered  the  most  satisfactory  proof  of  borrowing.  We 
cannot  expect  to  find  such  borrowing  of  names  to  prevail  to  a 
great  extent  in  America.  Even  in  Asia,  the  borrowed  names 
are  often  translated  from  one  language  into  the  other,  so  that 
their  phonetic  resemblance  is  entirely  destroyed.  The  same  phe- 
nomenon is  observed  in  America.  In  many  cases,  the  heroes  of 
myths  are  animals,  whose  names  are  introduced  in  the  myth. 
In  other  cases,  names  are  translated,  or  so  much  changed  ac- 
cording to  the  phonetic  laws  of  various  languages,  that  they  can 
hardly  be  recognized.  Cases  of  transmission  of  names  are,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  rare.  I  will  give  only  a  few  examples  from 
the  North  Pacific  coast. 

Almost  all  the  names  of  the  Bilxula  mythology  are  borrowed 
from  the  Kwakiutl  language.  A  portion  of  the  great  religious 
ceremony  of  the  Kwakiutl  has  the  name  "tlokwala."  This  name, 
which  is  also  closely  connected  with  a  certain  series  of  myths,  has 
spread  northward  r,nd  southward  over  a  considerable  distance. 
Southward  we  find  it  as  far  as  the  Columbia  River,  while  to  the 
north  it  ceases  with  the  Tsimshian;  but  still  farther  north  an- 
other name  of  a  part  of  the  ceremonial  of  the  Kwakiutl  is  sub- 
stituted, viz.,  "nontlem."  This  name,  as  designating  the  cere- 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  311 

monial,  is  found  far  into  Alaska.  But  these  are  exceptions;  on 
the  whole,  the  custom  of  translating  names  and  of  introducing 
names  of  animals  excludes  the  application  of  the  linguistic  method 
of  investigating  the  borrowing  of  myths  and  customs. 

We  will  consider  for  a  moment  the  method  by  which  tra- 
ditions spread  over  contiguous  areas,  and  I  believe  this  consid- 
eration will  show  clearly  that  the  standpoint  which  I  am  taking, 
viz.,  that  similarity  of  traditions  in  a  continuous  area  is  always 
due  to  dissemination,  not  to  independent  origin,  is  correctly  taken. 
I  will  exemplify  this  also  by  means  of  the  traditions  of  the  North 
Pacific  coast,  more  particularly  by  those  of  the  Kwakiutl  Indians. 

It  seems  that  the  Kwakiutl  at  one  time  consisted  of  a  num- 
ber of  village  communities.  Numbers  of  these  village  communi- 
ties combined  and  formed  tribes;  then  each  village  community 
formed  a  clan  of  the  new  tribe.  Owing  probably  to  the  influence 
of  the  clan  system  of  the  northern  tribes,  totems  were  adopted, 
and  with  these  totems  came  the  necessity  of  acquiring  a  clan 
legend.  The  social  customs  of  the  tribe  are  based  entirely  upon 
the  division  into  clans,  and  the  ranking  of  each  individual  is  the 
higher — at  least  to  a  certain  extent — the  more  important  the 
legend  of  his  clan.  This  led  to  a  tendency  of  building  up  clan 
legends.  Investigation  shows  that  there  are  two  classes  of  clan 
legends :  the  first  telling  how  the  ancestor  of  the  clan  came  down 
from  heaven,  out  of  the  earth,  or  out  of  the  ocean;  the  second 
telling  how  he  encountered  certain  spirits  and  by  their  help  be- 
came powerful.  The  latter  class  particularly  bear  the  clearest 
evidence  of  being  of  a  recent  origin ;  they  are  based  entirely  on 
the  custom  of  the  Indians  of  acquiring  a  guardian  -spirit  after 
long-continued  fasting  and  bathing.  The  guardian  spirit  thus 
acquired  by  the  ancestor  became  hereditary,  and  is  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent the  totem  of  the  clan, — and  there  is  no  doubt  that  these 
traditions,  which  rank  now  with  the  fundamental  myths  of  the 
tribe,  are  based  on  the  actual  fastings  and  acquisitions  of 
guardian  spirits  of  ancestors  of  the  present  clans.  If  that  is  so, 
we  must  conclude  that  the  origin  of  the  myth  is  identical  with 
the  origin  of  the  hallucination  of  the  fasting  Indian,  and  this  is 
due  to  suggestion,  the  material  for  which  is  furnished  by  the 
tales  of  other  Indians,  and  traditions  referring  to  the  spiritual 


312  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

world  which  the  fasting  Indian  may  have  heard.  There  is,  there- 
fore, in  this  case  a  very  strong  psychological  reason  for  invol- 
untary borrowing  from  legends  which  the  individual  may  have 
heard,  no  matter  from  what  source  they  may  have  been  derived. 
The  incorporation  in  the  mythology  of  the  tribe  is  due  to  the  pe- 
culiar social  organization  which  favors  the  introduction  of  any 
myth  of  this  character  if  it  promises  to  enhance  the  social  po- 
sition of  the  clan. 

The  same  kind  of  suggestion  which  I  mentioned  here  has  evi- 
dently moulded  the  beliefs  in  a  future  life.  All  myths  describ- 
ing the  future  life  set  forth  how  a  certain  individual  died,  how 
his  soul  went  to  the  world  of  the  ghosts,  but  returned  for  one 
reason  or  the  other.  The  experiences  which  the  man  told  after 
his  recovery  are  the  basis  of  the  belief  in  a  future  life.  Evi- 
dently, the  visions  of  the  sick  person  are  caused  entirely  by  the 
tales  which  he  had  heard  of  the  world  of  the  ghosts,  and  the  gen- 
eral similarity  of  the  character  of  this  tale  along  the  Pacific 
coast  proves  that  one  vision  was  always  suggested  by  the  other. 

Furthermore,  the  customs  of  the  tribes  are  such  that  by  means 
of  a  marriage  the  young  husband  acquires  the  clan  legends  of 
his  wife,  and  the  warrior  who  slays  an  enemy  those  of  the  per- 
son whom  he  has  slain.  By  this  means  a  large  number  of  tra- 
ditions of  the  neighboring  tribes  have  been  incorporated  in  the 
mythology  of  the  Kwakiutl. 

The  psychological  reason  for  the  borrowing  of  myths  which 
do  not  refer  to  clan  legends,  but  to  the  heavenly  orbs  and  to  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  are  not  so  easily  found.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  impression  made  by  the  grandeur  of  nature  upon 
the  mind  of  primitive  man  is  the  ultimate  cause  from  which  these 
myths  spring,  but,  nevertheless,  the  form  in  which  we  find  these 
traditions  is  largely  influenced  by  borrowing.  It  is  also  due  to 
its  effects  that  in  many  cases  the  ideas  regarding  the  heavenly  orbs 
are  entirely  inconsistent.  Thus  the  Newettee  have  the  whole 
northern  legend  of  the  raven  liberating  the  sun,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  the  sun  is  considered  the  father  of  the  mink,  and  we  find 
a  tradition  of  the  visit  of  the  mink  in  heaven,  where  he  carries 
the  sun  in  his  father's  place.  Other  inconsistencies,  as  great  as 
this  one,  are  frequent.  They  are  an  additional  proof  that  one  or 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  313 

the  other  of  such  tales  which  are  also  found  among  neighboring 
tribes, — and  there  sometimes  in  a  more  consistent  form, — has 
been  borrowed. 

These  considerations  lead  me  to  the  following  conclusion, 
upon  which  I  desire  to  lay  stress.  The  analysis  of  one  definite 
mythology  of  North  America  shows  that  in  it  are  embodied  ele- 
ments from  all  over  the  continent,  the  greater  number  belonging 
to  neighboring  districts,  while  many  others  belong  to  distant  areas, 
or,  in  other  words,  that  dissemination  of  tales  has  taken  place 
all  over  the  continent.  In  most  cases,  we  can  discover  the  chan- 
nels through  which  the  tale  flowed,  and  we  recognize  that  in  each 
and  every  mythology  of  North  America  we  must  expect  to  find 
numerous  foreign  elements.  And  this  leads  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  similarities  of  culture  on  our  continent  are  always  more 
likely  to  be  due  to  diffusion  than  to  independent  development. 
\Vhen  we  turn  to  the  Old  World,  we  know  that  there  also  dif- 
fusion has  taken  place  through  the  whole  area  from  western  Eu- 
rope to  the  islands  of  Japan,  and  from  Indonesia  to  Siberia,  and 
to  northern  and  eastern  Africa.  In  the  light  of  the  similarities 
of  inventions  and  of  myths,  we  must  even  extend  this  area  along 
the  North  Pacific  coast  of  America  as  far  south  as  Columbia 
River.  These  are  facts  that  cannot  be  disputed. 

If  it  is  true  that  dissemination  of  cultural  elements  has  taken 
place  in  these  vast  areas,  we  must  pause  before  accepting  the 
sweeping  assertion  that  sameness  of  ethnical  phenomena  is 
always  due  to  the  sameness  of  the  working  of  the  human  mind, 
and  I  take  clearly  and  expressly  issue  with  the  view  of  these 
modern  anthropologists  who  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  who 
looks  for  acculturation  as  a  cause  of  similarity  of  culture  has 
not  grasped  the  true  spirit  of  anthropology. 

In  making  this  statement,  I  wish  to  make  my  position  per- 
fectly clear.  I  am,  of  course,  well  aware  that  there  are  many 
phenomena  of  social  life  seemingly  based  on  the  most  peculiar 
and  most  intricate  reasoning,  which  we  have  good  cause  to  be- 
lieve have  developed  independently  over  and  over  again.  There 
are  others,  particularly  such  as  are  more  closely  connected  with 
the  emotional  life  of  man,  which  are  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
organization  of  the  human  mind.  Their  domain  is  large  and  of 


314  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

high  importance.  Furthermore,  the  similarity  of  culture  which 
may  or  may  not  be  due  to  acculturation  gives  rise  to  the  same  sort 
of  ideas  and  sentiments  which  will  originate  independently  in 
different  minds,  modified  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  by  the  char- 
acter of  environment.  Proof  of  this  are  the  ideas  and  inventions 
which  even  in  our  highy  specialized  civilization  are  "in  the  air" 
at  certain  periods,  and  are  pronounced  independently  by  more 
than  one  individual,  until  they  combine  in  a  flow  which  carries 
on  the  thought  of  man  in  a  certain  direction.  All  this  I  know 
and  grant. 

But  I  do  take  the  position  that  this  enticing  idea  is  apt  to  carry 
us  too  far.  Formerly,  anthropologists  saw  acculturation  or  even 
common  descent  wherever  two  similar  phenomena  were  ob- 
served. The  discovery  that  this  conclusion  is  erroneous,  that 
many  similarities  are  due  to  the  psychical  laws  underlying  human 
development,  has  carried  us  beyond  its  legitimate  aim,  and  we 
start  now  with  the  presumption  that  all  similarities  are  due  to 
these  causes,  and  that  their  investigation  is  the  legitimate  field 
of  anthropological  research.  I  believe  this  position  is  just  as 
erroneous  as  the  former  one.  We  must  not  accuse  the  investi- 
gator who  suspects  a  connection  between  American  and  Asiatic 
cultures  as  deficient  in  his  understanding  of  the  true  principles  of 
anthropology.  Nobody  has  proven  that  the  psychical  view  holds 
good  in  all  cases.  To  the  contrary,  we  know  many  cases  of  dif- 
fusion of  customs  over  enormous  areas.  The  reaction  against 
the  uncritical  use  of  similarities  for  the  purpose  of  proving  re- 
lationship and  historical  connections  is  overreaching  its  aim.  In- 
stead of  demanding  a  critical  examination  of  the  causes  of  sim- 
ilarities, we  say  now  a  priori,  they  are  due  to  psychical  causes, 
and  in  this  we  err  in  method  just  as  much  as  the  old  school  did. 
If  we  want  to  make  progress  on  the  desired  line,  we  must  insist 
upon  critical  methods,  based  not  on  generalities  but  on  each  in- 
dividual case.  In  many  cases,  the  final  decision  will  be  in  favor 
of  independent  origin ;  in  others  in  favor  of  dissemination.  But 
I  insist  that  nobody  has  as  yet  proven  where  the  limit  between 
these  two  modes  of  origin  lies,  and  not  until  this  is  done  can  a 
fruitful  psychological  analysis  take  place.  We  do  not  even  know 
if  the  critical  examination  may  not  lead  us  to  assume  a  persistence 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  315 

of  cultural  elements  which  were  diffused  at  the  time  when  man 
first  spread  over  the  globe. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  define  clearly  what  Bastian  terms  the 
elementary  ideas,  the  existence  of  which  we  know  to  be  universal, 
and  the  origin  of  which  is  not  accessible  to  ethnological  methods. 
The  forms  which  these  ideas  take  among  primitive  people  of  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world,  "die  Volker-Gedanken,"  are  due  partly 
to  the  geographical  environment  and  partly  to  the  peculiar  char- 
acter of  the  people,  and  to  a  large  extent  to  their  history.  In 
order  to  understand  the  growth  of  the  peculiar  psychical  life  of 
the  people,  the  historical  growth  of  its  customs  must  be  investi- 
gated most  closely,  and  the  only  method  by  which  the  history  can 
be  investigated  is  by  means  of  a  detailed  comparison  of  the  tribe 
v/ith  its  neighbors.  This  is  the  method  which  I  insist  is  neces- 
sary in  order  to  make  progress  toward  the  better  understanding 
of  the  development  of  mankind.  This  investigation  will  also 
lead  us  to  inquire  into  the  interesting  psychological  problems  of 
acculturation,  viz.,  what  conditions  govern  the  selection  of 
foreign  material  embodied  in  the  culture  of  the  people,  and  the 
mutual  transformation  of  the  old  culture  and  the  newly  acquired 
material. 

To  sum  up,  I  maintain  that  the  whole  question  is  decided 
only  in  so  far  as  we  know  that  independent  development  as  well 
as  diffusion  have  made  each  culture  what  it  is.  It  is  still  sub 
jndice  in  how  far  these  two  causes  contributed  to  its  growth. 
The  aspects  from  which  we  may  look  at  the  problem  have  been 
admirably  set  forth  by  Professor  Otis  T.  Mason  in  his  address 
on  similarities  of  culture.  In  order  to  investigate  the  psychical 
laws  of  the  human  mind  which  we  are  seeing  now  indistinctly 
because  our  material  is  crude  and  unsifted,  we  must  treat  the 
culture  of  primitive  people  by  strict  historical  methods.  We 
must  understand  the  process  by  which  the  individual  culture 
grew  before  we  can  undertake  to  lay  down  the  laws  by  which  the 
culture  of  mankind  grew — F.  BOAS,  Journal  of  Ameri- 
can F oik-Lore,  9:  i-ii. 


The  first  three  selections  in  Part  II  may  be  accepted 
as  sound  standpoint  for  the  interpretation  of  savage 
mind,  and  they  also  contain  standpoint  for  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  succeeding  parts  of  the  volume. 

The  selections  from  Spencer  contain  a  view  of  sav- 
age mind  which  has  become  popular  and  widespread, 
largely  through  his  exposition  of  it,  but  which  is  very 
erroneous.  The  two  selections  should  be  read  in  the 
light  of  the  papers  by  Boas  and  Dewey.  It  will  then 
be  seen  that  the  cases  presented  by  Spencer  can  be  used 
as  material  for  the  confutation  of  his  own  views.  It 
should  also  be  observed  that  Spencer  constantly  assumes 
that  the  mind  of  the  child  is  modified  by  the  experiences 
and  practices  of  its  parents,  whereas  the  weight  of 
opinion  at  present  inclines  to  the  view  that  nothing  of 
this  kind  happens.  The  characters  of  body  and  mind 
acquired  by  the  parent  after  birth  are  probably  not 
inherited  by  the  child.  We  must  look  for  the  improve- 
ment of  a  race,  (i)  in  congenital  variations,  resulting 
in  an  improvement  of  the  stock  (and  this  seems  to  be 
of  relatively  slight  importance),  and  (2)  in  an  im- 
provement in  cultural  conditions,  affording  the  mind 
more  truth  and  a  richer  assortment  of  material  to  begin 
with  and  to  work  on. 

The  papers  on  Australian  initiation  ceremonies  and 
food  regulations  would  have  been  appropriately  placed 
in  Part  VII,  since  they  deal  with  control.  But  they  are 
introduced  at  this  point  to  show  the  ingenuity  of  the 
savage  mind  in  working  out  a  social  control.  The  edu- 

316 


MENTAL  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  317 

cational  system  of  the  savage  was  designed  to  secure 
the  solidarity  of  the  group,  not  to  convey  a  body  of 
exact  knowledge.  The  formal  instruction  was  mainly 
moral;  the  occupational  practice  was  picked  up  infor- 
mally. The  food  regulations  of  the  Australians  are  a 
striking  example  of  the  thoroughness  with  which  the 
moral  instruction  was  imparted.  These  papers  also 
suggest  that  when  the  control  becomes  very  rigid,  so 
rigid  that  all  the  acts  of  the  individual  are  predeter- 
mined for  him,  the  power  of  change  becomes  enfeebled 
and  the  society  is  in  danger  of  becoming  stationary. 

The  language,  and  the  number,  time,  and  space  con- 
cepts and  systems  of  the  savage  form  very  important 
materials  for  the  interpretation  of  his  mental  life.  The 
single  paper  of  Howitt  on  Australian  messengers  and 
message-sticks  which  I  have  been  able  to  introduce 
should  be  supplemented  by  reading  indicated  in  the 
bibliography  of  this  part. 

The  paper  on  the  development  of  the. occupations  is 
used  here  because  the  occupations  represent  the  modes 
in  which  the  mind  expresses  itself,  and  specialization 
of  occupation,  more  than  anything  else,  is  the  mode  of 
developing  consciousness.  Boas'  paper  on  the  myth 
touches  the  question  of  the  parallel  development  of  ideas 
in  different  geographical  areas,  as  compared  with  the 
spread  of  ideas  from  one  area  to  another. 

I  have  taken  advantage  of  the  fact  that  this  part  of 
the  volume  deals  with  the  mind  to  include  in  the  follow- 
ing bibliography  some  important  general  psychological 
titles,  and  I  have  further  included  some  titles  on  animal 
mind  and  behavior. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY    2 

*i  ACHELIS,  T.     "Ueber  die  psychologische  Bedeutung  der  Ethnologic," 

Internationales  Archiv  f.  Ethnog.,  5:221-31. 

2  ALLEN,  J.     "The  Associative  Processes  of  the  Guinea   Pig,"  Jour. 
Cotnp.  Neural,  and  Psych.,  14:293-359. 

*3  ANDREE,  R.  Ethnographischc  Parallelen  und  Vcrgleiche,  "Merk- 
zeichen  und  Knotenschrift,"  184-97 ;  "Anfange  der  Kartographie," 
197-221 ;  "Werthmesser,"  221-50. 

4  ANDREE,    R.      Ethnographischc    Parallelen    und    Vcrgleiche.      Neue 
Folge,  "Gemiitsausserungen  und  Geberden,"  49-55. 

5  ANDREE,   R.     "Die   Personennamen   in   der   Volkerkunde,"   Zeits.   f. 
Ethn.,  8:253-63. 

*6  ANDREE,  R.     "Ueber  einige  Gemuthsausserungen  und  Geberden  der 

Naturvolker,"  Globus,  43:14,  15. 
*7  ANGELL,  J.  R.,   AND  MOORE,  A.   W.     "Reaction-iTiime :   A   Study  in 

Attention  and  Habit,"  Univ.  of  Chicago  Contr.  to  Philos.,  1 : 1-14. 

8  ASH  MEAD,  A.     "Some  Psychological  Studies  of  Man's  Moral  Evo- 
lution," Alienist  and  Neurologist,  38:475-78. 

9  ASTON,  W.  G.    "Japanese  Onomatopes  and  the  Origin  of  Language," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  23:332-62. 

10  BAAS,  J.  H.    Die  geschichtliche  Entwick clung  des  artslichen  Standes 
und  der  medizinischen  Wisscnschaften.     Berlin,  1896. 

11  BABELON,  E.     Les  origines  de  la  monnaie.     Paris,  1897. 

*I2  BALDWIN,  J.  M.     Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations  in  Mental  De- 
velopment.    New  York,  1907. 

[Not  well  organized  and  not  always  clear,  but  of  first  rate  importance.] 
*I3  BALZ,  E.     "Zur  Psychologic  der  Japaner,"  Globus,  84:312-19. 

[Admirable  paper ;  destroys  views  of  ten  Kate.] 
*i4  BARTELS,  M.    Die  Medicin  der  Naturvolker.    Leipzig,  1893. 

15  EARTH,  P.    "Die  Geschichte  der  Erziehung  in  soziologischer  Beleuch- 
tung,"     Vierteljahrsschrift    jur    wissenschaftliche    Philosophic    und 
Sociologie,  27 : 57-80 ;  209-29. 

16  BASTIAN,  A.     Beitr'dge  sur  vergleichenden   Psychologic:    die   Seele 
und  Hire  Erscheinungswesen  in  der  Ethnographic.     Berlin,  1868. 

17  BASTIAN,  A.    Ethnische  Elementargedanken  in  der  Lehre  vom  Men- 
schen.     Berlin,  1895.     2  v. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  319 

18  BASTIAN,  A.     W\e  das  yolk  denkt,  cin  Beitrag  zur  Beantwortung 
socialer   Fragen   attf    Grundlagc    ethnischcr    Elementargedanken    in 
der  Lehre  vom  Menschcn.     Berlin,  1892. 

19  BLEEK,  W.  H.  I.     ''On  the  Position  of  the  Australian  Languages," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  1:89-102. 

20  BLOXAM,  G.  W.     "Exhibition  of  West  African  Symbolic  Messages," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:295-99. 

*2i  BOAS,   FRANZ.     "Human   Faculty   as    Determined   by   Race,"   Amer. 

Assoc.  for  the  Adv.  of  Sci.,  Proc.,  43:301-27. 

22  BOAS,   F.     "Classification   of   the    Languages   of   the    North    Pacific 
Coast,"  Internal.  Cong,  of  Anth.,  Mem.,  339-46. 

*23  BOAS,  F.  "Property  Marks  of  Alaskan  Eskimo,"  Amer.  Anth., 
N.  S.,  i :  601-13. 

*24  BOAS,  F.  "Some  Traits  of  Primitive  Culture,"  Jour.  Amer.  Folk- 
lore, 17:233-54- 

25  BORDIER,    A.      "Naissance    et    evolution    des    idces    et    des    pratiques 
medicales,"  Rev.  mensucllc  de  I'ecole  d'anth.,  3:41-59. 

26  BRINTON,   D.   G.     "Lefthandedness    in    North   American    Aboriginal 
Art,"  Amer.  Anth.,  9:175-81. 

27  BRINTON,  D.  G.     "The  Origin  of   Sacred  Numbers,"  Amer.  Anth., 
7:168-73- 

28  BRINTON,    D.    G.      Studies   in    South    American   Native    Languages. 
Philadelphia,  1892. 

*29  BRUNER,  F.  G.  The  Hearing  of  Primitive  Peoples.  New  York, 
1908.  (Also,  Columbia  Univ.  Contributions  to  Philos.  and  Psych., 
17:  No.  3.) 

30  BRYCE,  J.     The  Relations  of  the  Advanced  and  the  Backward  Races 
of  Mankind.     Oxford,  1002. 

31  BULOW,  W.  VON.     "Samoanische  Sagen,"  Glubus,  68:30-41;   157-59; 
365-68;  69:322-27. 

32  BUSHNELL,  D.  I.     "The  Origin  of  Wampum,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  36: 
172-77. 

33  BUTTEL-REEPEN,    H.    VON.      "Soziologisches    und    biologisches    vom 
Ameisen-   und    Bienenstaat,"   Archiv  f.   Rassen-   und   Gesellschafts- 
Biologie,  2 :  20-35. 

34  CARLILE,  WM.  W.    "The  Origin  of  Money  from  Ornament,"  Nine- 
teenth Century,  58:290-97. 

*35  CARR,  HARVEY,  AND  WATSON,  J.  B.  "Orientation  in  the  White  Rat," 
Jour.  Comp.  Neural,  and  Psych.,  18:27-44. 


320  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

350  CHAMBERLAIN,  A.  F.     The  Child  and  Childhood  in  Folk-Thought. 
New  York,  1896. 

35&  CHAMBERLAIN,  B.  H.     "Translation  of  the  Dou-Thi-Ken"  .[Teach- 
ings for  the  Young],  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  9:223-49. 

36  CODRINGTON,  R.  H.     The  Melanesian  Languages.     Oxford,  1885. 
*37  COOLEY,   C.    H.     "Genius,   Fame    and    the    Comparison    of    Races," 
Annals  of  the  Amer.  Acad.,  9:317-58. 

38  CONANT,  L.  L.     The  Number  Concept:  Its  Origin  and  Development. 
New  York  and  London,  1896. 

39  CONANT,  L.  L.    "The  Origin  of  Numeral  Words,"  Amer.  Assoc.  for 
the  Adv.  of  Sci.,  Proc.,  43:349-50. 

40  CONANT,   L.   L.     "Primitive   Number   Systems,"   Smithsonian  Inst., 
Ann.  Rep.  for  1892:583-94. 

*4i  CRAIG,  W.    "The  Voices  of  Pigeons  Regarded  as  a  Means  of  Social 
Control,"  Am.  Jour.  Social.,  14:86-100. 

42  CUNNINGHAM,    D.    J.      "Right-handedness    and    Left-handedness," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  32:273-96. 

*43  CUREAU,  A.    "Essai  sur  la  psychologic  des  races  Negres  de  1'Afrique 
tropicale,"  Rev.  gen.  des  sci.,  15:638-52;  679-95. 

44  CURS,  E.   M.     The  Australian  Race,  "Remarks   on   the  Aboriginal 
Languages  of  Australia,"  i :  1-35. 

*45  GUSHING,  F.  H.     "Manual  Concepts :  A  Study  of  the  Influence  of 
Hand-Usage  on  Culture-Growth,"  Amer.  Anth.,  5:289-318. 

46  GUSHING,  F.  H.    "Zuni  Weather  Proverbs."     In  DUNWOODY,  H.  H. 
C.     Weather  Proverbs.     Washington,  1883:124-27.     (U.  S.  A.   War 
Dept.,  Signal  Service  Notes,  No.  9.) 

47  DAHNHARDT,    O.      "Beitrage    zur    vergleichenden    Sagenforschung," 
Zeits.  des  Vereins  f.  Volkskunde,  16:369-96. 

48  DANKS,   B.     "Shell   Money   of   North   Britain,"  Jour.   Anth.   Inst., 
17:305-17- 

49  DAVIS,  E.  J.     Osmanli  Proverbs.    London,  1898. 

50  DEL  MAR,  A.    A  History  of  Money  in  Ancient  Countries  from  the 
Earliest  Times  to  the  Present.     London,  1885. 

51  DEL  MAR,  A.    A  History  of  the  Precious  Metals,  from  the  Earliest 
Times  to  the  Present  Day.    New  York,  1902. 

52  DEL  MAR,  A.    Monograph  on  the  History  of  Money  in  China.    San 
Francisco,  1881. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  321 

520  DENING,  W.    "Mental  Characteristics  of  the  Japanese,"  Asiat.  Soc. 

of  Japan,  Trans.,  19:17-36. 
*53  DENNETT,  R.  E.    At  the  Back  of  the  Black  Man's  Mind,  "Measures, 

Signs,    and    Symbols,"    59-78;    "Bavili    Psychology,"    79-84;    "Bavili 

Philosophy,"    100-109;   "The   Philosophy  at  the   Back  of  the  Black 

Man's  Mind  in  Table  Form,"  232-42. 
*54  DENNETT,  R.   E.     "Notes  on  the   Philosophy  of  the   Bavili,"  Jour. 

Anth.  Inst.,  35:48-55- 
*55  DEWEY,  J.    "The  Control  of  Ideas  by  Facts,"  Jour.  Philos.,  Psych,  and 

Sci.  Meth.,  4:197-203;  253-59;  309-19. 
*56  DEWEY,  J.     "The  Reflex  Arc  Concept,"  Psych.  Rev.  3:357-70. 

[This  and   the   following  title   are  very   important   for  standpoint.] 
*57  DEWEY,  J.,  AND  TUFTS,  J.  H.    Ethics.    New  York,  1908. 

58  DIXON,  R.  B.,  AND  KROEBER,  A.  L.    "The  Native  Languages  of  Cali- 
fornia," Amcr.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  5:1-26. 

59  DIXON,  R.  B.,  AND  KROEBEP,  A.  L.    "Numeral  Systems  of  the  Lan- 
guages of  California,"  Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  9:663-90. 

*6o  DONALDSON,  H.  H.  The  Growth  of  the  Brain:  A  Study  of  the 
Nervous  System  with  Reference  to  Education.  New  York,  1895. 

*6i  DOPP,  K.  E.  The  Place  of  Industries  in  Elementary  Education. 
Chicago,  1902. 

62  DORSEY,  G.  A.     "Caddo  Customs  of  Childhood,"  Jour.  Amer.  Folk- 
Lore,  18:226-28. 

63  DORSEY,  J.   O.     "Indian   Personal   Names,"  Amer.   Anth.,  3:263-68. 

64  EASTMAN,  C.  A.    Indian  Boyhood.    New  York,  1902. 

65  EDKINS,  J.     Chinese  Currency.     Shanghai,   1901. 

*66  EHRENREICH,    P.      "Wilhelm    Wundt's    Volkerpsychologie,''    Globus, 

79:21-23. 

67  ELKUS,  S.  A.     The  Concept  of  Control.     Columbia  Univ.  Disserta- 
tion, 1907. 

*68  ELLWOOD,  C.  A.  "TJie  Theory  of  Imitation  in  Social  Psychology," 
Amer.  Jour.  Social.,  6*721-41. 

69  FABRYA,  H.  P.  DE.    "Numeral  Systems  of  the  Costa  Rican  Indians," 
Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  6: -447-58. 

70  FARRAR,  F.  W.    "Aptitudes  of  Races,"  Trans,  of  the  Ethn.  Soc.,  N.  S., 
5:115-26. 

71  FIELDS,  A.  M.    "A  Study  of  an  Ant,"  Phila.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci,,  Proc., 
53:425-49;  521-44;  55:491-95. 

72  FIELDE,  A.  M.     "Artificial  Mixed  Nests  of  Ants,"  Biol.  Bui.,  5:320- 
25- 


322  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

73  FIELDE,  A.  M.    "A  Cause  of  Feud  between  Ants  of  the  Same  Species 
Living  in  Different  Communities,"  Biol.  Bui.,  5:326-29. 

74  FISON,  L.    "On  Fijian  Riddles,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  11:406-10. 

75  FLUGEL,   O.     "Das   Ich    im    Leben   der   Volker,"   Zeits.  f.    Volker- 
psychologie   und  Sprachwissenschaft,   11:43-80;    141-60. 

76  FOUILLEE,  A.    Esquisse  psychologiquc  dcs  peuples  Europcens.     Paris, 
1903. 

77  FOUILLEE,  A.     "Le   materialisme  historique  et  la   force  des  idees," 
Institut  internal,  de  sociologie,  Annalcs,  8:275-82. 

78  FOUILLEE,  A.    La  psychologic  dcs  idces  forces.     Paris,  1893.    2  v. 

79  FOUILLEE,    A.      "La    psychologic    des    peuples    et    1'anthropologie," 
Revue  des  deux  mondes,  128:365-96. 

80  FOUILLEE,  A.    Psychologic  des  peuples  Francois.     Paris,  1898. 

81  FOUILLEE,   A.     Temperament   et   caractcrc   scion   les   individus,   les 
sexes  et  les  races.     Paris,  1907. 

82  FRIEDERICI,  G.     "Der  Tranengruss  der  Indianer,"  Globus,  89:30-34. 

83  FRIEDMANN,   M.      Ucber    Wahnideen   im    Volkerlcben.     Wiesbaden, 
1901. 

84  GATSCHET,  A.  S.    "  'Real,'  'True,'  or  'Genuine'  in  Indian  Languages," 
Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  i:  155-61. 

85  GEIGER,  L.     Ursprung  und  Entwickclung  der  menschlichen  Sprache 
und  Vernunft.     Stuttgart,  1899. 

86  GIESSWEIN,  A.    Die  Hauptproblcme  der  Sprachwisscnschaft  in  ihren 
Beziehungen  sur  Theologie,  Philosophic  und  Anthropologie.     Frei- 
burg, 1892. 

87  GOLLMER,    C.    A.     "On    African    Symbolic    Messages,"   Jour.   Anth. 
Inst.,  14 : 169-82. 

88  GORDON,  G.  B.    "On  the  Use  of  Zero  and  Twenty  in  the  Maya  Time 
System,"  Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  4:237-75. 

89  GRAY,  J.     Ancient   Proverbs   and   Maxims  from  Burma.     London, 
1886. 

90  GRINNELL,  G.  B.     "Some  Cheyenne  Plant  Medicines,"  Amer.  Anth., 
N.  S.,  7:37-M3. 

92  HARKNESS,   W.     "The   Progress   of    Science   as   Exemplified   in  the 
Art   of    Weighing   and    Measuring,"    Smithsonian   Inst.,   Ann.   Rep. 
for  1888:597-633. 

93  HALE,  H.     "Four  Huron  Wampum  Records:  A  Study  of  Aboriginal 
American  History  and  Mnemonic  Symbols,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  26: 
221-47. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  323 

94  HALE,  H.     "Language  as  a  Test  of  Mental  Capacity,"  Jour.  Anth. 
Inst.,  21 : 413-55- 

95  HEWITT,  E.  L.    "Ethnic  Factors  in  Education,"  Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S., 
7:1-16. 

96  HIKSCH,  W.     Genius  and  Degeneration.     New  Yofk,  1896.     (Trans- 
lation.) 

*97  HOBHOUSE,    L.    T.     Mind   in   Evolution.     London   and    New    York, 
1901. 

*97«  HOFFMAN,  W.  J.     The  Beginnings  of  Writing.     New  York,  1895. 

98  HOLDEN,    E.    S.     "Studies    in    Central   American    Picture    Writing," 
Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  1:206-45. 

*99  HOLLIS,  A.  C.     The  Masai,  "Proverbs-Enigmas,"  238-59. 
*ioo  HOLLIS,  A.  C.     The  Nandi,  "Proverbs-Enigmas,"   124-51. 

101  HOUGH,  W.     "Time-Keeping  by  Light  and  Fire,"  Amer.  Anth.,  6: 
207-10. 

102  HOWITT,    A.    W.      "Australian    Message-Sticks    and    Messengers," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  18:316-33. 

*I03  HOWITT,  A.  W.  The  Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Australia,  "Mes- 
sengers and  Message-Sticks — Barter  and  Trade  Centres — Gesture 
Language,"  678-735. 

*iO4  JENNINGS,  H.  S.  Behavior  of  the  Lower  Organisms.  New  York, 
1906. 

105  JENSEN,  H.     A  Classified  Collection  of  Tamil  Proverbs.     London, 
1897- 

106  JOHNSTON,    S.    H.     George    Grenfell   and    the    Congo,    "The    Lan- 
guages of  the  Congo  Basin  and  the  Cameroons,"  2:826-91. 

*I07  JUDD,  C.  H.    Psychology,  "Language,"  248-73. 

108  JUNG,   K.   A.     "Aus  dem   Seelenleben   der   Australier,"   Mitth.   dcs 

Vereins  fur  Erdkunde  zu  Leipzig,  1877. 

109  KATE,  H.  TEN.     "Zur  Psychologic  der  Japaner,"  Globus,  82:53-56. 
no  KATE,  H.  TEN.    "Noch  einmal  'zur  Psychologic  der  Japaner,'"  Globus, 

84:15,  16;  85:226,  227. 
*ni  KEANE,  A.  H.     Ethnology,  "Mental  Evolution  in  Man,"  40-49. 

112  KEANE,  A.  H.     "On  the  Relations  of  the  Indo-Chinese  and   Inter- 
Oceanic  Races  and  Languages,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  9:254-89. 

113  KERAVAL,  P.     Le  langage  cent:  ses  origines,  son  dcveloppcment  et 
son  mccanisme  intellectuel.     Paris,  1897. 


324  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

114  KERN,  R.  A.     "A  Malay  Cipher  Alphabet,"  Jour.  A  nth.  Ittst.,  38: 
207-11. 

115  KERSCHENSTEINER,  G.     Die  Entwickelung  der  Begabung.     Mtinchen, 
1905. 

*u6  KIDD,  D.     Savage  Childhood.     London,  1906. 

*ii7  KING,  I.    Psychology  of  Child  Development.    Chicago,  1903. 

118  KING,  R.     "On  the  Intellectual  Character  of  the  Esquimaux,"  Jour. 

Ethn.  Soc.,  i :  127-53. 

*iip  KINNAMAN,  A.  J.     "Mental  Life  of  Two  Macacus  rhesus  Monkeys 
in  Captivity,"  Am.  Jour.  Psych.,  13:98-148;  173-218. 

1190  KIRBY,  R.  J.    "Translation  of  Dazai  Jun's  Essay  on  Gakusei"  [Edu- 
cational Control],  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  34,  Pt.  4:  133-44. 

120  KRAPOTKIN,  P.     "Mutual  Aid  among  Animals,"  Nineteenth  Century, 
28:337-54;  609-719. 

121  KREMER,  A.  VON.     Geschichte  der  herrschenden  Ideen  dcs  Islams; 
der  Gottcsbegriff,  die  Prophetic  und  Staatsidec.     Leipzig,   1868. 

122  KULISCHER,  M.     "Die  Behandlung  der  Kinder  und  der  Jugend  auf 
den  primitiven  Kulturstufen,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  15:  191-203. 

123  LABORDE,  J.  V.     "Introduction  a  1'etude  de  la  fonction  du  langage/' 
Rev.  mensuelle  de  I'ecole  d'anth.,  1:353-69.     Cf.  also  3:1-16. 

*I24  LAUFER,  B.     "A  Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Chinese   Writing,"  Am. 
Anth.,  N.  S.,  9:487-92. 

125  LAZARUS,  M.     "Ueber  die,  Ideen  in  der  Geschichte,"  Zeits.  fur  Vol- 
kerpsych.  und  Sprachwiss.,  3:385-486. 

126  LEBON,   G.      The   Psychology    of  Peoples:    Its   Influence   on    Their 
Evolution.     London,  1898.     (Translation.) 

127  LEBON,  G.     "Comment  les  peuples  transforment  leur  civilisation  et 
leur  arts,"  Rev.  scientifique,  50:417-428. 

128  LEFEVRE,  A.    Race  and  Language.     New  York,  1894. 

129  LETOURNEAU,  C.     L' evolution  de  I'cducation  dans  les  diverses  races 
hutnaines.     Paris,  1898. 

130  LETOURNEAU,  C.     "La  monnaie  chez  les  races  de  couleur,"  Bui.  de 
la  soc.  d'anth.  de  Paris,  4  ser.,  10:679-92. 

131  LIETARD,  G.  A.    Lettres  historiques  sur  la  medecine  ches  les  Indous. 
Paris,  1862. 

132  LIETARD,  G.  A.    Resume  de  I'histoire  de  la  medecine  chez  les  orien- 
taux  et  en  Europe  jusqu'au  XIII.  sicclc.     Paris,  1897. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  325 

133  LIETARD,  G.  A.    Sur  I'histoire  de  la  medecine  ches  les  Indous.   Stras- 
bourg, 1858. 

134  LOCKHART,  J.  H.   S.     The  Currency  of  the  Farther  East  from  the 
Earliest  Times  up  to  the  Present  Day.     Hongkong,  1895.     2  v. 

*I35  LOEB,  J.  Comparative  Physiology  of  the  Brain  and  Comparative 
Psychology.  New  York,  1900. 

136  LUKAS,  F.     Psychologic  dcr  niedcrsten  Tiere.     Wien,   1905. 

137  MACDONALD,  D.   B.     "The   Moral  Education  of  the  Young  among 
Muslims,"  Internal.  Jour,  of  Ethics,  15:286-304. 

138  MACDONALD,  R.  M.    "Der  Arzneistoff  Pituri  oder  Pidgery  der  Aus- 
tralicr,"  Globus,  87:211. 

139  MACDONALD,  R.  M.     "Pidgery  or  Pituri,"  Scottish  Geog.  Mag.,  20 : 
606. 

*I4O  MACDOUGALL,  R.  "The  Significance  of  the  Human  Hand  in  the 
Evolution  of  Mind,"  Amer.  Jour.  Psych.,  16:232-42. 

*I4I  McDouGALL,  W.  An  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology.  London, 
I908.  [First  rate.] 

*i42  McDoucALL,  W.,  AND  MYERS,  C.  S.  "Hearing — Smell — Taste — 
Cutaneous  Sensations — Muscular  Sense — Blood  Pressure — Reaction 
Times,"  Cambridge  Anth.  Exped.  to  Torres  Straits,  Rep.,  2:,  141- 
223. 

*I43  McGEE,  W.  J.  "The  Beginning  of  Mathematics,"  Amer.  Anth., 
N.  S.,  1 : 646-74. 

*I44  McGEE,  W.  J.     "Comparative  Chronology,"  Amer.  Anth.,  5:327-44. 

*i45  McGEE,  W.  J.     "Piratical  Acculturation,"  Amer.  Anth.,  11:243-49. 

*146  McGEE,  W.  J.  "Primitive  Numbers,"  Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep., 
19:821-51. 

147  MACGOWAN,    D.      "Modes    of    Keeping    Time    Known    among    the 
Chinese,"  Smithsonian  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1891:670-12. 

148  MACKENZIE,  A.    "Specimens  of  Native  Australian  Languages,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  3:247-64. 

149  MAGNUS,  H.     "Die  Volksmedizin,   ihre  geschichtliche  Entwickelung 
und   ihre   Beziehungen   zur   Kultur,"   Abhandlungen  zur   Gcschichtc 
der  Medizin,  15  (1905)  :  1-112. 

*i5o  MALLERY,  G.     "Pictographs  of  the  North  American  Indians,"  Bur. 

Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  4:3-256. 
*I5I  MALLERY,    G.     "Picture-Writing    of    the    American    Indians,"    Bur. 

Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  io:'3-8(>7. 


326  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*I52  MALLERY,  G.  "Sign-Language  of  North  American  Indians,"  Bur. 
Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  1:269-552. 

153  MAN  WARING,  A.     Marathi  Proverbs.     Oxford,   1899. 

154  MANN,  A.    "Notes  on  the  Numeral  System  of  the  Yoruba  Nation," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:59-64. 

155  MANOUVRIER,    L.      "Le    temperament,"    Rev.    mensuelle    de    I'ecole 
d'anth.,  6:425-49. 

156  MARCH,  O.  S.  VON  DER.     Vdlkerideale.    Leipzig,  1901. 

*•"  *I57  MASON,  O.  T.     "Similarities  in   Culture,"  Amer.  Anth.,  8:101-17. 
*I58  MASON,  O.  T,    "Mind  and  Matter  in  Culture,"  Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S., 
10:187-96. 

159  MATHEWS,    R.    H.      "Message-sticks    Used    by    the    Aborigines    of 
Australia,"  Amer.  Anth.,  10:288-98. 

160  MEAD,  G.  H.    "The  Imagination  in  Wundt's  Treatment  of  Myth  and 
Religion,"  Psych.  Bui.,  3=393-99- 

161  MENGES,  J.     "Die  Zeichensprache  des  Handels  in  Arabien  und  Ost- 
Afrika,"  Globus,  48:9,  10. 

162  MEYER,  J.  B.    ''Genie  und  Talent,"  Zeits.  f.  Volkerpsychologie  und 
Sprachwissenschaft,  1 1 : 269-302. 

163  MILLS,  T.   W.     The  Nature   and  Development  of  Animal  Intelli- 
gence.   New  York,  1898, 

164  MONTEIL,   C.     "Considerations   generates   sur   le    nombre    et   la   nu- 
meration chez  les  Mandes,"  L'Anthropologie,  16:485-502. 

*i6s  MORGAN,  C.  L.     Animal  Behavior.     London,   1900. 
*I70  MORGAN,  C.  L.     Introduction  to  Comparative  Psychology.     London, 
1894- 

171  MORGAN,    L.    H.     Ancient   Society,   "Ratio   of    Human    Progress," 
29-45. 

172  MURDOCH,    J.      "Notes    on    Counting    and    Measuring    among    the 
Eskimo  of  Point  Barrow,"  Amer.  Anth.,  3=37-43- 

173  NADAILLAC,  MARQUIS  DE.     "Unite  de  1'espece  humaine  prouvee  par 
la  similarite  des  conceptions  et  des  creations  de  rhomme,"  Rev.  des 
questions  scientifiques,  42:415-48. 

*i74  PAYNE,  E.  J.  History  of  the  New  World,  "Language  and  Person- 
ality," 2:81-305;  "Number  and  Time  Concepts,"  2:306-77. 

*I75  PEARSON,  K.  "On  the  Inheritance  of  the  Mental  and  Moral 
Characters  in  Man,  and  its  Comparison  with  the  Inheritance  of 
the  Physical  Characters,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  33:179-237. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  327 

*I76  PECKHAM,  G.  W.,  AND  E.  G.     "Some  Observations  on  the  Mental 

Powers  of  Spiders,"  Jour.  Morph.,  1 1383-419. 
*I77  PECKHAM,  G.  W.,  AND  E.  G.     Wasps,  Social  and  Solitary.    Boston, 

1905. 

178  PFEIL,  GRAF  VON.    "Duk  Duk  and  Other  Customs  as  Forms  of  Ex- 
pression of  the  Melanesian  Intellectual  Life,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  27: 
181-91. 
*I79  PLOSS,  H.  H.    Das  Kind  in  Brauch  und  Sitte  der  Volkcr.    Leipzig, 

1884.    2  v.  in  I. 

180  PLOSS,  H.  H.  Das  kleine  Kind  vom  Tragbctt  bis  zum  ersten  Sckritt 
....  bei  den  verschiedenen  Volkern  der  Erde.  Berlin,  1881. 

*i8i  PORTER,  J.  P.  "A  Preliminary  Study  of  the  Psychology  of  the 
English  Sparrow,"  Amer.  Jour.  Psych.,  15:313-46. 

*i82  PORTER,  J.  P.  "Further  Study  of  the  English  Sparrow  and  Other 
Birds,"  Amer.  Jour.  Psych.,  17:248-71. 

183  POWELL,  J.  W.  "Indian  Linguistic  Families  of  America,  North  of 
Mexico,"  Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  7:1-142. 

*i84  POWELL,  J.  W.  "On  Activital  Similarities,"  Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann. 
Rep.,  3 :  Ixv-lxxiv. 

*i8s  POWELL,  J.  W.,  "Philology,  or  the  Science  of  Activities  Designed 
for  Expression,"  Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  20 :  cxxxix-clxx. 

*r86  POWELL,  J.  W.  "Sophiology,  or  the  Science  of  Activities  Designed 
to  Give  Instruction,"  Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  20 : clxxi-cxcvii. 

187  RANKE,  C.  E.  "Einige  Beobachtungen  iiber  die  Seescharfe  bei 
sudamerikanischen  Indianern,"  Deutsche  Gescllsch.  f.  Anth.,  Ethn. 
und  Urgeschichte,  Correspondenzblatt,  28:113-19. 

*i88  RATZEL,  F.  History  of  Mankind,  "Language,"  1:^30-38;  "Science 
and  Art,"  1:65-76;  "Intellectual  Life  of  the  Polynesians  and  Micro- 
nesians,"  1:185-95;  "Intellectual  Life  of  the  Malays,"  i:393~4O5- 

*i89  RAY,  S.  H.  "Linguistics,"  Cambridge  Anth.  Exped.  to  Torres 
Straits,  Rep.,  3 : 1-527. 

*i90  REIBMAYR,  A.  Die  Entwickelungsgeschichte  des  Talentes  und 
Genies.  Munich,  1908.  2  v. 

*i9i  RIDGEWAY,  W.  The  Origin  of  Metallic  Currency  and  Weight 
Standards.  Cambridge,  1892. 

192  RIDLEY,  W.  "Australian  Languages  and  Traditions,"  Jour.  Anth. 
Inst.,  2:257-91. 


328  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*I93  RIVERS,   W.   H.-  R.     "Vision,"   Cambridge  Anth.   Exped.   to    Torres 
Straits,  Rep.,  2 : 1-140. 

*I94  RIVERS,    W.    H.    R.      The    Todas,    "Language,"    602-18;    "Personal 
Names,"  619-27. 

*I95  RIVERS,  W.  H.  R.     "Personal  Names,"  Cambridge  Anth.  Exped.  to 
Torres  Straits,  Rep.,  5:280-83;  6:102-4. 

196  ROBINSON,  J.     Psychologie  der  Naturvolker.     Leipzig,   1896. 

197  ROCHET,  L.     Maximes  ct  proverbs  mongoles  et  manchoux.     Paris, 
1875- 

198  ROEDER,   A.     Symbol-Psychology,   a   New   Interpretation    of   Race- 
Traditions.     New  York,  1903. 

199  SCHEERER,   O.      "The    Nabaloi    Dialect,"    Ethn.   Survey   Pub.,   2:85- 
178.     Manila,  1905. 

200  SCHMID,   K.   A.     Geschichte   der  Ersiehung.     Stuttgart,    1884-1902. 
5  v. 

[Vol.  I  is  in  part  on  education  among  the  lower  races.] 

201  SCHNEIDER,   O.     Muschelgeld-Studien.     Dresden,   1005. 

*202  SCHRAEDER,  O.     Sprachvergleichung  und  Urgeschichte.     (Translated 
as  Prehistoric  Antiquities  of  the  Aryan  Peoples.)     London,  1800. 

203  SCHULTZE,  E.     Psychologie  der  Naturvolker.     Leipzig,  1000. 

204  SCHURTZ,    H.     Grundriss   einer  Entstehungsgeschichte   des   Geldes. 
(Beitrage  zur  Folks-  und   Volkerkunde,  5.)     Weimar,  1898. 

205  SCHURTZ,    H.      "Die    Milderung   des   menschlichen    Characters    vom 
Standpunkte  der  Ethnologic,"   Globus,  59:299-303. 

206  SEIDLITZ,    N.    VON.     "Sprichworter    aus    dem    Turkestan,"    Globus, 
62 : 186-88. 

207  SEIDLITZ,  N.  VON.     "Sprichworter  der  Eingeborenen  des  Turkestan," 
Globus,  56:333-35;  378-80. 

208  SELIGMAN,  C.  G.     "The  Medicine,   Surgery,  and   Midwifery  of  the 
Sinaugolo,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  32:297-304. 

*209  SIGHELE,  S.     Psychologie  des  sectes.     Paris,  1897. 
*2io  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.    Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "Taboo 
and  Other  Special  Forms  of  Speech,"  2:414-31. 

211  SMITH,   A.    H.     Proverbs   and   Common   Sayings   of   the   Chinese. 
Shanghai,  1889. 

212  SMITH,  MRS.  E.  A.     "The  Customs  and  Language  of  the  Iroquois," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  14:244-53. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  329 

213  SOUFFRET,  F.     De   la  disparitc  physique  et  mentale  des  races  hu- 

maines  et  de  ses  principes.     Paris,  1892. 
*2I4  SPENCER,    F.    C.      "Education    of    the    Pueblo    Child :    A    Study    in 

Arrested  Development,"  Columbia   Univ.  Contr.  to  Philos.,  Psych., 

and  Educ.,  7:1-97. 
*2i5  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.     The  Northern  Tribes  of  Central 

Australia,  "Names  and  Naming,"  580-87. 
*2i6  SPENCER,  H.     The  Principles  of  Sociology,  "The  Primitive  Man — 

Intellectual,"    1:75-93;    "Primitive    Ideas,"    1:94-124;   ''Professional 

Institutions,"  3 : 179-326. 

217  SPENCER,   H.     Descriptive  Sociology,   "Language   and   Knowledge," 
1:40-48;  2:48-53;  3:42-47;  4:34-36;  S:4i-4S;  6:38-43;  7:87-95;  8: 
126-33. 

218  SPENCER,  H.     "The  Comparative  Psychology  of  Man,"  Jour.  Anth. 
Inst.,  5:301-16. 

219  STEARNS,    R.    E.    C.     "Ethno-Conchology :    A    Study    of    Primitive 
Money,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1887:297-334. 

*22O  STEINEN,  K.  VON  DEN.     "Erfahrungen   zur  Entwickelungsgeschichte 
der  Volkergedanken,"  Globus,  56:11-15. 

221  STEINEN,  K.  VON  DEN.     "Proben   einer  friiheren  polynesischen  Ge- 
heimsprache,"   Globus,  87:119-21. 

222  STEINTHAL,  H.    "Zur  Charakteristik  der  semitischen  Volker,"  Zeits. 
f.  Volker  psychologic  und  Sprachwissenschaft,  i  '.328-45. 

223  STEPHAN,  E.     "Beitrage  zur  Psychologic  der  Bewohner  von   Neu- 
pommern,"  Globus,  88:205-10;  216-21. 

*224  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.    "Suicide  among  Primitive  Peoples,"  Amer.  Anth., 

7=  53-6o. 
*225  STEINMETZ,   S.  R.     "Das  Verhaltnis   zwischen  Eltern  und   Kindern 

bei  den  Naturvolkern,"  Zeits  f.  Socialwissenschaft,  i:>6o7~3i. 
226  STENZ,  G.  M.     "Arzt  und  Apotheker  in  China,"  Globus,  81 : 383-86. 
*227  STEVENSON,  MRS.  T.  E.     "Religious  Life  of  the  Zuni  Child,"  Bur. 

Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  5=533-55- 
*228  STOLL,  O.     Suggestion  und  Hypnotismus  in  der  Volkerpsychologie. 

Leipzig,  1904. 
*229  TARDE,  G.     The  Laws  of  Imitation.     (Tr.  by  E.  C.  PARSONS.)     New 

York,   1903. 

230  TARDE,  G.     Logique  sociale.     Paris,  1898. 

231  TAYLOR,  I.     The  History  of  the  Alphabet.    London,  1899.     2  v. 


330  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*232  TEMPLE,  R.  C.    "Beginnings  of  Currency,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  29:99- 

122. 

233  THOMAS,  C.    "Day  Symbols  of  the  Maya  Year,"  Bur.  Amer.  Ethn., 
Ann.  Rep.,  16:205-65. 

234  THOMAS,  C.     "Mayan  Calendar  Systems,"  Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann. 
Rep.,  19:693-819;  22:197-305. 

235  THOMAS,  C.     "Mayan   Time   Systems   and   Time   Symbols,"   Amer. 
Anth.,  N.  S.,  2:53-62. 

236  THOMAS,  C.     "Numeral  Systems  of  Mexico  and  Central  America," 
Bur.  Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  19:853-955. 

237  THOMAS,   N.   W.     "Note   on    Some    American    Parallels   to    Euro- 
pean Agricultural  Customs,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  31  : 155,  156. 

238  THOMAS,  W.   I.     "The   Gaming  Instinct,"  Amer.  Jour.   Social.,  6: 
750-63. 

239  THOMAS,  W.  I.     "Der  Mangel  an  Generalisationsvermogen  bei  den 
Negern,"  Zeits.  f.  Sociaht'issenschaft,  7:215-21. 

240  THOMAS,  VV.   I.     "The   Psychology  of  Race-Prejudice,"  Am.  Jour. 
Social.,  9:593-611. 

*24i  THORNDIKE,  E.  L.  "Animal  Intelligence,"  Columbia  Univ.  Contr.  to 
Philos.,  Psychol.,  and  Educ.,  4:  No.  3. 

*242  THORNDIKE,  E.  L.  "The  Mental  Life  of  the  Monkeys,"  Columbia 
Univ.  Contr.  to  Philos.,  Psychol.,  and  Educ.,  9 :  No.  i ;  Psych.  Rev. 
Mon.  Sup.,  3 :  No.  5. 

243  TOPINARD,  P.     Elements  d'anthropologie  generate.    Paris,  1885. 

[Of  some  value  for  brain  weight  of  different  races,  etc.  A  smaller  volume 
on  the  same  subject  is  translated,  with  the  title  Anthropology.  London, 
1878.] 

*244  TURNER,  C.  H.  "A  Preliminary  Note  on  Ant  Behavior,"  Biol.  Bui, 
12:354- 

*245  TYLOR,  E.  B.  Early  History  of  Mankind,  "Gesture-Language," 
14-81 ;  "Picture-Writing  and  Word-Writing."  82-105 ;  "Images  and 
Names,"  106-49;  "Growth  and  Decline  of  Culture,"  150-91. 

246  TYLOR,  E.  B.     "The  Hale  Series  of  Huron  Wampum  Belts,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  26:248-54. 

247  TYLOR,  E.  B.    "The  Origin  of  Numerals,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  6:125- 
36. 

*248  TYLOR,  E.  B.  Primitive  Culture,  "Emotional  and  Imitative  Lan- 
guage," 1:160-239;  "The  Art  of  Counting,"  1:240-72. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  331 

249  VACCA,  G.     "Sulla   matematica   degli   antichi   cinesi,"    Bollettino   di 

bibliografia  e  storia  delle  scienze  matematiche,  8:97-102. 
*25o  VIERKANDT,    A.      "Die    Kulturtypen    der    Menschheit,"    Archiv    f. 

Anth.,  25:61-75. 

*25i  VIERKANDT,  A.     Ndturvolker  und  Kulturvolker.     Leipzig,   1896. 
="252  VINCENT,  G.  E.     The  Social  Mind  and  Education.    New  York,  1897. 

253  VISSERING,  W.     On  Chinese  Currency.    Leiden,  1877. 

*253<z  WAITZ,  T.  Introduction  to  Anthropology  (Collingwood's  trans,  of 
Vol.  I  of  Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker),  "Mental  Characteristics 
of  Race,"  259-389. 

254  WAKE,  C.  S.    "The  Mental  Characters  of  Primitive  Man,  as  Exem- 
plified by  the  Australian  Aborigines,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  1:74-84. 

*255  WARD,  L.  F.     Psychic  Factors  of  Civilization.     Boston,  1893. 
*256  WASHBURN, 'M.  F.     The  Animal  Mind.     New  York,  1908. 

[The  best  general  statement  of  our  present  knowledge  of  the   animal   mind. 
Provided  with   a   full  bibliography.] 

*257  WATSON,  J.  B.  "Kinaesthetic  and  Organic  Sensations :  Their  Role 
in  the  Reactions  of  the  White  Rat,"  Psych.  Rev.,  Mon.  Sup.,  8 :  !>- 

IOO. 

*258  WATSON,  J.  B.     "Imitation  in  Monkeys,"  Psych.  Bui,  5:169-78. 

*259  WATSON,  J.  B.  The  Behavior  of  Noddy  and  Sooty  Terns,"  Car- 
negie Inst.  Pub.,  103:187-225. 

*26o  WATSON,  J.  B.  "Animal  Education,"  Univ.  of  Chicago  Contr.  to 
Philos.,  4 :  No.  2. 

[All  of  Watson's  papers  are  excellent.] 

261  WEALE,  J.  M.     "On  the  Probable  Derivation  of  Some  Characteris- 
tic  Sounds  in  Certain  Languages   from   Cries  or   Noises   Made  by 
Animals,"  Brit.  Assoc.  for  the  Adv.  of  So'.,  Rep.,  1892:907-9. 

262  WICKERSHAM,  J.     "The  Almanac  of  China  and  Central  America," 
Amer.  Antiquarian,   19:61-68. 

263  WOLF,  J.    "Das  Verhaltnis  von  Eltern  und  Kindern  bei  dem  Land- 
volk  in   Deutschland,"  Zeits.  f.  Socialwissenschaft,  1:715-22. 

*264  WUNDT,  W.     Vdlkerpsychologie. 

[Vol.  I  (1904)  is  on  language  and  is  of  great  importance.] 
265  WUNDT,  W.    Lectures  on  Human  and  Animal  Psychology.     (Tr.  by 
CREIGHTON  AND  TITCHENER.)     London,  1896. 

[Hall's  Adolescence  is  omitted  by  no  oversight.] 


PART  III 
INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY 

TOOLS  AND  MECHANICAL  DEVICES 

Among  inventions,  the  class  of  objects  that  are  not  an  end  in 
themselves,  but  which  are  used  as  means  to  ends,  occupy  a  very 
prominent  place.  They  are  covered  by, such  terms  as  "tools," 
"implements,"  "machines." 

Many  of  these  are  the  apparatus  of  special  crafts,  and  should 
be  considered  among  the  inventions  belonging  to  those  crafts. 
But  a  great  many  of  them  have  come  down  from  remote  an- 
tiquity, and  belong  to  workmen  of  every  trade. 

The  tool  chest  of  the  Andamanese,  according  to  Man,  would 
contain  a  stone  anvil,  stone  hammers,  chips,  and  cooking  stones ; 
one  or  more  Cyrena  shells  for  preparing  arrow  shafts,  for  sharp- 
ening knives  of  cane  and  bamboo;  and  boar's  tusks,  for  carving 
spoons,  for  knives  in  cutting  thatch  or  meat,  for  scrapers  in 
separating  bast  and  bark  in  cord-making,  for  carving,  and  even 
for  planes. 

You  would  also  find  Area  shells  for  pot-making,  Pinna 
shells  for  receptacles,  and  food  plates  and  Nautilus  shells  for 
drinking-cups.  The  bamboo  spear  shafts,  water  holders,  food 
receptacles,  knives,  netting-needles,  tongs,  &c.,  would  call 
attention  to  the  usefulness  of  that  plant.  Paint  brushes  from 
the  drupe  of  the  Pandanus  Andamanensium  should  not  be 
overlooked. 

Under  the  head  of  general  appliances  for  industrial  processes 
may  be  included  tools,  mechanical  powers,  metric  apparatus, 
natural  forces,  and  machinery.  M.  Adrien  de  Mortillet  has 
made  a  classification  of  simple  tools  which  is  adopted  here,  with 
additions  and  modifications. 

I.  FOR  CUTTING.     EDGE  TOOLS 
Working — 

Knives. 


I-  By  Pressure. 


Double-edge  tools,  shears. 
Planes. 

335 


336  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

!    Axes. 

2.  By  Shock.  Adzes. 

1     Chisels,  gouges. 

3.  By  Friction.     Saws. 

II.  FOR  ABRASION  AND  SMOOTHING 
Working — 

Scrapers,  gravers,  rasps,  files,  sand- 


i.  By  Pressure  and  Friction. 


papers,  polishers,  smoothers,  burn- 


ishers,   whetstones,    grindstones. 
2.  By  Shock.     Bush-hammers. 

In  wood-working  fire  is  an  efficient  element  in  abrasion. 

III.  FOR  FRACTURING,  CRUSHING,  POUNDING 
W or king — 

1.  By  Pressure.     Chipping,  and  flaking  implements. 

2.  By  Shock.     Hammers,  pestles. 

3.  By  Friction.     Grinding  apparatus,  mills. 

IV.  FOR  PERFORATING 
Working — 

(  Needles,  prickers,  awls,  drills  of  all 

1.  By  Pressure  and  Friction.  1      ... 

|      kinds. 

2.  By  Shock.     Punches,  picks. 

V.  FOR  GRASPING  AND  JOINING 

1.  Tongs,  pincers,  vices,  clamps,  wedges. 

2.  Nails,  lashings,  glues. 

Before  entering  more  minutely  upon  the  study  of  tools,  a 
few  words  should  be  said  concerning  the  composition  of  tools, 
their  .working  parts  and  haftings.  It  is  true  that  millions  of 
ancient  objects,  in  stone  especially,  lying  in  museums  and  cabi- 
nets have  now  no  handles.  But  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the 
great  majority  of  them  were  once  so  furnished.  Indeed,  in  their 
manufacture  the  artificer  spent  as  much  time  and  pains  in  get- 
ting them  ready  to  be  hafted  as  he  did  in  finishing  the  working 
portions.  The  best  guide  in  furnishing  anew  these  objects  with 
hand-attachments  is  the  study  of  modern  savagery. 

These  are  to  be  studied  both  in  their  adaptation  to  the  hand 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  337 

and  in  the  method  of  their  being  fixed  to  the  working  part. 
The  former,  for  convenience,  may  be  called  the  grip,  or  handle ; 
the  latter,  the  attachment.  The  grip  of  an  implement  may  be 
made  to  fit  one  hand  or  two,  and  to  be  held  close  to  the  object 
wrought  upon,  or  at  some  distance.  It  is  really  this  part  that 
at  last  becomes  a  machine. 

Many  savages  still  use  only  the  rudest  kind  of  grip,  merely 
smoothing  the  rough  surface  of  the  material  or  wrapping  some- 
thing about  it,  so  as  not  to  hurt  the  hand,  but  this  is  not  true 
of  all  tribes. 

The  Eskimo  men  and  women  carve,  from  walrus  ivory, 
musk-ox  horn,  and  wood,  the  daintiest  handles  for  their  scrap- 
ers and  other  implements.  They  fit  so  exactly  that  the  white 
man,  with  his  much  larger  hands,  is  unable  to  use  them.  No 
modern  sword  grip  is  more  convenient  or  more  tastefully  carved. 

The  Indians  of  the  West  Coast  are  not  so  particular,  and  yet 
on  many  of  their  tools  there  are  grooves  for  the  fingers.  But  a 
singular  departure  from  this  idea  of  convenience  is  to  be  seen  on 
South  American  and  Polynesian  weapons,  where  for  the  sake 
of  decoration  the  maker  has  carved  a  ridge  that  would  be  in  the 
way  of  the  hand. 

But  the  great  majority  of  haftings,  shafts,  handles,  hilts,  or 
grips  of  aboriginal  implements  were  of  some  material  separate 
from  that  of  the  working  part,  and  attached  thereto  artificially. 
The  form  of  this  separate  handle  depended  precisely  upon  the 
work  to  be  done.  The  sagacious  mind  of  the  savage  mechanic 
has  nowhere  worked  to  more  perfect  advantage.  The  economy 
of  material  and  of  form  to  acquire  the  greatest  result  with  *•  the 
least  effort  has  been  thoroughly  explored.  After  the  bare  neces- 
sities of  the  case  have  been  met,  tribal  genius,  imagination,  and 
good  judgment  have  had  full  play. 

To  make  a  list  of  forms  of  aboriginal  haftings  it  would  be 
necessary  to  write  a  catalogue  of  the  varieties  of  tools  enumer- 
ated in  the  table  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  If  one  would 
examine  the  stock  in  a  modern  hardware  or  furnishing  store,  he 
would  have  to  look  over  a  great  many  kinds  of  tools  before  he 
would  find  a  style  of  simple  handle  unknown  to  savages.  He 
might  begin  with  a  cylindrical  rod,  and  end  with  the  handiest 


338  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

device  from  the  Patent  Office.  There  probably  never  was  a  more 
effective  grip  on  a  tool  than  the  form  used  by  the  Eskimo 
women  for  their  scrapers  nor  those  on  the  Malay  daggers  or 
kris.  A  classification  of  haftings  as  to  shape  would  commence 
with  a  mere  stick  or  withe  or  fork  of  a  sapling,  and  pass  through 
a  series  of  improvements  ending  with  one  in  which  the  hand 
would  be  covered  so  that  every  finger  and  every  muscle  would 
have  full  play  in  every  direction  for  pushing  or  pulling  or  rotary 
motion.  This  subject  has  never  been  worked  out  by  a  trained 
anthropologist. 

The  methods  of  attaching  the  handle  to  the  working  part  are 
more  ingenious  than  the  grip  itself.  The  following  are  the 
principal  types : — 

1.  Doubling  a  pliant  hoop  or  sapling  of  wood  about  the  work- 
ing part. 

2.  Fastening  the  working  part  to  a  shoulder  on  the  handle  or 
to  a  forked  stick. 

3.  Inserting  the  working  part  into  a  hole  or  groove  or  mor- 
tise in  the  handle. 

4.  Inserting  the  handle  into  or  through  the  working  part. 

5.  Binding  the  working  part  into  a  sling,  which  either  en- 
circles or  covers  it. 

6.  Seizing. 

7.  Gluing. 

8.  Rivetting. 

In  almost  every  section  of  North  America  occurs  the 
"grooved  axe,"  and  there  grow  a  great  many  varieties  of  wood, 
like  ash  or  hickory,  whose  saplings  will  bsnd  double  without 
breaking  and  will  easily  split.  The  Indians  were  accustomed  to 
take  a  piece  of  one  of  these  saplings  about  six  feet  long  and  split 
it,  so  that  in  bending  about  the  groove  of  the  axe  or  adze  or 
hammer,  it  would  neatly  fit.  The  hafting  was  completed  by 
securely  seizing  the  sides  together  near  the  working  piece  and  at 
the  grip.  The  method  of  this  seizing  will  be  presently  explained. 
This  style  might  have  been  seen  in  the  United  States  anywhere 
between  the  two  oceans. 

In  Matthew's  "Mountain  Chant"  two  young  Navajos  are  sent 
out  to  chop  poles  for  their  tent.  They  had  grooved  stone  axes, 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  339 

and  for  handles  they  bent  flexible  twigs  of  oak  and  tied  them 
with  fibres  of  yucca — that  is,  they  doubled  the  twigs,  inserted 
the  grooved  axe-head  in  the  bend,  and  made  all  fast  with  yucca 
fibre. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  account  the  transformation 
of  a  myth.  While  the  story  holds  on  to  the  oak  withe  it  adopts 
the  yucca  binding.  The  Navajo  moved  southward  into  Arizona 
from  Canada,  and  carried  the  memory  of  the  oak  while  forgetting 
the  old-time  lashing  of  raw-hide. 

Fitting  a  forked  stick  to  the  working  part  was  thus  accom- 
plished. A  young  tree  was  selected  from  which  a  limb  jutted  out 
at  the  proper  angle,  having  also  the  right  size  for  the  hand.  The 
limb  was  split  off  with  a  goodly  piece  of  the  trunk  attached,  and 
this  was  trimmed  to  a  shape  so  as  to  fit  on  the  working  part, 
which  might  be  slightly  let  in,  or  laid  flat  with  a  shoulder  on  the 
haft.  This  process  of  onlay  ing  and  partly  inlaying  adapts  itself 
to  every  type  of  handle  used  in  savagery.  The  Eskimo  even 
take  old  plane  bits  and  iron  axe-heads  procured  from  whalers 
and  so  haft  them.  The  boat-builders  of  the  West  Coast  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Australasia  of  every  race  make  most  varied  and  in- 
genious uses  of  the  method.  It  has  very  great  advantage  to  a 
savage  whose  grindstones  are  frequently  of  difficult  access.  The 
lashing  or  seizing  can  be  readily  done  up  and  undone  and  the  stone 
or  metal  working  part  quickly  removed,  sharpened,  and  replaced. 
The  many  ways  of  holding  the  parts  together  will  quickly  be 
explained. 

Inserting  the  working  part  into  the  handle  may  be  a  much 
older  and  more  primitive  process.  In  the  Swiss  Lake  dwellings 
are  found  good-sized  blocks  of  antler,  into  the  spongy  end  of 
which  the  poll  of  a  small  celt  was  driven.  This  block  of  antler 
was  afterwards  itself  used  as  a  handle,  or  again  was  inserted  into 
another  piece  to  serve  therefor.  The  very  same  process  is  in 
vogue  in  America  in  our  day  wherever  the  antler  or  suitable 
material  may  be  found.  The  tough  exterior  of  antler  and  bone, 
and  their  spongy  interior  would  almost  suggest  themselves  to  the 
most  ignorant  savage.  While  for  small  tools  such  as  perforators, 
the  rustic  and  the  savage  alike  know  that  pith  is  soft  and  that 
the  wood  of  some  plants  is  very  tough.  This  process  may  be 


340  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

seen  in  all  stages  of  development  among  the  working  tools  of 
Eskimo  and  Indians.  Arrow  heads,  awl  points,  bone  prickers 
and  perforators,  even  scrapers  and  adze-chisels,  may  be  found  in 
abundance  with  their  working  part  let  in  or  driven  into  the 
handle.  The  parts  are  further  secured  by  wrapping  and  by 
cement. 

The  Bongo  method  of  hafting  an  axe — and  this  seems  to 
have  been  the  universal  practice  in  true  Africa — is  to  select  a 
piece  of  wood  that  has  a  knot  or  gnarled  place  at  one  end  and  to 
drive  the  tang  of  the  hoe  or  axe  into  a  perforation  through  the 
knob.  Fastened  in  this  manner  the  wedge-shaped  tang  sticks 
more  firmly  in  the  handle  at  every  stroke.  On  the  other  hand, 
spears  and  even  many  garden  tools  are  furnished  with  a  conical 
socket,  into  which  the  shaft  is  driven  more  firmly  at  every  thrust. 

Says  Kalm,  the  hatchets  of  the  Delaware  Indians  were  made 
of  stone  in  shape  of  a  wedge,  with  a  groove  around  the  blunt  end. 
To  haft  it  they  split  a  stick  at  one  end  and  put  the  stone  between 
it;  they  then  tied  the  two  split  ends  together.  Some  of  these 
hatchets  were  not  grooved,  and  these  they  held  only  in  the  hand. 

This  is,  in  fact,  a  rude  variation  of  the  withe  style  of  hafting. 
The  blade  is  really  inserted,  however.  There  is  a  poor  specimen 
of  this  kind  of  work  in  the  United  States  National  Museum  from 
the  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico. 

Lafitau  describes  a  process  which  does  not  exist  in  modern 
savagery.  I  have  found  this  writer's  imagination  or  credulity 
playing  tricks  with  his  statements  more  than  once  and  am  inclined 
to  think  the  following  method  of  insertion  extremely  rare. 

"Choose  a  young  tree,"  says  Lafitau,  "to  split  it  with  a  single 
blow  and  insert  the  stone;  the  tree  grows  and  incorporates  it  in 
such  a  manner  that  it  is  with  difficulty  and  rarely  withdrawn." 

A  few  examples  occur  in  which  the  end  of  a  stick  is  split,  a 
ferrule  or  seizing  stopping  the  rift  at  the  point  desired.  The 
inside  of  the  jaws  were  then  trimmed  out,  the  pole  inserted  and 
the  outer  ends  tightly  bound  with  green  withe  or  raw-hide. 

Inserting  the  handle  into  a  perforation  or  a  socket  in  the 
working  part  was  not  a  common  practice  before  the  age  of 
metals.  Africa  now  affords  the  best  illustrations  of  this  process 
in  rude  metallurgy.  But  the  Eskimo  harpoon-maker  knew  how 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  341 

to  mortise  holes  in  his  ivory  working  parts  and  to  make  the 
handle  fit  therein.  Similar  devices  are  not  common  among  other 
races.  The  stone  workers  of  Europe,  however,  were  ingenious 
enough  to  drill  stone  axe  heads  and  furnish  them  with  handles. 

There  is  a  "doughnut"-shaped  stone  found  in  both  Americas, 
in  Australasia,  and  in  Europe  whose  function  is  not  clearly  made 
out.  Sometimes  it  is  called  a  digging-stick  weight,  and  again  a 
club  head.  But  the  handle  passes  through  the  stone  and  is  held 
in  place  by  an  abundance  of  cement. 

The  modern  hammer,  hatchet,  adze,  axe,  and  so  forth  have 
all  good  handles  of  hickory,  but  the  ancient  maker  of  stone  imple- 
ments fixed  his  edged  and  striking  tools  to  handles  in  some  other 
way.  Though  most  beautiful  perforated  axes  of  stone  were 
produced  in  the  European  stone  age,  they  are  too  pretty  for  use. 
The  working  part  with  an  eye  for  ha f ting  came  with  metals. 

The  modern  flail,  the  mediaeval  "morning  star,"  are  of  a  class 
whose  method  of  ha  f  ting  is  well  known  in  aboriginal  workshops. 
I  speak  of  the  sling  hafting.  The  Indians  of  the  Plains  sew  up 
a  round  stone  in  green  raw-hide,  and  attach  the  projecting  por- 
tions to  a  stiff  handle.  The  same  tribes  strengthen  the  attach- 
ment of  their  great  stone  mauls  in  a  similar  way.  Indeed,  the 
withe  seems  to  furnish  the  rigidity  and  grip,  while  the  raw-hide 
does  the  work  of  attachment.  The  long  lines  of  the  bolas  and 
the  sling  are  extensions  of  this  method  of  having  a  flexible 
portion  between  the  grip  and  the  working  part. 

But  the  savage  man's  unfailing  friend  in  holding  together  the 
parts  of  his  tools  is  a  seizing  of  some  sort.  It  is  so  easy,  so 
effective,  so  readily  repaired,  and  it  makes  the  handle  stronger 
instead  of  weaker.  Hence  the  Polynesian  gentleman,  when  he 
goes  out  to  visit  or  sits  in  the  shade  of  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree, 
takes  along  a  good  quantity  of  cocoa  fibre  and  braids  it  into 
sennit.  If  the  reader  never  saw  a  roll  of  sennit,  it  will  pay  him 
to  visit  the  nearest  ethnological  museum  for  this  sole  purpose. 
The  uniformity  of  the  strands,  the  evenness  of  the  braid,  the 
incomparable  winding  on  the  roll  or  spool,  as  one  might  call  it, 
constitute  one  of  the  fine  arts  of  Oceanica.  But  prettier  still  are 
the  regular,  geometrical  wrappings  of  this  sennit  when  it  is 
designed  to  hold  an  adze  blade  and  handle  in  close  union.  While 


342  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

speaking  of  this  combining  substance,  it  may  as  well  be  said  that 
in  the  building  of  houses  the  framework  is  held  together  entirely 
by  the  braided  sennit.  The  strakes  of  a  boat  are  united  by  its 
means.  In  short,  whatsoever  is  wrapped  for  amusement  or 
seriously,  and  whatsoever  is  nailed  or  screwed  or  pegged  or 
glued  in  other  lands,  is  in  this  region  united  by  means  of  this 
textile. 

The  peoples  of  the  world  who  live  north  of  the  tree  line,  and 
many  who  dwell  in  more  temperate  zones,  have  discovered  the 
virtue  of  raw-hide.  The  Eskimo  spends  many  hours  in  cutting 
out  miles  of  raw-hide  string,  or  babiche,  of  all  degrees  and  sizes. 
This  he  uses  in  holding  together  not  only  the  parts  of  his  imple- 
ments, but  in  manufactures  of  every  kind.  It  is  a  marvellous 
substance.  Frost  that  will  snap  steel  nails  like  glass  has  no  effect 
upon  it.  When  it  is  put  on  green  and  allowed  to  dry,  it  shrinks 
nearly  one  half,  binding  the  parts  immovably. 

Further  south,  as  well  as  in  the  Arctic  region,  the  tough 
sinew  is  taken  from  the  leg  of  the  deer.  It  is  shredded  as  fine 
as  silk,  spun  into  yarn,  and  then  twisted  or  braided  into  cord. 
This  has  no  end  of  uses,  not  only  in  tool  making,  but  in  all  arts 
where  the  greatest  possible  toughness  and  pliability  are  demanded. 
It  serves  to  make  a  secure  ferrule  on  the  awl  handle,  to  strengthen 
the  bow,  to  hold  feather  and  head  on  the  arrow.  It  has  an 
economic  use  for  every  day  in  the  year. 

All  aborigines  found  out  the  art  of  uniting  the  parts  of  tools 
by  means  of  strings,  made  of  the  best  textile  the  country  afforded. 
Whatever  deficiency  they  suffered  in  their  materials  or  rude  tools 
was  met  by  string  of  some  kind.  The  Fuegians  are  very  clever 
in  the  manufacture  of  harpoons  with  long  shafts.  The  barbed 
heads  of  bone  are  securely  attached  by  string,  and  the  Eskimo 
unites  thus  the  many  parts  of  his  harpoon  so  ingeniously  that 
if  one  be  broken  the  pieces  cannot  be  lost. 

The  poorest  savage  can  make  glue  of  some  sort,  and — which 
cannot  be  too  often  repeated  in  view  of  the  frequent  scandals 
heaped  upon  them — they  will  in  Australia,  or  in  Guiana,  or  in 
North  America,  tell  you  the  best  formula  for  glue  that  can  be 
made  on  that  spot.  The  coast  tribes  and  the  Shoshonean  tribes 
of  Western  America  produce  excellent  animal  glue  for  holding 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  343 

together  the  fibre  of  the  sinew  backing  of  the  bow.  The  Eskimo 
makes  cement  of  blood.  The  Utes  and  the  Apaches,  the  Mohaves 
and  the  Pimas,  always  carry  a  stick,  on  the  end  of  which  is  a 
mass  of  pitch  or  mezquit  gum  ready  to  heat  and  cement  their 
arrow  heads. 

"The  Hurons,"  writes  Sagard,  "with  small,  sharp  stones 
extracted  blood  from  their  arms  to  be  used  to  mend  and  glue 
together  their  broken  clay  pipes  or  pipe-bowls  (pippes  ou  petu- 
noirs),  which  is  a  very  good  device,  all  the  more  admirable, 
since  the  pieces  so  mended  are  stronger  than  they  were  before." 

For  cements  the  Panamint  Indians,  of  South-western  Cali- 
fornia, used  a  glue  made  by  boiling  the  horns  of  the  mountain 
sheep,  pitch  gathered  from  the  Nevada  nut  pine  (Pinus  mono- 
phylla),  and  a  gum  found  upon  the  creosote  bush  (Larrea  Mexi- 
cana).  In  its  crude  form  the  larrea  gum  occurs  in  the  shape  of 
small,  reddish,  amber-coloured  masses  on  the  twigs  of  the  shrub, 
and  is  deposited  there  by  a  minute  scale  insect  (Carteria  larrea). 
The  crude  gum  is  mixed  with  pulverised  rock,  and  thoroughly 
pounded.  The  product,  heated  before  applying,  was  used  to 
fasten  stone  arrow-heads  in  their  shafts. 

The  karamanni  wax  or  pitch  is  prepared  as  follows :  the  basis 
is  a  resin  drawn  by  tapping  from  a  tree  (Siphonia  bacculifera) , 
and  is  mixed  with  beeswax  to  make  it  more  pliable,  and  with 
finely  powdered  charcoal  to  make  it  black.  While  in  a  semi-liquid 
state  it  is  run  into  a  hollow  bamboo,  or  allowed  to  harden  in  the 
bottom  of  a  buckpot.  It  is  used  as  pitch  to  fill  up  crevices  in 
woodwork,  as,  for  instance,  in  boat-building,  to  fix  the  heads  of 
arrows  in  their  shafts,  and  in  similar  work. 

Quite  similar  in  tenacity  is  the  "black  boy  gum"  of  the  Aus- 
tralians, used  in  great  profusion  in  the  manufacture  of  their 
implements. 

Rivetting  together  the  parts  of  a  tool  is  by  no  means  unknown 
to  savages.  The  same  process  is  also  applied  to  other  sorts  of 
joining.  Metallic  rivets  were  not  employed,  but  little  trenails  or 
trunnels  of  bone  or  wood  or  antler.  In  some  of  the  woman's 
knives  brought  home  from  Greenland  the  parts  are  united  by 
means  of  little  pegs  or  trenails  of  antler.  The  parts  of  harpoons 
are  also  thus  joined.  After  the  use  of  metal  became  common 


344  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

among  these  people,  they  came  to  be  very  expert  at  rivetting  their 
knife-blades  of  various  kinds  upon  the  handles. 

And  now  it  will  be  possible  to  follow  the  common  tools  of 
savagery  in  the  order  laid  down  in  the  classification  above. 

The  jack-knife,  the  drawing-knife,  and  implements  of  that 
class  are  indispensable  to  the  lowest  grade  of  mechanic.  When 
only  stone  is  available,  he  fabricates  his  knife  of  stone;  under 
other  conditions,  of  the  teeth  of  sharks  and  beaver,  or  of  shells. 
But  nothing  demonstrates  his  absolute  dependence  upon  the  knife 
so  convincingly  as  his  willingness  to  throw  the  stone  blade  away 
and  substitute  one  of  metal  at  his  first  contact  with  a  higher  race. 
He  will  hold  on  to  his  clan  system  and  his  myths,  but  the  stone 
knife  must  go.  For  working  in  ivory,  horn,  antler,  bone,  wood, 
in  short,  in  any  substance  that  may  be  whittled,  the  knife  is  the 
standard  tool.  For  cutting  softer  bodies,  as  food,  the  knife  is 
equally  in  vogue. 

All  American  aborigines  made  knives  of  stone,  chipped  or 
ground,  as  the  occasion  or  the  natural  resource  demanded. 

The  African  used  his  assegai  for  many  purposes  of  the  same 
sort,  while  throughout  the  Eastern  Archipelago  bamboo  knives 
are  in  vogue,  made  while  the  stalk  is  green,  and  thus  dried  and 
charred  to  give  them  edge. 

The  Eskimo  and  Indians  in  whittling  cut  toward  the  body,  and 
frequently  make  the  handle  of  the  knife  long  and  curved  so  that 
the  end  will  fit  on  the  muscle  of  the  forearm,  to  give  a  stronger 
grip  and  leverage.  The  modern  curved  knife  only  takes  the 
place  of  one  with  stone  blade,  and  it  may  now  be  seen  through- 
out the  whole  intercontinental  area  from  Lapland  to  Labrador. 

The  Polynesians  had  no  other  knife  than  a  piece  of  bamboo 
cane.  The  serrated  edge  of  the  tool  was  formed  in  the  extreme 
outer  rind  of  the  bamboo,  and  when  the  material  has  been  recently 
split  this  edge  is  very  sharp.  And  Ellis  expresses  his  astonish- 
ment at  the  facility  with  which  a  large  hog  could  be  cut  up  with 
no  other  instrument. 

The  readiness  with  which  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  cane 
and  the  bamboo  has  been  seized  upon  everywhere  for  domestic 
knives,  assists  in  the  interpretation  of  the  oft-repeated  maxim 
that  similar  inventions  spring  from  like  environments  and  stress. 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  345 

The  shears  of  savages  do  not  work  like  those  of  the  civilised. 
There  is  not  a  pair  of  cutting  edges,  one  working  along  the  other. 
There  is  only  one  cutting  edge,  and  the  other  piece  is  held  at 
right  angles.  Indeed,  there  is  no  cloth  or  ribbon  to  be  cut,  only 
skins  and  human  hair.  The  savage  mother  holds  a  bit  of  wood 
or  leather  against  the  child's  head  and  haggles  off  the  ends  of 
the  hair  with  a  sharp  stone,  or  a  shell.  The  finishing  touches  are 
given  with  a  fire  brand.  This  practice  was  common  among  all 
American  tribes. 

For  cutting  the  skins  of  animals  the  modern  shears  were 
preceded  by  the  woman's  knife,  called  ulu,  among  the  Eskimo. 
This  consisted  formerly  of  a  blade  of  chert  inserted  into  a  handle 
of  ivory  or  wood,  and  glued  fast.  But  even  conservative  Eskimo 
women  obeyed  the  law  of  utility,  and  sustituted  iron  blades  on 
the  advent  of  the  whalers.  All  other  women  in  the  primitive  world 
used  similar  shears,  cutting  skin  as  the  modern  saddler  does, 
who  has  not  a  pair  of  shears  in  his  shop. 

The  Algonkian  Indians  of  North  America  secured  splints  of 
elm,  birch,  ash,  and  other  hard  woods  of  uniform  thickness,  by 
beating  a  log  until  the  annual  layers  were  loosened.  They  were 
then  peeled  off,  scraped,  and  dressed  into  ribbons  of  the  same 
width  and  woven  into  basketry. 

For  the  jack-plane  and  the  smoothing-plane,  savagery  has  no 
mechanical  substitute.  There  the  set  gauge  to  determine  the 
thickness  of  the  shaving  is  the  thumb,  which  in  lieu  of  a  better 
one,  does  tolerably  well.  The  drawing-knife,  the  spokeshave, 
and  such  refined  modern  cutting  tools,  are  all  the  lineal  descend- 
ants of  the  primitive  jack-knife,  or  curved  knife,  indeed,  of  the 
flake  of  flint  or  other  hard  stone  struck  off  and  used  at  the  cutting 
edge.  Lucien  Turner,  however,  collected  genuine  little  spoke- 
shaves,  with  blades  of  chert,  for  dressing  whalebone. 

The  mechanic's  edge  tools  in  civilisation  are  axes,  adzes,  and 
chisels  of  some  sort.  In  general  terms  these  work  across  the 
grain,  with  the  grain,  and  into  the  grain.  The  lines  are  very 
feebly  drawn  in  savagery.  The  very  same  stone  blade  is  inserted 
into  an  antler  and  mounted  on  a  helve  for  an  axe,  attached  to  a 
forked  handle  for  an  adze,  and  bound  to  the  shouldered  end  of 
a  straight  handle  for  a  chisel.  The  axe  of  savagery  is  a  laborious 


346  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tool,  requiring  great  force  and  doing  little  execution.  The  adze 
is  better,  and  in  the  culture  areas  where  great  trees  abound  near 
water,  no  aboriginal  work  is  more  attractive  than  the  canoes 
tooled  down  with  stone  adzes.  The  chisel  of  savagery  was  sel- 
dom struck  with  a  mallet.  It  was  shoved  from  the  workman  after 
the  manner  of  the  modern  trimming-chisel,  and  employed  chiefly 
in  connection  with  fire,  as  in  hollowing  out  canoes.  The  invention 
of  the  tenon  and  mortise,  the  peculiar  creation  of  the  chisel, 
belongs  to  a  culture-status  in  which  domestic  animals  and  ex- 
tended commerce  enter.  Both  in  the  East  and  the  West  Indies 
excellent  adze  and  chisel  blades  were  made  of  the  great  clam 
shells. 

The  Munbuttoo  have  an  adze  of  iron  which  strongly  calls  to 
mind  the  socketted  bronze  celts  of  Scandinavia.  A  fork  of  a 
sapling  serves  for  handle,  one  limb  remaining  long  for  the  hands, 
the  other  cut  short  and  inserted  into  the  conical  socket  of  the 
blade.  "With  this  tool,"  says  Schweinfurth,  "Monbuttoo  rough- 
hew  their  wooden  vessels,  subsequently  smoothing  and  carving 
them  more  finely  with  a  one-edged  knife." 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Nubian  part  of  the  Nile  valley  use 
this  mattock-like  tool  almost  exclusively  for  all  kinds  of  wood- 
work, while  a  real  hatchet  is  never  employed. 

Saws  are  used  by  workmen  in  civilisation  for  cross-cutting 
and  for  ripping.  The  savage  does  not  use  the  saw  for  the  latter 
purpose.  He  gets  out  puncheons  and  planks  by  means  of  enumer- 
able wedges  distributed  along  a  great  log.  Bone  and  harder 
substances  he  rips  by  boring  a  series  of  holes  through  the  sub- 
stance in  a  straight  line,  and  then  breaking  the  pieces  asunder 
with  a  blow.  The  rip-saw  is  in  full  force  in  China,  Japan,  and 
Corea.  In  ancient  Egypt  bronze  saws  were  used,  but  the  ripping 
was  done  single-handed. 

The  cross-cut  saw,  on  the  contrary,  is  one  of  the  oldest  tools. 
There  is  no  tribe  of  men  who  do  not  know  how  to  haggle  off  a 
piece  of  wood  by  sawing  with  a  jagged  stone.  This  same  method 
is  used  in  separating  antler,  horn,  ivory,  and  other  industrial 
substances.  The  archaeologists  find  among  their  collections  blades 
of  hard  material  serrated,  and  appearing  to  have  been  designed 
for  saws.  They  will  do  the  work  excellently,  and  they  seem  to 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  347 

suit  no  other  purpose.  This  tool  must  not  be  confounded  with 
the  stone-cutter's  method  of  sawing  stone  and  other  hard  sub- 
stances by  using  sand  and  water. 

Moreover,  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  some  Polynesian  island- 
ers knew  well  how  to  make  saws  by  inserting  bits  of  jagged  stone 
and  the  teeth  of  sharks  in  a  groove  in  a  handle  of  wood  or  by 
sewing  them  with  sennit  upon  the  side  of  a  thinner  piece.  The 
Australian  saw-teeth  are  fastened  to  the  handle  with  the  "black 
boy  gum." 

But  the  most  efficient  saw  in  savagery  was  a  thin  piece  of 
stone,  wood,  or  other  soft  substance  used  in  connection  with 
sand,  to  be  described  in  the  chapter  on  lithotechny. 

The  second  class  of  common  tools  that  have  their  ancestry 
in  savagery  are  those  that  are  used  for  abrading  and  smoothing 
surfaces.  When  the  potter  has  finished  shaping  a  vessel,  the 
surface  is  corrugated  and  covered  with  finger  prints.  By  the 
use  of  bits  of  leather,  or  gourd,  or  stone,  she  scrapes  away  these 
inequalities,  and  leaves  the  surface  without  a  mark  upon  it. 

The  box-maker,  the  boat-builder,  the  fabricator  of  war  imple- 
ments, the  worker  in  bone  and  horn  and  ivory,  take  away  the 
inequalities  from  the  surface  of  their  industrial  products  in  two 
ways — by  scraping  and  by  grinding,  as  is  done  today.  The 
cabinet-maker  with  his  wood  rasps  and  his  steel  scrapers  has  his 
counterpart  in  the  savage  worker  with  scraping  tools  and  grind- 
ing tools  of  stone.  The  Fijian  war-club  maker,  the  American 
boat-builder,  the  African  metal-worker,  grind  and  scrape  away  a 
deal  of  their  material  in  bringing  the  article  into  shape.  The 
North  American  Indians  use  sandstone,  or  fish  skin,  or  grass; 
the  South  Americans,  the  palate  bones  of  certain  fish,  and  the 
rough  leaves  of  trumpet  wood,  Cecropia  peltata,  or  of  the 
Curalitta  Americana;  the  Polynesians  employ  pumice  and  coral ; 
and  each  location  has  its  peculiar  method  of  procedure. 

When  Europeans  first  opened  trade  with  the  South  Sea 
Islanders,  steel  fish-hooks  were  among  the  things  pressed  upon 
the  attention  of  the  natives.  But  these  last,  or  the  fish,  we  had 
better  say,  like  the  mother-of-pearl  hooks  better.  But  the  metal 
points  were  sharper,  so  nails  and  wire  were  in  great  demand. 
Perceiving  in  the  nails  a  close  resemblance  to  the  scions  from 


348  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  root  of  the  breadfruit  tree,  the  fishermen  actually  planted 
some,  expecting  them  to  grow.  There  were  no  files  to  be  had, 
so  the  nails  were  formed  into  shape  and  ground  and  bent  by  the 
use  of  stone.  The  introduction  of  the  file  wrought  as  much 
change  in  native  art  here  as  it  did  in  the  New  World. 

All  of  these  processes  of  breaking,  boring,  sawing,  cutting, 
grinding,  and  polishing  are  shown  by  Professor  Putnam  in  his 
paper  on  the  manner  in  which  bone  fish-hooks  were  made  in  the 
Little  Miami  Valley.  A  series  of  partly  finished  examples  were 
taken  from  a  grave  in  the  Madisonville  Cemetery,  near  Cincinnati. 

Engraving,  or  ornamentation  answering  to  the  graver's  art, 
was  produced  on  softer  substances  by  means  of  a  blunt  pointed, 
hard  tool,  and  the  design  traced  out  by  a  series  of  creases  on  the 
surface.  This  is  done  on  wood,  bone,  and  pottery.  But  most  of 
the  decoration  of  this  class  was  accomplished  by  scratching  away 
the  material  with  chips  of  flint  or  other  hard  substances.  The 
Eskimo  used  to  rely  upon  the  hard  tooth  of  the  beaver,  the 
Polynesian  wrought  with  sharks'  teeth,  and  in  other  places  hard 
shells  and  gravers  of  flint  were  employed. 

The  Indians  of  Central  America  are  expert  in  the  engraving 
and  painting  of  calabashes.  With  a  pointed  instrument  they  work 
out  designs  upon  the  surface  of  a  dish  and  give  relief  to  the 
ornamentation  by  roughening  the  intervals.  In  painting  them  the 
blue  is  made  with  indigo,  the  red  with  anotto,  and  the  black  with 
indigo  mixed  with  lemon  juice.  The  colour  is  fixed  by  means 
of  a  greasy  substance  formed  by  boiling  an  insect  called  aje. 

For  giving  a  polish  to  surfaces,  grass  containing  silex,  very 
smooth  stones,  ochres  laid  on  buckskin  strips,  or  the  hard  hands 
were  quite  sufficient.  Experiments  lately  made  in  the  United 
States  National  Museum  demonstrate  that  the  objects  mentioned 
are  quite  adequate  to  the  result,  with  patience  and  knack.  The 
archaeologist  is  frequently  puzzled  in  studying  prehistoric  meth- 
ods of  working,  because  all  traces  of  chipping  and  sawing  are 
obliterated  by  the  polisher.  But,  in  a  great  collection  of  polished 
objects  like  that  of  Commodore  Douglas,  in  New  York,  or  the 
jade  objects  in  the  British  Museum,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that 
every  one  of  them  was  first  battered  into  its  present  shape. 

Akin  to  the  burnishing  and  polishing  of  the  surface  of  differ- 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  349 

ent  wares  is  the  whole  genus  of  greases,  oils,  varnishes,  and  other 
devices  for  filling  the  grain  of  the  substance  and  giving  a  better 
shine.  The  idea  of  preserving  wood  by  the  use  of  paint  and  oils 
hardly  entered  the  savage's  mind.  The  study  of  paint  as  a  purely 
decorative  matter  belongs  to  aesthetology.  But  the  investigation 
of  surfacing  would  be  deficient  if  it  did  not  include  inquiry  con- 
cerning paints  and  varnishes  and  burnishing  powders. 

The  oil  used  by  the  Guiana  Indians  to  anoint  their  bodies  and 
their  weapons  is  prepared  from  the  crab- wood  tree  (Carapa 
guianensis).  At  the  proper  season  the  nuts  are  gathered,  boiled 
and  put  away  until  half -rotten.  They  are  then  shelled  and 
kneaded  into  a  coarse  paste.  Troughs  of  bark,  cut  in  form  of  a 
steel  pen,  are  filled  with  the  nut-paste  and  fixed  in  a  sunny  place, 
slanting,  and  with  the  point  over  a  vessel.  The  oil  oozes  from 
the  paste  and  drips  into  the  vessel  below.  Sweet-scented  sub- 
stances are  added  to  overcome  the  rancid  odour.  Palm  oil  is  also 
obtained  by  crushing  and  boiling  the  seed.  The  oil  rises  to  the 
surface  and  is  skimmed  off  with  pads  of  cotton. 

The  calabashes  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders  are  dyed  in  the 
following  manner:  When  the  fruit  has  grown  to  its  full  size 
they  empty  it  by  placing  it  in  the  sun.  The  dried  contents  are 
removed  through  an  aperture  made  at  the  stalk.  In  order  to 
stain  the  shell,  bruised  herbs,  ferruginous  earth  and  water  are 
mixed  and  poured  in  until  it  is  full.  Then  they  draw  with  a 
piece  of  hard  wood  or  stone  on  the  outside  of  the  calabash, 
rhombs,  stars,  circles,  waves,  &c.  After  the  colouring  matter  has 
remained  within  three  or  four  days,  they  are  put  in  an  oven  and 
baked.  When  they  are  taken  out,  the  figures  appear  in  brown 
or  black  on  the  outside,  while  those  places  where  the  outer  skin 
had  not  been  broken  retain  their  natural  bright  yellow  colour. 
The  dye  is  emptied  out  and  the  calabash  dried  in  the  sun ;  the 
whole  of  the  outside  appears  perfectly  smooth  and  shining,  while 
the  coloured  figures  remain  indelible. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  a  better  example  of  the  specialisation 
going  on  throughout  all  history  of  men  in  all  grades,  operated 
upon  by  the  resources  at  hand  and  yet  developing  the  local  or 
tribal  technique. 

"The  split-cane  of  the  Rotang   (Calamus  secundiflorus)    is 


350  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

buried  in  the  leaf-mould  in  the  bottoms  of  brooks  by  the  Niam 
Niam  until  it  becomes  thoroughly  blackened.  This  dyed  material, 
mixed  with  the  splints  of  the  natural  colour,  is  wrought  into  all 
sorts  of  geometric  patterns."  The  Indians  of  Washington  State 
and  Oregon  have  discovered  the  very  same  fact,  and  use  splints 
of  root,  or  sprouts,  or  straws,  blackened  in  the  same  fashion. 
The  Indian  women  bury  the  split  roots  of  the  spruce  in  marshes 
to  get  the  dark-brown  splints  for  basketry. 

The  Andamanese  paint  in  water  and  in  oil  colours.  White 
clay  mixed  in  water  is  daintily  laid  on  the  body  as  well  as  on  bows, 
baskets,  buckets,  trays,  &c.  This  work  is  done  by  women.  Oil 
colours  are  made  by  mixing  ochres  with  fat  of  pig,  turtle,  iguana, 
dugong,  oil  of  almond,  &c.  It  is  applied  to  the  person  as  orna- 
ment or  otherwise. 

Finally,  the  whetstone  and  the  grindstone  must  find  a  place 
in  the  tool-chest  of  the  primitive  man.  And  they  are  abundant. 
Constant  reports  are  sent  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution  of  the 
finding  of  huge  masses  of  sand-rock  whose  surfaces  show  marks 
of  constant  use  as  grindstones.  When  it  is  remembered  that 
every  edged  tool  of  stone  has  been  many  times  ground,  the 
number  of  these  implements  reported  will  not  appear  astonish- 
ing. The  whetstone  is  only  a  portable  grindstone,  and  those 
gathered  in  museums  show  by  their  surfaces  and  grooves  what 
a  variety  of  uses  they  have  served. 

Whetstones  are  found  in  shell-heaps,  graves,  and  mounds  all 
over  the  earth,  and  they  are  of  the  best  material  the  locality  af- 
fords. They  are  an  empirical  result  of  the  highest  order.  Among 
modern  savages  the  whetstone  is  universal.  In  its  ancient  forms 
the  great  variety  of  grooves  and  worn  places  testify  to  the  many 
kinds  of  implements  to  which  they  once  gave  point  and  edge. 
The  Eskimo  collections  of  our  museums  abound  in  good  hones. 
The  Andamanese  wood-worker  holds  the  blade  of  his  adze  over 
the  inner  side  of  his  left  foot  and  renews  the  edge  with  his  hone. 
Many  of  the  stone  axes  and  hammers  seen  in  collections  show 
marks  of  having  also  been  used  as  grindstones. 

An  implement  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the  early  history 
of  mankind,  universal  in  its  use,  found  on  ancient  camp  sites 
everywhere,  is  the  hammer  stone.  It  will  be  minutely  studied  in 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  351 

the  chapter  on  stone-working.  It  seems  strange  that  with  all  the 
ingenuity  that  our  race  can  exercise  it  is  yet  necessary  to  abrade 
granite  in  the  same  way  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  are  repre- 
sented as  doing  it,  in  the  same  way  that  primitive  man  did  it, 
namely,  by  pecking  and  battering  away  the  surface  a  few  grains 
at  a  time. 

But  every  man  and  woman  in  savagery  needs  a  hammer,  each 
in  their  several  industries.  The  Indian  women  of  North  America 
with  hammers  of  stone  break  dry  wood  for  fires,  crush  bones 
to  extract  the  marrow,  pound  dried  meat  into  meal  for  pemmican, 
drive  down  pegs  for  setting  the  tent,  beat  the  hides  of  animals 
to  make  them  pliable.  In  this  last  operation  they  are  imitated 
all  over  the  tropical  world  by  their  sisters  who  hammer  cloth 
out  of  the  bark  of  trees. 

The  savage  man  uses  his  great  hammers  in  driving  wedges, 
in  breaking  off  stone  in  the  quarry,  in  mining,  and  as  a  pestle 
in  pulverising  various  materials. 

The  North-west  Coast  Indians  use  a  very  graceful  hammer, 
which  is  grasped  in  the  middle  like  a  dumb-bell.  The  pounding 
end  is  flattened  out,  while  the  other  extremity  is  usually  orna- 
mented by  carving.  Ha f ted  hammers  are  common  in  Eskimo 
land,  in  the  canoe  region  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  in  the  buffalo 
country,  each  region  adopting  a  characteristic  method  depending 
on  the  work  to  be  done  and  upon  the  natural  resources. 

Prehistoric  hammers  and  hammer  heads  are  among  the 
commonest  objects  in  collections.  Those  that  are  used  as  mill- 
stones or  pestles  are  described  in  the  proper  place.  The  object 
in  each  case,  whether  with  paint  or  with  foodstuffs,  is  to  crush 
and  to  pulverise  without  mixing  any  of  the  detritus  of  the  appa- 
ratus with  the  product.  The  stone-chipping  and  flaking  tools, 
developed  in  savagery  and  almost  lost  in  modern  times,  save  by 
the  glazier  and  the  gun-flint  maker,  will  be  described  particularly 
in  the  chapter  on  stone  working. 

The  making  of  holes  by  means  of  a  punch  struck  by  another 
body  is  the  product  of  the  metallic  age.  The  African  smith  is 
not  only  acquainted  with  the  art  of  engraving  on  the  surface  of 
his  knives  and  assegais  with  punches,  but  he  also  makes  holes 
by  the  same  process.  The  other  savages  of  the  world  do  not 


352  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

perforate  in  this  manner,  but  employ  such  tools  as  the  needle  or 
awl,  thrust  through  soft  substances;  the  hand  perforator,  work- 
ing like  a  reamer  or  a  gimlet,  and  the  drill  operated  by  a  string 
in  a  reciprocating  motion. 

There  is  no  end  to  the  sharp-pointed  tools  employed  by  both 
sexes  among  lowly  peoples.  They  use  them  for  sewing  clothing, 
tents,  utensils,  for  making  basketry  and  other  textiles.  They 
have  little  stilettoes  or  prickers  of  bone  no  bigger  than  a  needle, 
and  others  as  strong  as  a  marlinspike.  Each  one  is  a  device 
exactly  adapted  and  studied  out  for  its  work,  so  that  the  archae- 
ologist, finding  a  similar  implement  in  some  ancient  debris,  at 
once  begins  to  set  up  in  his  mind  the  industrial  life  of  a  departed 
people. 

With  the  two  palms  a  drill  is  rotated  after  the  fashion  of  the 
cook  in  mulling  chocolate.  It  consists  of  two  parts,  a  shaft  of 
wood,  with  a  point  of  hard  substance  lashed  to  the  lower  end. 
A  beautiful  specimen  of  this  sort  is  in  the  United  States  National 
Museum,  with  a  delicate  point  of  the  Alaskan  jade.  This  would 
be  capable  of  boring  almost  any  stone  object. 

From  this  form,  having  a  point  fastened  at  the  end  of  a  shaft, 
have  been  invented  the  bow-drill,  the  two-handed  strap-drill,  the 
pump-drill,  and  the  top-drill.  The  distribution  of  these  three 
forms  of  drills  is  discussed  under  the  chapter  on  fire.  The  same 
method  of  changing  vertical  or  horizontal  motion  into  rotary 
motion  would  be  available  alike  in  creating  fire  as  in  boring  holes. 
Mr.  Hough,  who  has  studied  the  fire  problem  thoroughly,  is 
decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  the  mechanical  drill  is  older  than 
the  fire  drill — in  short,  that  the  heat  developed  in  boring  holes 
led  up  to  the  creation  of  heat  by  this  means. 

The  Samoan  drill,  used  in  boring  the  pearl-shell  shanks  of 
fish-hooks,  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  pump-drill  used  by  the 
Pueblo  Indians  of  the  United  States.  In  the  Samoan  example 
the  crossbar  or  handle  does  not  seem  to  have  been  perforated 
for  the  shaft. 

The  Hawaiians  were  acquainted  with  the  rotary  drill  for 
boring.  In  the  island  of  Lombok  Wallace  saw  the  primitive  gun- 
smith at  his  work. 

"An  open  shed  with  a  couple  of  small  mud  forges  were  the 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  353 

chief  objects  visible.  The  bellows  consisted  of  two  bamboo 
cylinders,  with  pistons  worked  by  hand,  having  a  loose  stuffing  of 
feathers  thickly  set  round  the  piston,  so  as  to  act  as  a  valve. 
An  oblong  piece  of  iron  on  the  ground  was  the  anvil,  and  a  small 
vice  was  set  on  the  projecting  root  of  a  tree  outside.  The  appa- 
ratus for  boring  the  barrels  was  a  strong  bamboo  basket,  sphe- 
roidal in  shape,  through  the  bottom  of  which  was  stuck  upright 
a  pole  about  three  feet  long,  kept  in  its  place  by  a  few  sticks  tied 
across  the  top  with  rattans.  The  bottom  of  the  pole  had  an  iron 
ferrule  and  a  hole  in  which  four-cornered  borers  of  hardened 
iron  can  be  fitted.  The  barrel  to  be  bored  is  buried  upright  in  the 
ground,  the  borer  is  inserted  into  it,  the  top  of  the  vertical  shaft 
is  held  by  a  cross-piece  of  bamboo  with  a  hole  in  it,  and  the  basket 
is  filled  with  stones  to  get  the  required  weight.  Two  boys  turn 
the  bamboo  around.  The  barrels  are  made  in  pieces  about 
eighteen  inches  long,  which  are  first  bored  small,  then  welded 
together  upon  a  straight  iron  rod." 

The  last  type  of  common  tools  whose  evolution  commenced 
with  early  man  to  be  mentioned  here  is  the  series  of  gripping 
implements.  Tongs,  pincers,  vices,  and  all  such  things  are  repre- 
sented in  the  aboriginal  tool  chest.  All  these  devices  are  tem- 
porary expedients  for  holding  two  or  more  objects  firmly  to- 
gether until  they  can  be  made  fast  by  sewing  or  lashing,  or  they 
are  designed  for  holding  on  to  hot  objects  or  small  objects  while 
they  are  being  wrought.  The  words  "vice,"  "tongs,"  "nippers" 
cover  the  three  classes. 

In  the  collection  brought  home  by  E.  W.  Nelson  from  Alaska 
there  is  a  very  primitive  vice  just  as  effective  for  the  work  in 
hand  as  one  made  with  a  screw  would  be.  The  woodworker  is 
about  to  make  a  dipper  out  of  a  thin  spruce  board.  He  rolls 
one  end  of  the  board  into  a  cylinder  after  thoroughly  boiling  it, 
leaving  six  inches  of  the  other  end  still  free  and  unbent  to  be 
fashioned  into  a  handle.  To  hold  the  bent  end  fast  and  tight  to 
the  part  of  the  board  against  which  it  rests  until  it  could  be 
secured  by  sewing  with  whalebone  or  tough  fibre,  two  sticks  a 
little  longer  than  the  board  is  wide  or  the  cup  is  deep  are  laid 
parallel  to  each  other,  one  without  and  one  within  the  cylinder, 
and  their  projecting  ends  tightly  lashed  together  with  fine,  wet 


354  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

spruce  root.  In  drying  the  root  contracts  and  holds  the  surfaces 
together  water-tight.  A  block  of  wood  is  then  fastened  in  one 
end  of  the  cylinder  with  wooden  pegs,  and  the  dipper  is  com- 
pleted. Several  pieces  that  are  in  the  United  States  National 
Museum  have  been  made  in  the  same  fashion,  and  doubtless  with 
a  vice  as  crude  and  effective  as  Mr.  Nelson's  specimen.  The 
capability  of  raw-hide  and  sinew  for  shrinking  and  holding 
things  together  so  that  they  could  not  budge  was  well  known  and 
constantly  utilised  all  over  North  America.  These  and  other 
savages  also  knew  that  twisting  a  cable  shortened  the  length 
and  served  as  a  press. 

The  Bongo  smith  uses  a  smooth  gneiss  boulder  for  his  anvil, 
another  smaller  one  for  a  hammer,  with  the  cunning  hand  of  the 
operator  for  a  handle.  For  pincers  he  splits  the  end  of  a  stick 
of  green  wood,  seizes  the  hot  mass  between  the  jaws,  and  holds 
them  firmly  together  by  an  iron  ring  slipped  along  the  stick. 
The  same  tongs  are  mentioned  by  Speke  among  the  Wanyamuesi. 

In  the  enumeration  of  the  chest  of  tools  belonging  to  savages 
we  must  not  omit  the  teeth,  which  among  seamstresses  and  other 
craft  people  could  not  be  dispensed  with.  Every  osteologist  has 
noticed  how  the  teeth  in  the  crania  of  savages  are  worn  to  the 
socket,  and  we  are  frequently  told  that  this  arises  from  the  large 
quantity  of  sand  in  the  food.  Basket-makers  all  the  world  over 
use  their  teeth  in  peeling  and  cutting  their  strands  or  filaments, 
and  the  Eskimo  boot-maker  uses  her  jaws  for  crimping  irons. 
Whoever  has  seen  an  Eskimo  boot  neatly  puckered  all  around 
the  edge  of  the  sole  will  not  be  surprised  at  the  brevity  of  the 
good  woman's  teeth  when  he  comes  across  her  skull  in  the 
museum. 

An  original  and  very  simple  press  is  found  among  the  Haida 
of  Queen  Charlotte  Sound.  Bancroft  says,  "After  a  sufficient 
supply  of  solid  food  for  the  winter  is  secured,  oil,  the  great  heat- 
producing  element  of  all  northern  tribes,  is  extracted  from  the 
additional  catch,  by  boiling  the  fish  in  wooden  vessels,  and  skim- 
ming the  grease  from  the  water  or  squeezing  from  the  refuse. 
The  arms  and  breasts  of  the  women  are  the  natural  press  in 
which  the  mass,  wrapped  in  mats,  is  hugged.  The  hollow  stalks 
of  an  abundant  seaweed  furnish  the  natural  bottles  in  which  the 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  355 

oil  is  preserved  for  use  as  sauce,  and  into  which  nearly  every- 
thing is  dipped  before  eating. 

The  subject  of  the  knots  used  by  savages  would  require  a 
book.  The  arrow-maker,  to  begin  with,  has  great  faith  in  tuck- 
ing the  ends  under.  So  has  every  implement  user  who  desires 
to  separate  the  parts  readily.  The  manipulator  holds  his  left 
thumb  on  the  end  of  a  string,  and  in  wrapping  simply  covers  up 
this  end.  At  the  finish  the  last  end  is  tucked  under  and  con- 
cealed so  as  seldom  to  get  loose.  The  different  hitches  and  knots 
of  the  sailor  are  all  well  known  to  the  uncivilised.  On  Polynesian 
spears  and  nets  will  be  observed  the  whole  series  of  ties  that 
one  would  see  on  a  ship. 

The  Arctic  peoples  have  developed  an  entire  series  of  tools 
and  implements  that  have  been  made  to  take  specialised  forms 
by  reason  of  the  snow  and  ice.  They  put  diminutive  snow-shoes 
on  the  bottoms  of  the  long  staves  which  they  use  for  canes  or 
alpenstocks.  From  huge  plates  of  bone  taken  from  the  scapula 
or  the  jawbone  of  the  whale,  or  from  slabs  which  they  split 
from  driftwood,  they  construct  shovels,  lining  the  cutting  edge 
with  thin  plates  of  walrus  ivory.  To  the  back  a  handle  is  securely 
lashed  by  means  of  raw-hide.  This  is  for  removing  the  soft 
snow.  But  against  the  hard  ice  and  frozen  snow  they  have  also 
a  remedy  in  the  form  of  a  pick  of  walrus  tusk.  This  may  be 
lashed  to  a  straight  handle  to  form  a  crowbar,  or  at  an  angle  to 
constitute  a  pickaxe.  These  are  held  to  the  handle  by  walrus 
hide  as  tight  as  a  tire  on  a  wheel  by  wrapping  when  the  skin  is 
green.  The  shrinking  binds  the  parts  so  tightly  together  that 
the  whole  tusk  of  a  huge  walrus  is  worn  quite  out  before  the 
lashing  comes  loose. 

They  make  tiny  scoops  and  strainers  for  dipping  the  broken 
ice  from  a  seal  hole,  and  paper-knife  clothes  whisks  to  scrape  the 
snow  from  clothing.  The  eyes  are  protected  by  snow  goggles, 
which  are  cups  of  wood  with  narrow  slits  cut  across  the  bottoms 
and  inverted  over  the  eyes.  At  once  these  devices  keep  the  annoy- 
ing snowdrift  out  of  the  eyes,  and  prevent  the  brilliant  reflection 
of  the  snow  from  blinding  the  hunter.  They  put  under  their 
boots  ice  creepers  also  made  of  ivory,  and  precisely  similar  to 
those  worn  in  Europe.  The  trowel  for  cutting  out  blocks  of 


356  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

snow  and  building  up  the  cunning,  dome-shaped  habitations  must 
not  be  overlooked.  ' 

Having  to  do  his  work  with  gloved  hands,  the  Eskimo  has 
thought  out  an  ingenious  series  of  toggles,  swivels,  detachers, 
"frogs,"  buttons,  any  one  of  which  will  do  its  work,  and  some  of 
them  enable  the  hunter  to  make  fast  and  cast  loose  frozen  lines 
after  a  whole  day's  drive.  He  also  has  an  ingenious  wrench  for 
winding  up  his  sinew-backed  bow. 

It  is  time  to  turn  to  the  primitive  knowledge  of  mechanics. 
By  the  mechanical  powers  is  meant  that  series  of  devices  which 
enables  one  man  to  do  the  work  of  several  by  the  interchange 
of  time  and  direction  and  momentum,  namely,  the  inclined  plane, 
the  wedge,  the  lever,  the  wheel  and  axle,  the  pulley,  and  the 
screw.  One  does  not  expect  to  find  all  of  these  full  fledged  in 
the  lowest  savagery,  but  the  intimations  of  them  all  are  to  be 
looked  for  among  very  primitive  folk.  It  is  not  true  that  any 
mechanical  power  has  been  lost.  The  great  engineering  feats 
of  the  megalithic  epoch  were  performed  with  powers  well  known 
in  our  day,  acting  through  co-operation. 

The  screw,  the  pulley,  and  the  wheel  and  axle,  are  known  to 
savages  only  in  a  very  rudimentary  way.  Dr.  Boas  represents  a 
plug  used  by  the  Baffin  Land  Eskimo  to  thrust  into  a  spear  wound 
on  a  seal  to  prevent  the  escape  of  blood.  A  sort  of  "thread"  is 
cut  on  this  wooden  plug,  and  if  the  object  be  entirely  a  product 
of  native  thought,  is  the  most  primitive  example  of  the  screw. 

The  Eskimo  also  approached  a  knowledge  of  the  power  of 
the  screw  in  the  tightening  apparatus  on  the  back  of  their  bows 
and  in  their  wolf  traps.  They  know  that  tremendous  power  was 
accumulated  by  winding  a  cable  of  sinew  by  means  of  a  lever. 
A  very  ingenious  device,  involving  the  lever  of  the  third  kind, 
and  coming  as  near  to  the  screw  as  we  shall  be  able  to  find  in 
savagery,  is  the  cassava  strainer  of  the  Guiana  Indians.  After 
the  roots  are  ground  or  grated,  the  pulp  is  placed  in  a  long 
woven  bag  or  cylinder,  in  which  the  warp  and  weft  of  tough 
splints  run  spirally  and  diagonally,  so  that  when  the  two  ends  are 
forced  together  the  cylinder  becomes  short  and  wide,  and  when 
they  are  pulled  apart,  it  becomes  long  and  slender.  As  soon  as 
the  squeezer  is  drawn  into  its  shortest  length  and  filled  with  pulp, 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  357 

one  end  is  suspended  from  a  tree  overhead,  and  one  end  of  a 
log  of  wood  is  thrust  through  the  lower  loop  of  the  squeezer, 
the  other  extremity  of  the  log  resting  on  the  ground.  The  woman 
then  sits  on  the  log,  and  by  her  weight  gradually  elongates  the 
bag  and  squeezes  the  poisonous  juice  out  of  the  mixture,  the 
interstices  in  the  woven  fabric  of  the  press  acting  at  the  same 
time  as  a  sieve.  These  cassava  squeezers  are  to  be  seen  in  most 
museums,  together  with  the  graters,  which  are  nothing  more 
than  flat  blocks  of  wood  into  whose  surfaces  little  bits  of  flinty 
rock  have  been  firmly  set.  The  whole  apparatus  is  entirely 
aboriginal,  and  the  basket  work  of  the  press  constructed  with 
exceeding  neatness  and  skill. 

The  pulley  may  exist,  and  did  primarily  exist,  without  the 
wheel,  in  the  form  of  the  "dead-eye."  Any  line  drawn  around 
a  fixed  object,  as  a  tree,  and  pulled  in  one  direction  for  the  pur- 
pose of  moving  an  object  in  another  direction,  involves  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  simple  pulley.  All  savages  know  this  device,  both  for 
hoisting  and  for  horizontal  work. 

The  Eskimo  have  gone  beyond  that,  and  know  how,  by  means 
of  a  long  line,  to  construct  a  compound  pulley  and  draw  from 
the  water  the  carcase  of  immense  sea  mammals. 

The  nearest  approach  to  a  pulley  among  the  American 
Indians  is  the  woman's  device  for  drawing  the  skin  covering  to 
the  top  of  the  tent  poles.  When  the  women  are  ready  to  set  up 
the  tepee,  they  spread  the  covering  out  on  the  ground.  Three 
poles  are  thrust  under  the  covering,  their  small  ends  passing 
through  the  orifice  and  being  loosely  fastened  together.  A  raw- 
hide line  is  made  fast  to  the  upper  part  of  the  tent,  and  passed 
over  the  juncture  of  the  poles,  which  are  then  stood  upright. 
The  tent  is  hauled  up  to  the  top,  the  bottoms  of  the  poles  are 
spread  out,  other  poles  are  inserted,  and  the  covering  is  stretched. 
When  about  to  strike,  the  same  apparatus  lets  the  cover  down. 

"In  Central  Syria  and  Philistia,  for  raising  water,  a  large 
buffalo-skin  is  so  attached  to  cords  that,  when  let  down  into  the 
well,  it  opens  and  is  instantly  filled;  and  being  drawn  up,  it 
closes  so  as  to  retain  the  water.  The  rope  by  which  it  is  hoisted 
to  the  top  works  over  a  wheel,  and  is  drawn  by  oxen,  mules,  or 
camels,  that  walk  directly  from  the  well  to  the  length  of  the  rope 


358  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  return,  only  to  repeat  the  operation  until  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  water  is  raised."  It  is  very  easy  to  imagine  this  wheel  to  be 
either  a  sheave,  a  roller,  or  a  fixed  beam,  one  becoming  the  other 
by  the  law  of  eurematics.  The  origin  of  the  wheel  is  not  made 
out.  The  precise  mechanism  of  those  we  do  see  on  Egyptian, 
Assyrian,  and  Grecian  chariots  and  waggons  is  not  clear  to  the 
minds  of  modern  wheelwrights.  The  other  wheel,  used  as  a 
mechanical  convenience  in  changing  the  direction  of  a  force  or  as 
a  mechanical  power,  is  still  more  difficult  to  follow  up. 

The  roller  is  older  than  the  wheel.  One  day,  Mr.  Henry 
Elliott  came  near  catching  a  company  of  men  inventing  the  roller. 
A  crew  of  Eskimo  rowed  to  a  gravelly  beach  in  one  of  their  skin 
canoes.  The  craft  was  heavily  laden,  and  they  had  either  to  get 
into  cold  water,  to  lift  all  the  freight  ashore  and  then  carry  the 
boat  so  that  the  gravels  would  not  cut  the  very  thin  and  delicate 
sealskin  bottom,  or  they  had  to  set  their  wits  to  work.  As  on 
many  another  occasion  the  inventive  spirit  predominated,  and 
they  placed  a  row  of  inflated  seal-skin  floats  in  front  of  the  umiak, 
and  rolled  her  high  and  dry  up  on  the  beach  by  this  means.  The 
very  recent  adoption  of  the  pneumatic  tire  on  bicycles  and  racing 
sulkies,  after  this  explanation  may  leave  the  impression  that 
Solomon  was  not  altogether  wrong  when  he  said,  "There  is  no 
new  thing  under  the  sun." 

Long  before  the  roller  was  invented,  the  pole  road  afforded 
an  easy  and  slippery  method  of  conveyance.  Im  Thurn  describes 
the  portage  of  a  boat  in  the  interior  of  Guiana.  "We  were 
obliged  to  carry  our  boat  across  the  portage,  which  is  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  long,  up  and  then  down  a  very  considerable 
hill.  Our  men  laid  rollers  all  along  the  path,  then  harnessed  them- 
selves by  a  rope  attached  to  the  bows  of  the  boat,  and  drew  her 
merrily  over  in  a  very  short  time."  The  same  method  is  in  vogue 
in  all  mountainous  countries  for  getting  logs  down  to  the  level, 
and  Robinson  Crusoe  would  not  have  been  compelled  to  dig 
canals  if  Daniel  Defoe  had  been  a  South  American  Indian. 

The  windlass,  the  capstan,  the  winch,  are  modern  appliances 
to  convert  time  and  momentum.  The  ancient  engineers  had 
rollers  and  chutes  and  greased  ways.  Even  in  savagery  they 
could  remove  very  heavy  logs  to  the  seaside,  and  stones  weighing 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  359 

hundreds  of  tons  were  brought  to  the  places  where  they  were  to 
be  set  up.  Co-operation  in  great  labour  took  the  place  of  inven- 
tion ;  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  working  together  was 
an  invention  in  social  order  of  the  highest  value. 

The  inclined  plane  is  found  everywhere  in  ancient  and  modern 
engineering.  The  Pacific  Coast  Indians,  in  erecting  their  totem 
posts,  and  in  laying  up  great  crossbeams,  use  skids,  guys,  shore 
poles,  and  the  parbuckle,  besides  their  own  main  strength.  In 
Africa,  Corea,  and  in  North-western  United  States,  the  porters 
draw  their  loads  up  on  their  backs  by  a  strap  which  also  acts  as 
a  parbuckle. 

The  lever  and  the  wedge  are  well-known  devices  to  savages. 
It  has  been  previously  mentioned  that  with  wedges  the  Cali- 
fornia Indians  felled  trees,  the  British  Columbia  Indians  split 
out  immense  planks,  the  metallurgists  broke  off  masses  of  ore, 
and  the  engineer  lifted  great  weights.  The  wedge  was  also 
understood  in  tightening  the  lashing  of  haftings,  and  in  working 
clamps  for  holding  objects  together. 

"I  was  interested,"  says  Sir  Samuel  Baker,  "in  the  mechanical 
contrivance  of  the  Lobore  for  detaching  the  heavy  metal  anklets, 
which,  when  hammered  firmly  together,  appeared  to  be  hopelessly 
fixed  in  the  absence  of  a  file.  The  man  from  whose  ankle  the 
ring  was  to  be  detached  sat  on  the  ground.  A  stick  of  hard, 
unyielding  wood  was  thrust  through  the  ring,  and  both  of  its 
ends  rested  on  the  ground.  A  man  stood  on  one  end,  and  a  stone 
was  placed  on  the  other  end  of  this  bottom  stick.  A  lever  of 
tough  wood  rested  on  the  top  of  this  stone  as  a  fulcrum,  one  end 
passing  through  the  ring.  When  the  long  arm  was  pressed 
down,  it  opened  the  jaws  of  the  manacle,  and  released  the  man's 
foot. 

That  system  of  counting  and  weighing  and  measuring,  which 
lies  at  the  basis  of  all  tool-using,  now  demands  our  serious  atten- 
tion. To  begin  with,  the  sense  of  number  is  universal,  and  is 
found  in  a  rudimentary  state  among  the  animals,  but  they  have 
no  notation  nor  any  mechanical  invention  for  recording  numbers. 
Most  of  the  tribes  of  men  have  adopted  the  quinary  notation. 
But  the  only  numerals  in  use  among  the  Andamanese  are  those 
denoting  "one"  and  "two,"  and  they  have  no  word  to  express 


360  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

specifically  any  higher  figures,  but  they  indulge  in  some  such 
vague  terms  as  "several,"  "many,"  "numerous." 

Among  the  North  American  savages  the  universal  method 
of  keeping  account  was  by  means  of  tally  sticks  or  shells  or  stones 
or  notches,  one  for  each  unit  being  laid  away  or  kept  after  some 
fashion.  In  the  United  States  National  Museum  is  an  old  census 
of  a  tribe  of  Comanohes.  It  is  simply  a  collection  of  bundles  of 
straws,  one  for  men,  one  for  women,  and  one  for  children. 
Besides  this  example  are  many  bundles  of  gambler's  counters, 
which  are  simply  short  sticks  tied  together.  One  of  the  most 
charming  things  Mr.  Wallace  ever  wrote  is  telling  how  the 
rajah  of  Lombok  took  the  census. 

Memory-helping  devices  for  numbers,  such  as  notched  sticks 
or  knotted  strings,  have  a  wide  distribution.  The  message-sticks 
of  Australia,  the  rush  of  the  Pelew  Islands,  had  their  counter 
parts  everywhere.  The  Maoris,  says  Tregear,  used  notched  pieces 
of  wood  for  this  purpose,  specially  for  recording  genealogies. 
In  China,  the  invention  of  memorising  by  knotted  cords  is  attrib- 
uted to  the  Emperor  Luy-jin.  Turner  in  his  account  of  Nui 
(Ellice  Group)  says,  "Tying  a  number  of  knots  on  a  piece  of 
cord  was-  a  common  way  of  noting  and  remembering  things 
among  the  South  Sea  Islanders."  In  Hawaii  the  tax-gatherers, 
although  they  can  neither  read  nor  write,  keep  very  exact  accounts 
of  all  the  articles  of  all  kinds  collected  from  the  inhabitants 
throughout  the  island.  This  is  done  by  one  man;  the  register 
is  a  line  of  cordage,  distinct  portions  of  which  are  allotted  to 
various  districts,  which  are  known  from  one  another  by  knots, 
loops,  and  tufts  of  different  shapes,  sizes,  and  colours.  Each 
taxpayer  has  his  part  in  this  string,  and  the  number  of  dogs, 
hogs,  pieces  of  sandalwood,  &c.,  he  has  to  furnish  is  well  defined." 

In  every  patent  office  there  is  an  examiner  of  instruments  of 
precision.  The  very  mention  of  a  standard  yard  or  metre,  of 
square  feet  or  acres,  of  cubic  inches  or  centimetres,  of  delicate 
balances  and  platform  scales,  of  gallons  or  bushels,  of  degrees 
and  their  subdivisions,  of  clocks  and  chronometers  and  calendars, 
of  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  awakens  in  the  mind  a  conscious- 
ness of  the  nicety  with  which  things  are  measured  or  weighed 
or  paid  for  in  our  times.  Only  the  astronomer,  the  chemist,  the 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  361 

physicist,  the  microscopist,  the  great  banking  houses,  know  to 
what  a  degree  of  finesse  all  of  these  devices  for  getting  the 
correct  figures  have  attained.  It  will  be  interesting  to  note  how, 
in  the  earliest  industries  the  places  of  all  these  diversified  measur- 
ing apparatus  were  filled.  The  correct  metric  or  chronometric 
data  within  the  exigencies  of  each  tribal  life  will  give  a  fair 
idea  of  the  status  of  that  tribe.  It  is  well  known  that  the  history 
of  navigation  is  almost  the  history  of  clocks,  that  speed  in  trains 
is  allied  to  red  glass  and  signalling,  that  the  accuracy  of  the 
cubit  is  the  gauge  of  the  quality  of  ancient  architecture,  and,  in 
a  general  way,  the  history  of  metrology  is  the  history  of  civilisa- 
tion. A  separate  book  on  this  subject  would  be  worthy  of  prepa- 
ration, only  the  data  are  so  meagre. 

Metric  apparatus  and  instruments  of  precision  include  all 
devices  covered  by  what  in  the  school  arithmetics  is  denominated 
"tables  of  weights  and  measures."  The  measuring  appliances 
involved,  and  their  numerical  values  in  different  ages  constitute 
the  science  of  metrology.  This  alone  has  had  a  very  interesting 
elaboration.  The  lowest  peoples  have  their  standards  of  measur- 
ing and  comparing  quantity.  Out  of  these  have  grown  the 
modern  processes. 

The  scale  or  balance  was  known  in  America  before  the  Dis- 
covery. The  Peruvians  made  beams  of  bone,  suspended  little 
nets  to  each  end,  supported  the  beam  at  the  middle  by  means  of  a 
cord,  and  used  stones  for  weights.  The  transition  from  the 
balance  to  the  "steelyard"  is  not  easy  to  make  out. 

The  standards  of  compound  arithmetic  were  very  low  among 
the  Andamanese.  About  forty  pounds  was  a  man's  load,  and 
anything  above  that  would  simply  be  more  than  a  man's  load. 
Size  was  rated  by  well-known  natural  objects,  seeds,  fruits,  nuts, 
&c.  Capacity  was  counted  by  handfuls,  basket fuls,  bucket fuls, 
canoe fuls.  There  is  no  prescribed  form  or  dimensions  for  any 
object.  No  tallies  were  kept  nor  counters,  and  this  is  very  low 
down,  because  all  American  tribes  knew  the  use  of  tallies.  Dis- 
tance was  spoken  of  as  a  bowshot,  or  as  from  there  to  there, 
indicating  the  limits.  Fifteen  miles,  about,  was  a  day's  journey, 
and  over  that  was  said  to  "exceed  a  day's  journey." 

Those  ancient  manufacturers  and  builders  had  no  government 


362  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

standards  of  measuring  their  work,  but  referred  everything  to 
their  bodies.  This  system  wa»  far  more  accurate  among  rude 
peoples,  where  anthropometric  differences  between  the  sexes  and 
between  individuals  were  very  slight.  Many  witnesses  confirm 
the  opinion  that  every  weapon,  or  chunkey  pole,  had  its  propor- 
tion to  the  owner.  Dr.  Matthews  says  that  the  Navajo  pole  for 
the  Great  Hoop  Game  was  twice  the  span  long,  and  Mr.  Dorsey 
found  that  the  Omaha  arrow  had  to  measure  from  the  inner 
angle  of  the  elbow  to  the  tip  of  the  middle  finger,  and  thence 
over  the  back  of  the  hand  to  the  wrist-bone.  I  have  examined 
many  hundreds  of  quivers,  and  have  always  found  the  arrows  to 
be  of  the  same  length,  while  those  of  the  tribe  resemble  in  general 
appearance,  but  vary  slightly  in  length  for  each  man.  Dr.  Dorsey 
found  the  Naltunne,  on  Siletz  Agency,  in  Oregon,  using  the 
double  arm's  length,  the  single  arm's  length,  half  the  span,  the 
cubit,  the  half  cubit,  the  hand  length,  the  hand  width,  the  finger 
width  (i,  2,  3,  4,  5),  from  the  tip  of  the  elbow  across  the  body 
to  the  end  of  the  middle  finger  of  the  other  hand.  In  most  of 
these  cases  the  starting-point  is  the  meeting  of  the  tips  of  the 
thumb  and  index  finger. 

Among  the  Aztec  or  Nahuatl  and  the  Maya,  the  two  most 
cultivated  stocks  of  North  American  aborigines,  Brinton  finds 
no  words  for  estimating  quantity  by  gravity,  no  weighing  terms. 
For  extension  the  human  body  and,  largely,  the  hand  and  the 
foot  furnished  standards  of  measuring.  Among  the  Mayas  the 
footstep  or  print  or  length  of  the  foot  was  very  familiar,  and 
frequently  in  use  by  artisans,  as  well  as  the  pace  or  stride. 

Quite  a  series  of  measures  were  recognised  from  the  ground 
to  the  upper  portions  of  the  body,  to  the  ankle,  to  the  upper  por- 
tion of  the  calf,  to  the  knee-cap,  to  the  girdle,  to  the  ribs  or  chest, 
to  the  mammae,  to  the  neck,  to  the  mouth,  to  the  vertex.  Other 
measures  were  the  hand,  finger-breadths,  the  span,  half  around 
the  hand,  as  in  measuring  for  a  glove,  the  cubit,  the  fathom. 
Journeys  were  counted  by  resting-places. 

In  Aztec  metrology,  the  fingers  appear  to  have  been  customary 
measures.  The  span  was  not  like  ours,  from  the  extremity  of 
the  thumb  to  the  extremity  of  the  little  finger,  nor  the  Cakchiquel, 
from  the  extremity  of  the  thumb  to  that  of  the  middle  finger ;  but 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  363 

like  that  now  in  use  among  the  Mayas,  from  the  extremity  of  the 
thumb  to  that  of  the  index  finger.  There  were  four  measures 
from  the  point  of  the  elbow — to  the  wrist  of  the  same  arm,  to  the 
wrist  of  the  opposite  arm,  to  the  ends  of  the  fingers  of  the  same 
arm,  to  the  ends  of  the  opposite  arm,  the  arms  extended  always 
at  right  angles  to  the  body. 

The  Aztec  arm  measures  were  from  the  tip  of  the  shoulder 
to  the  end  of  the  hand ;  from  the  tip  of  the  fingers  of  one  hand 
to  those  of  the  other,  from  the  middle  of  the  breasts  to  the  end 
of  the  fingers.  The  octocatl  or  "ten  foot  pole,"  approximately, 
was  the  standard  of  length  employed  in  laying  out  grounds  and 
constructing  buildings.  The  road  measure  of  the  Aztecs  was 
by  the  stops  of  the  carriers,  as  in  Guatemala.  The  Aztecs  were 
entirely  ignorant  of  balances,  scales,  or  weights.  The  plumb 
line  must  have  been  unknown  to  the  Mexicans  also. 

Federal  money  and  the  metric  system  as  applied  to  the  mech- 
anism of  exchange  are  modern  returns  to  very  primitive  modes 
of  reckoning  values.  The  basis  of  money  is  at  times  a  shell,  a 
bead,  a  robe,  a  skin.  The  purchasing  power  of  the  unit  is  fixed 
in  each  case.  And  among  certain  tribes  there  is  a  table  of  moneys, 
such  as  two  elk  teeth  equal  one  pony,  eight  ponies  equal  one  wife. 
The  principle  involved  does  not  seem  to  be  different  from  that 
of  our  own  standards,  namely,  to  have  some  rare  and  portable 
object  for  standards. 

The  Bongo  make  iron  spade-shaped  disks,  which  represent 
their  coined  money.  The  hoe-and-spade  currency  is  widespread 
in  Africa.  Crosses  of  copper,  and  ingots  of  native  iron  ham- 
mered out  from  nuggets  of  iron  ore  pass  for  currency.  Further- 
more, to  give  to  these  objects  the  further  semblance  of  coinage 
the  manufacturers  put  a  certain  twist  or  mark  on  the  object, 
which  is  in  effect  a  tribal  mark,  and  suggests  the  coins  of  the 
realm.  These  marks  are  not  government  stamps,  however,  and 
they  do  not  raise  the  objects  above  the  rank  of  tokens. 

Although  the  native  canoe-builders  in  the  Louisiade  Archi- 
pelago work  with  adzes  made  of  hoop-iron,  the  payment  for  their 
work  is  made  in  stone  axes,  ten  to  fifty  of  these  being  the  price 
of  a  canoe.  The  stone  axe  is  still  the  accepted  medium  of  ex- 
change in  large  transactions — pigs,  for  instance,  and  wives  are 


364  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

valued  in  that  currency.  It  is  only  fair,  by  the  way,  to  mention 
that  the  purchase  of  a  wife  is  stated  by  the  natives  not  to  be  such 
in  the  ordinary  sense;  the  articles  paid  are,  they  say,  a  present 
to  the  girl's  father.  In  Mowatta,  sisters  are  specially  valued,  as 
they  can  be  interchanged  with  other  men's  sisters  as  wives. 

Almanacks  and  clocks,  how  indispensable  to  all  our  activities ! 
They  were  never  absent  from  human  traffic.  The  Andamanese 
have  natural  calendars,  partly  in  the  sky,  partly  in  nature  around 
them.  Having  no  numeration,  they  did  not  count  the  moons  in 
a  year,  but  noted  the  cool  season,  the  hot  season,  the  rainy  season, 
in  their  proper  order.  The  year  was  also  divided  into  twenty 
minor  seasons,  named  for  the  most  part  after  trees  which  flower- 
ing at  successive  periods,  afford  the  necessary  supply  to  the  honey 
bees.  These  flowers  are  used  to  name  the  children  born  while 
they  are  blooming,  and  these  names,  added  to  the  prenatal  name 
conferred  by  the  parents,  constitute  the  denomination  of  the 
person  until  maturity  or  marriage. 

The  phases  of  the  moon  and  its  connection  with  the  tides 
were  both  designated  by  appropriate  terms.  Of  the  starry  host 
they  take  little  notice,  confining  their  special  observations  to  Orion 
and  the  Milky  Way. 

They  knew  the  four  points  of  the  compass,  and  the  prevailing 
winds  by  name,  and  distinguished  certain  meteorologic  phenom- 
ena. So  much  for  the  calendar. 

As  to  clocks,  they  had  no  mechanical  device  for  marking 
time  of  day,  but  had  thirteen  separate  expressions  for  known 
parts  of  the  twenty-four  hours.  But  these  were  extremely  vague, 
and  the  divisions  over-lapped  one  another.  For  that  matter, 
clocks  and  watches  are  extremely  modern  devices. 

The  day's  journey  is  often  mentioned  as  a  fixed  distance. 
This  is  only  true  within  wide  limits,  and  it  scarcely  ever  exceeds 
ten  miles  for  marching.  "The  Indians,  finding  that  their  wives 
were  so  near  as  to  be  within  one  of  their  ordinary  day's  walk, 
which  seldom  exceeded  ten  or  twelve  miles,  determined  not  to 
rest  till  they  had  joined  them." 

In  these  journeys  the  Canada  Indian  hunters  are  said  to  stand 
a  stick  in  the  snow  and  make  a  mark  along  the  shadow  as  they 
pass  some  well-known  spot.  The  women  and  old  men  coming 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  365 

later  note  the  angle  between  the  former  and  the  present  position 
of  the  shadow,  and  they  are  thereby  enabled  to  regulate  their 
future  speed. 

The  Zuni  Indians  know  well  that  the  light  of  the  rising  sun 
falls  on  the  same  spot  but  two  days  in  the  year,  and  that  at  noon 
the  shadow  of  a  pillar  lengthens  and  then  shortens  back  to  the 
same  spot  in  the  same  period.  They  have  a  pillar  dedicated  to 
astronomical  observations.  On  many  houses  in  the  Pueblo  there 
are  scores  on  the  wall  opposite  windows,  or  loop-holes  for  the 
purpose  of  recording  the  movements  of  the  sun.  There  are  also 
pillars  to  be  seen  in  other  parts  of  the  world  which  could  possibly 
be  dedicated  to  the  same  end,  since  such  a  feat  is  performed 
by  at  least  one  tribe. 

"Each  morning,  just  at  dawn,  the  Sun  priest,  followed  by 
the  master  priest  of  the  Bow,  went  along  the  eastern  trail  to  the 
ruined  city  of  Ma-tsa-ki  by  the  river  side,  where,  awaited  at  a 
distance  by  his  companion,  he  slowly  approached  a  square,  open 
tower,  and  seated  himself  just  inside  upon  a  rude  ancient  stone 
chair,  and  before  a  pillar  sculptured  with  the  face  of  the  sun,  the 
sacred  hand,  the  morning  star,  and  the  new  moon.  There  he 
awaited  with  prayer  and  sacred  song  the  rising  of  the  sun.  Not 
many  such  pilgrimages  are  made  ere  'the  suns  look  at  each  other,' 
and  the  shadows  of  the  solar  monolith,  the  monument  of  Thunder 
Mountain,  and  the  pillar  of  the  gardens  of  Zuni  lie  along  the 
same  trail ;  then  the  priest  blesses,  thanks  and  exhorts  his  father, 
while  the  warrior  guardian  responds  as  he  cuts  the  last  notch 
in  his  pine-wood  calendar,  and  both  hasten  back  to  call  from 
the  housetops  the  glad  tidings  of  the  return  of  spring.  Nor 
may  the  Sun  priest  err  in  his  watch  of  time's  flight;  for  many 
are  the  houses  in  Zuiii  with  scores  on  their  walls  or  ancient  plates 
embedded  therein,  while  opposite  a  convenient  window  or  small 
porthole  lets  in  the  light  of  the  rising  sun,  which  shines  but  two 
mornings  of  the  365  on  the  same  place.  Wonderfully  reliable 
are  these  rude  systems  of  orientation,  by  which  the  religion,  the 
labours,  and  even  the  pastimes  of  the  Zufii  are  regulated." 

In  the  Moki  village  of  Wolpi,  Arizona,  there  are  means  of 
telling  noon  and  midnight.  Fewkes  says :  "When  the  sunlight 
through  the  kibva  [sacred  chamber]  entrance  fell  in  a  certain 


366  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

place  on  the  floor  and  indicated  noon  time  each  of  the  four  priest- 
esses made  a  single  baho,  consisting  of  two  willow  twigs  equal 
in  length  to  the  distance  from  the  centre  of  the  palm  of  the  hand 
to  the  end  of  the  middle  finger."  Again,  "At  12.15  tne  head 
priestess  ascended  the  ladder  and  minutely  examined  from  the 
roof  the  position  of  the  stars.  She  looked  anxiously  for  some 
star  in  the  constellation  of  Orion  or  the  Pleiades,  but  the  stars  she 
sought  were  hidden  by  a  cloud,  and  she  at  last  decided  what  she 
had  in  mind  by  observing  a  bright  star  in  the  western  sky.  Then 
she  went  down  the  ladder  and  announced  that  the  time  had  come 
for  the  midnight  ceremony." 

The  ancient  Polynesians  had  thirteen  months  in  their  year, 
regulated  by  the  moon,  and  once  in  a  while  dropped  out  a  moon. 
They  had  separate  names  for  every  night  in  the  lunation,  and 
twenty-seven  separate  names  for  time  of  day  during  each  twenty- 
four  hours. 

In  the  long  voyages  which  they  undertook  about  six  hundred 
years  ago,  they  made  excellent  use  of  the  stars  both  for  direction 
and  time  of  day.  In  another  chapter  some  mention  will  be  made 
of  fire  as  a  time  measure,  but  the  near  kindred  of  these  Poly- 
nesians anticipated  the  hour-glass  by  boring  a  small  hole  in  the 
bottom  of  a  cocoa-nut  cup,  and  placing  it  in  a  vessel  of  water, 
noting  the  time  it  took  the  cup  to  sink. 

The  reader  well  knows  that  the  primitive  folk  were  good 
meteorologists.  That  they  knew  something  about  natural  ther- 
mometers and  barometers  and  hygrometers  may  be  gathered 
from  the  story  of  Gideon's  fleece.  Mr.  Ling  Roth  contributes 
the  following  charming  bit  from  the  Malay : — "When  the  natives 
of  Borneo  are  selecting  the  site  for  a  new  village  a  piece  of 
bamboo  is  stuck  in  the  ground,  filled  with  water  and  the  aperture 
covered  with  leaves.  A  spear  and  a  shield  are  placed  beside  it, 
and  the  whole  is  surrounded  by  a  rail.  The  latter  is  to  protect  the 
bamboo  from  being  upset  by  wild  animals,  and  the  weapons  are  to 
warn  strangers  not  to  touch  it.  If  there  is  much  evaporation  by 
the  morning  the  place  is  considered  hot  and  unhealthy,  and  is 
abandoned." 

The  evolution  of  machinery  cannot  be  ignored  in  this  con- 
nection. A  machine  in  this  view  is  a  contrivance  for  changing 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  367 

the  direction  and  the  velocity  of  motion  or  force.  It  cannot  create 
force  any  more  than  a  tool  can.  On  the  contrary,  it  consumes 
a  vast  amount  of  force  in  its  own  working.  By  means  of  a  tool 
the  entire  force  exerted  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  material.  The 
machine,  by  the  waste  of  a  portion  of  the  force  enables  the  work- 
man to  apply  his  efforts  more  rapidly,  more  powerfully,  or  in 
ways  unattainable  by  hand. 

All  power  at  first  was  hand-power,  the  machinery  of  the  world 
was  moved  only  by  human  muscles.  In  the  chapter  on  animals 
will  be  treated  the  gradual  enlistment  of  domestic  beasts  in  the 
service  of  man.  Besides  these,  winds  and  water  currents,  vapours 
and  electric  currents  and  chemical  force  have  been  domesticated 
for  human  uses.  The  study  of  these  is  essential  to  a  knowledge 
of  industrial  progress.  Muscular  power  is  the  basis  of  all  power, 
just  as  human  backs  will  be  shown  later  to  be  the  basis  of  the 
carrying  trade. 

The  ZufH  or  Nicobar  woman's  simple  potter's  wheel,  which 
is  nothing  more  than  the  turning  of  her  vessel  about  in  a  dish 
or  basket  as  the  work  goes  on,  is  only  a  little  more  rude  than 
the  fashion  in  the  interior  of  China  of  putting  a  lump  of  clay 
on  the  top  of  a  revolving  shaft,  which  they  turn  with  one  hand 
while  the  pot  is  formed  with  the  other. 

"The  potter's  wheel  was  known  in  the  world  from  high 
antiquity.  The  Egyptian  artisan  turned  the  wheel  by  hand.  The 
Hindu  potter  goes  down  to  the  river-side  when  a  flood  has 
brought  him  a  deposit  of  fine  clay,  when  all  he  has  to  do  is  to 
knead  a  batch  of  it,  stick  up  his  pivot  in  the  ground,  balance 
the  heavy  wooden  table  on  the  top,  give  it  a  spin  and  set  to 
work." 

The  spindle  with  its  whorl  is  a  free  wheel  and  axle,  with  the 
principle  of  the  fly-wheel  fully  developed,  and  the  twister,  well 
known  to  savages,  is  a  still  simpler  fly-wheel.  The  Zuni  Indians 
make  a  block  of  wood  about  8  in.  X  3  in.  X  ^2  in.  Near  one  end 
a  hole  is  made  24  in-  m  diameter,  and  the  stick  is  notched  just 
outside  this  hole.  This  is  the  fly  wheel.  A  stick  with  a  head 
cut  on  it  is  thrust  through  the  hole  and  serves  for  handle.  One 
end  of  the  material  to  be  twisted  is  tied  to  the  notch  on  the  fly- 
wheel, and  the  other  end  to  some  fixed  object.  The  twister  holds 


368  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  the  handle  and  causes  the  fly  to  revolve  by  the  motion  of  his 
hand. 

The  regular  spindle  serves  for  yarn-making,  thread-making, 
and  twine-making,  and  the  product  is  wound  on  the  shaft,  which 
is  twirled  in  a  small  vessel,  rolled  along  the  thigh,  or  sent  spin- 
ning in  the  air,  held  up  by  the  thread  caught  in  a  hook  on  the 
upper  end.  Here  the  operation  stops,  and  the  writer  does  not 
know  of  any  primitive  people  to  whom  it  occurred  to  fix  the  two 
ends  of  the  shaft  as  journals  in  bearings.  The  nearest  approach 
to  such  a  device  is  the  Eskimo  drill ;  in  which  the  piece  held  in 
the  mouth  furnishes  the  upper  socket,  the  perforation  being 
made  the  under  socket  and  the  bow  or  strap  applying  the  power. 
The  true  wheel  and  axle  reverses  this  process,  and  does  its  work 
where  the  Eskimo  applies  his  force. 

Crank  motion  applied  to  the  potter's  wheel  is  of  very  recent 
date.  Dr.  Smith,  long  resident  in  Siam,  informed  the  writer  that 
the  potter  first  gives  an  immense  impetus  to  a  fly-wheel,  and  then 
works  the  clay  while  the  wheel  is  turning.  The  next  progress 
forward  is  placing  the  heavy  fly-wheel  low  down  where  the 
potter  may  keep  it  in  motion  with  his  toes.  "So  doth  the  potter, 
sitting  at  his  work  and  turning  the  wheel  about  with  his  feet,  he 
fashioneth  the  clay  with  his  arm." 

In  polishing  the  basket  lacquer  work,  the  Shans  use  a  crude 
lathe.  A  bamboo  basket  is  coated  with  lac  or  with  lac  mixed 
with  ashes  of  straw.  When  the  lac  is  dry,  the  basket  is  turned 
on  a  very  simple  lathe,  the  wheel  of  which  revolves  backwards 
and  forwards,  the  principle  of  the  crank  being  apparently  un- 
known. The  workman  uses  a  treadle,  which  turns  the  wheel  one 
way,  and  it  is  brought  back  in  the  opposite  direction  by  a  long 
bamboo  which  acts  as  a  spring.  The  reader  should  compare  with 
this  the  exceedingly  crude  Moorish  lathe  in  which  the  operator 
works  a  bow  drill  in  one  hand  and  uses  his  toes  to  assist  the  other 
hand  to  holding  the  cutting  tools. 

"There  are  strong  grounds,"  says  Shaw,  "for  considering  the 
fire  drill  or  twirling  stick,  first  revolved  between  the  hands  of  one 
or  two  operators,  as  one  of  the  earliest  examples  of  machinal 
motion,  and  that  a  long  time  must  have  elapsed  before  the  intro- 
duction of  continuous,  instead  of  alternating  rotary  motion." 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  369 

But  Mr.  Shaw  forgets  the  fly-wheel  on  the  spindle,  called  usually 
the  whorl.  The  spinning  of  fibre  is  as  old  as  the  fire  sticks. 
Indeed,  it  would  not  appear  that  the  fire  sticks  are  among  the 
oldest  of  human  devices.  Men  had  fire  very  long  before  they 
knew  how  to  create  it. 

"It  is  extremely  probable  that  the  first  continuous  motion 
was  employed  in  connection  with  the  grinding  of  corn."  Shaw 
arranges  corn-grinders  as: — (i)  Simple  stone  pounder;  (2) 
Mortar  and  pestle,  worked  (a)  by  slaves,  (&)  by  bondsmen, 
(c)  by  cattle;  (3)  flat  cylindrical  stone  with  vertical  spindle.  But 
in  reality  there  have  been  two  series,  the  mortar  series  and  the 
grinding  series,  the  order  of  which  last  would  be  ( i )  rubber  and 
flat  nature  rock;  (2)  metate  and  muller;  and  (3)  the  rotary 
mill  driven  first  by  hand  and  after  by  animals,  winds,  and  water. 

The  employment  of  the  wind  to  separate  chaff  from  grain  is 
an  appliance  in  primitive  agriculture  or  harvestry.  The  utilisa- 
tion of  the  wind  in  locomotion  will  be  studied  in  the  chapter  on 
primitive  transportation.  The  Indians  of  the  Plains,  who  dwelt 
in  skin  lodges,  understood  the  use  of  the  fly  and  extra  pole  on 
the  tent  to  utilise  the  wind  in  creating  a  draught  and  drawing 
the  smoke  out  of  the  dwelling.  The  sail  is  also  used  in  the  Arctic 
regions  to  aid  in  driving  the  sledge  over  smooth  ice.  But  no 
savage  had  any  conception  of  a  windmill,  or  invited  the  air  to 
participate  in  doing  mechanical  work. 

If  I  were  permitted  to  coin  a  word,  I  should  call  all  the  com- 
bined arts  that  relate  to  the  getting,  preserving,  and  utilising 
water,  hydrotechny;  but  that  would  furnish  rather  a  long  term 
for  the  study  of  these  arts — hydrotechnology — though  it  is  not 
lacking  in  euphony.  The  spring,  the  well,  the  city  reservoir,  and 
waterworks ;  the  open  stream,  the  canal,  the  locomotive ;  the  tide 
wheel,  the  overshot,  the  turbine — all  of  these  indicate  progress 
in  hydrotechny  as  related  to  aliment,  to  transportation,  to  irriga- 
tion, and  to  manufactures.  The  world's  progress  has  followed 
the  water,  and  water  has  never  been  absent  from  men's  minds. 

No  aborigines,  unaided  by  domestic  animals,  have  displayed 
so  much  patience  and  ingenuity  in  the  storage  and  conducting 
of  water  as  the  Indians  of  the  arid  region  of  the  United  States. 
Throughout  the  Pueblo  region,  says  Mr.  Hodge,  works  of  irriga- 


370  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tion  abound  in  the  valleys  and  on  the  mountain  slopes,  especially 
along  the  drainage  of  the  Gila  and  the  Salado,  in  Southern 
Arizona,  where  the  inhabitants  engaged  in  agriculture  to  a  vast 
extent  by  this  means.  The  arable  tract  of  the  Salado  comprises 
about  450,000  acres,  and  the  ancient  inhabitants  controlled  the 
watering  of  at  least  250,000  acres.  The  outlines  of  150  miles  of 
ancient  main  irrigating  ditches  may  be  readily  traced,  some  of 
which  meander  southward  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles.  In  one 
place  the  main  canal  was  found  to  be  a  ditch  within  a  ditch,  the 
bed  being  7  feet  deep.  The  lower  section  was  only  4  feet  wide, 
but  the  sides  broadened  in  their  ascent  to  a  "bench"  3  feet  wide 
on  each  side  of  the  canal.  Remains  of  balsas  were  recovered, 
showing  that  the  transportation  of  material  was  also  carried  on. 
Remains  of  flood  gates  were  found  by  Mr.  Gushing,  and  great 
reservoirs  for  storage  of  water,  one  example  being  200  feet 
long  and  15  feet  in  depth. 

In  Mexico  and  Peru,  especially  in  the  latter,  this  art  reached 
its  highest  perfection.  "Higher  up  in  the  Andes  irrigation  was 
carried  out  on  a  far  more  extensive  scale.  Partly  by  tunnelling 
through  the  solid  mountains,  partly  by  carrying  channels  round 
their  sides,  the  waters  of  the  higher  valleys,  where  the  supply  was 
abundant,  were  made  available  for  the  cultivation  of  others  where 
it  was  deficient ;  and  in  the  district  between  the  Central  and  West- 
ern Cordilleras,  to  the  northward  and  westward  of  Cuzco,  such 
channels  were  extensively  constructed  to  irrigate,  not  only  the 
valleys,  but  the  llama  pastures  on  the  mountain  sides." 

In  the  evolution  of  hydrotechny  the  curious  invention  of  the 
Bakalahari  negroes  has  a  place.  The  women  dig  tiny  wells  in 
the  wet  sand.  They  then  fasten  a  bunch  of  grass  to  the  end  of  a 
reed  and  bury  it  in  the  pit.  By  means  of  the  reed  they  suck  water 
into  their  mouths  and  discharge  it  into  ostrich  shells,  using  as  a 
guide  to  the  stream  a  stalk  of  grass.  When  twenty  or  thirty 
shells  have  been  filled  they  are  placed  in  a  net,  carried  home  and 
buried  in  the  earth  for  future  use. 

The  wheel  and  bucket  are  in  common  use  through  the  eastern 
continent.  For  lifting  water  out  of  shallow  wells  or  sources  of 
supply,  a  wheel  may  be  used  whose  diameter  is  a  little  more  than 
the  vertical  distance  from  the  water  to  the  point  of  discharge. 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  371 

On  the  rim  of  the  wheel  are  buckets  resembling  those  in  an  old- 
fashioned  mill-wheel.  The  apparatus  is  worked  by  a  draught 
animal.  But,  in  more  elaborate  specimens  of  the  same  sort,  the 
machine  is  set  in  a  running  stream,  which,  working  against 
paddles  on  the  rim,  revolves  the  wheel  and  lifts  the  water.  The 
Chinese  make  an  enormous  apparatus  of  this  sort,  and  fasten 
bamboo  buckets  diagonally  on  the  outside  of  the  rim.  These 
descending  are  plunged  mouth  first  under  the  water,  and  ascend- 
ing retain  it  until  they  pass  the  centre  of  motion,  when  they 
discharge  into  a  trough.  Thomson  speaks  of  enormous  wheels 
at  Hums,  on  the  Orontes,  th«  diameter  of  some  being  80  or  90 
feet. 

The  nd'urah,  or  Persian  water-wheel,  common  throughout 
Western  Asia,  consists  of  a  clumsy  cog-wheel,  fitted  to  an  up- 
right post,  and  made  to  revolve  horizontally  by  a  beast  attached 
to  a  sweep.  This  turns  a  similar  one  perpendicular  at  the  end 
of  a  heavy  beam,  which  has  a  large  wide  drum  built  into  it, 
directly  over  the  mouth  of  the  well.  Over  this  drum  revolve 
two  rough  hawsers,  or  thick  ropes,  made  of  twigs  and  branches 
twisted  together,  and  upon  them  are  fastened  small  jars  or 
wooden  buckets.  One  side  descends  as  the  other  rises,  carrying 
the  small  buckets  with  them,  those  descending  empty,  those 
ascending  full.  As  they  pass  over  the  top  they  discharge  into 
a  trough.  The  buckets  are  fastened  to  the  hawsers  about  2  feet 
apart.  The  hawser  is  made  of  twigs,  generally  of  myrtle,  because 
it  is  cheap,  easily  plaited,  and  its  extreme  roughness  prevents 
its  slipping  on  the  drum. 

In  matters  of  engineering  the  starting-point  backward  is  it- 
self in  a  remote  past.  Watkins,  in  his  "Beginnings  of  Engineer- 
ing" says:  "Of  the  races  to  be  considered  I  will  mention  in  what 
seems  to  me  to  be  their  order  of  importance,  Chaldea,  Babylon, 
Egypt,  Assyria,  Phoenicia,  Etruria,  Palestine,  Moab,  Persia,  India, 
China,  and  the  Incas.  To  this  aggregate  every  form  of  engineer- 
ing was  known  which  did  not  require  the  application  of  the 
generated  forces.  They  built  canals  for  transport  and  irrigation, 
reservoirs  and  aqueducts,  docks,  harbours,  and  lighthouses.  They 
erected  bridges  of  wood  and  stone,  as  well  as  suspension  bridges ; 
laid  out  roads,  cut  tunnels,  constructed  viaducts,  planned  roofs 


372  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

for  their  massive  buildings ;  tested  the  strength  and  discovered 
the  weakness  of  their  building  materials;  instituted  elaborate 
systems  of  drainage ;  planned  fortifications ;  designed  engines  of 
attack  and  floating  bridges;  devised  methods  for  the  transport 
of  heavy  objects — in  fact,  covered  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  all 
departments  of  hydraulic,  bridge  and  road,  sanitary,  military, 
and  mechanical  engineering." 

Assuredly  even  these  enterprises  were  the  mature  results  of 
still  earlier  efforts,  which  it  would  be  delightful  to  trace.  In  the 
earliest  engineering  feats  two  facts  must  be  sharply  kept  before 
the  mind,  to  wit,  that  time  was  no  object,  and  that  there  were  no 
private  buildings.  Suppose  that  every  labouring  person  in  Lon- 
don should  be  immediately  withdrawn  from  all  private  work, 
and  that  they  all  should  be  organised  to  labour  for  ten  years 
upon  some  government  building  as  a  memorial  of  the  reign  of 
Her  Gracious  Majesty.  One  million  hand  labourers  would  erect 
a  pyramid  containing  fifteen  thousand  milliards  of  tons  of  earth, 
and  the  mechanics  would  put  on  the  top  of  it  a  structure  larger 
than  all  the  monuments  in  Egypt  combined. 

The  only  puzzle  the  modern  student  can  have  is  to  conceive 
how  the  ancient  engineer  made  and  moved  his  crib  work.  It  is 
within  the  ability  of  a  company  of  savage  Indians  to  hammer 
down  any  great  stone  into  any  form.  It  is  customary  for  them 
as  a  tribe  to  all  engage  in  the  same  operation  in  hauling  logs,  or 
seines,  or  boats,  or  stones.  The  problem  is  somewhat  like  that 
of  Archimedes,  "Given  a  rope  long  enough,  and  a  crib-work 
strong  enough,"  and  any  modern  savage  people  will  undertake 
to  set  up  the  monuments  of  Brittany. 

"The  usual  method  of  removing  the  iron  open  rings  worn  on 
the  ankles  by  the  Madi  requires  a  number  of  men.  A  rope  is 
fastened  to  each  side  of  the  ring,  upon  which  a  number  of  men 
haul  in  opposite  directions  until  they  have  opened  the  joint  suffi- 
ciently to  detach  the  leg."  In  pictures  of  Egyptian  stoneworkers 
great  companies  of  men  are  seen  hauling  together  on  some 
heavily-weighted  sledge,  and  in  Constantinople  one  may  see  any 
number  of  men  from  eight  to  twelve  carrying  a  heavy  tierce  of 
wine  in  slings  attached  to  four  parallel  bars. 

The  Khasi  Hill  tribes  of  India  still  erect  megalithic  monu- 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  373 

ments.  The  slabs  of  sandstone  are  quarried  near  by  where  they 
are  to  be  set  up  by  means  of  wedges.  Some  of  these  weigh 
twenty  tons.  They  are  moved  on  a  cradle  made  of  strong  curved 
limbs  of  trees,  roughly  smoothed  and  rounded,  so  as  to  present 
little  surface  to  friction.  In  dragging  and  setting  up  the  slabs 
all  the  members  of  a  community  are  under  an  obligation  to  assist 
on  such  an  occasion,  and  are  not  paid  for  their  labour,  beyond 
receiving  in  the  evening  a  little  food  or  liquor  at  the  dwelling 
of  the  family  who  sought  the  aid.  This  is  exactly  like  the 
"barn-raisings"  familiar  to  all  American  farmers. 

"The  block"  (of  stone)  "is  detached  by  means  of  wedges 
introduced  into  natural  fissures  and  artificially  drilled  holes.  Two 
or  three  stout  logs  are  placed  under  the  slab  at  right  angles  to 
its  axis  and  equi-distant.  Under  these  are  fastened  four  bamboo 
trunks,  two  on  either  side  parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  stone,  and 
beneath  these  bamboos  series  of  smaller  bamboos  like  the  rounds 
of  a  ladder.  The  whole  forms  a  gigantic  crib-work,  or  carrying 
frame.  Three  or  four  hundred  men  can  unite  their  efforts  thus 
in  picking  up  the  whole  and  carrying  it  to  its  destination.  In 
two  or  three  hours  the  stone  may  be  transported  a  mile.  It  is 
set  up  by  means  of  guy  ropes  and  lifting,  and  planted  in  a  hole 
previously  prepared." 

A  curious  fact  in  engineering  is  recorded  by  that  most  careful 
of  observers,  Rev.  J.  O.  Dorsey,  regarding  the  Omaha  tribal 
circles.  He  says,  "The  circle  was  not  made  by  measurement,  nor 
did  any  one  give  directions  where  each  tent  should  be  placed ; 
that  was  left  to  the  women"  (§  9).  "Though  they  did  not 
measure  the  distance  each  woman  knew  where  to  pitch  her  tent." 
She  also  knew  the  proper  distances  apart  for  safety,  on  the  one 
hand,  or  for  the  convenience  of  dressing  hides  on  the  other 

(§  n) — O.  T.  MASON,  Origins  of  Invention,  33-82 

(Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1895). 

PRIMITIVE  WARFARE 

It  ....  appears  desirable  that,  before  entering  upon  that 
branch  of  the  subject  which  relates  to  the  progress  and  develop- 
ment of  the  art  of  war,  I  should  point  out  briefly  the  analogies 
which  exist  between  the  weapons,  tactics,  and  stratagems  of 


374  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

savages  and  those  of  the  lower  creation,  and  show  to  what  extent 
man  appears  to  have  availed  himself  of  the  weapons  of  animals 
for  his  own  defence. 

In  so  doing  the  subject  may  be  classified  as  follows: — 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  THE  WEAPONS  OF  ANIMALS  AND  SAVAGES 

Defensive.  Offensive.  Stratagems. 

Hides.  Piercing.  Flight. 

Solid  plates.  Striking.  Concealment. 

Jointed  plates.  Serrated.  Tactics. 

Scales.  Poisoned.  Columns. 

Missiles.  Leaders. 

Outposts. 

Artificial  defences. 
War  cries 

This,  however,  leads  to  another  subject,  viz.  the  causes  of  war 
amongst  primitive  races,  which  is  deserving  of  separate  treat- 
ment  

DEFENSIVE   WEAPONS 

We  may  pass  briefly  over  the  defensive  weapons  of  animals 
and  savages,  not  by  any  means  from  the  analogy  being  less 
perfect  in  this  class  of  weapons,  but  rather  because  the  similarity 
is  too  obvious  to  make  it  necessary  that  much  stress  should  be 
laid  on  their  resemblance. 

Hides. — The  thick  hides  of  pachydermatous  animals  corre- 
spond to  the  quilted  armour  of  ancient  and  semi-civilized  races. 
Some  animals,  like  the  rhinoceros  and  hippopotamus,  are  entirely 
armed  in  this  way;  others  have  their  defences  on  the  most  vulner- 
able part,  as  the  mane  of  the  lion,  and  the  shoulder  pad  of  the 
boar.  The  skin  of  the  tiger  is  of  so  tough  and  yielding  a  nature, 
as  to  resist  the  horn  of  the  buffalo  when  driven  with  full  force 
against  its  sides.  The  condor  of  Peru  has  such  a  thick  coating 
of  feathers,  that  eight  or  ten  bullets  may  strike  without  piercing  it. 

According  to  Thucydides,  the  Locrians  and  Acarnanians,  being 
professed  thieves  and  robbers,  were  the  first  to  clothe  them- 
selves in  armour.  But  as  a  general  rule  it  may  be  said,  that  the 
opinions  of  ancient  writers  upon  the  origin  of  the  customs  with 
which  they  were  familiar,  are  of  little  value  in  our  days.  There 


INVENTION   AND  TECHNOLOGY  375 

is,  however,  evidence  to  show  that  the  use  of  defensive  armour  is 
not  usual  amongst  savages  in  the  lowest  stages  of  culture.  It  is 
not  employed,  properly  speaking,  by  the  Australians,  the  Bush- 
men, the  Fuegians,  or  in  the  Fiji  or  Sandwich  Islands.  But  in 
other  parts  of  the  world,  soon  after  men  began  to  clothe  them- 
selves in  the  skins  of  beasts,  they  appear  to  have  used  the 
thicker  hides  of  animals  for  purposes  of  defence.  When  the 
Esquimaux  apprehends  hostility,  he  takes  off  his  ordinary  shirt, 
and  puts  on  a  deer's  skin,  tanned  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render 
it  thick  for  defence,  and  over  this  he  again  draws  his  ordinary 
shirt,  which  is  also  of  deer-skin,  but  thinner  in  substance.  The 
Esquimaux  also  use  armour  of  eider  drake's  skin.  The  Abipones 
and  Indians  of  the  Grand  Chako  arm  themselves  with  a  cuirass, 
greaves,  and  helmet,  composed  of  the  thick  hide  of  the  tapir,  but 
they  no  longer  use  it  against  the  musketry  of  the  Europeans. 
The  Yucanas  also  use  shields  of  the  same  material.  The  war- 
dress of  a  Patagonian  chief  ....  is  exhibited  (Figs,  n,  12)  ;  it 
is  composed  of  seven  thicknesses  of  hide,  probably  of  the  horse, 
upon  the  body,  and  three  on  the  sleeves.  The  chiefs  of  the  Musgu 
negroes  of  Central  Africa  use  for  defence  a  strong  doublet  of 
the  same  kind,  made  of  buffalo's  hide  with  the  hair  inside.  The 
Kayans  of  Borneo  use  hide  for  their  war-dress,  as  shown  by  a 
specimen  ....  (Fig.  13).  The  skin  of  the  bear  and  panther  is 
most  esteemed  for  this  purpose.  The  inhabitants  of  Pulo  Nias,  an 
island  off  the  western  coast  of  Sumatra,  use  for  armour  a  'baju' 
made  of  leather.  In  some  parts  of  Egypt  a  breastplate  was  made 
of  the  back  of  the  crocodile  (Fig.  14).  In  the  island  of  Cayenne, 
in  1519,  the  inhabitants  used  a  breastplate  of  buffalo's  hide. 
The  Lesghi  of  Tartary  wore  armour  of  hog's  skin.  The  Indians 
of  Chili,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  wore  corselets,  back  and 
breast  plates,  gauntlets,  and  helmets  of  leather,  so  hardened,  that 
it  is  described  by  Ovalle  as  being  equal  to  metal.  According  to 
Strabo,  the  German  Rhoxolani  wore  helmets,  and  breastplates 
of  bull's  hide,  though  the  Germans  generally  placed  little  reliance 
in  defensive  armour.  The  Ethiopians  used  the  skins  of  cranes 
and  ostriches  for  their  armour. 

We  learn  from  Herodotus  that  it  was  from  the  Libyans  the 
Greeks  derived  the  apparel  and  aegis  of  Minerva,  as  represented 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  377 

upon  her  images,  but  instead  of  a  pectoral  of  scale  armour,  that 
of  the  Libyans  was  merely  of  skin.  According  to  Smith's 
Diet,  of  Gr.  and  Roman  Antiquities  (s.v.  lorica),  the  Greek 
'thorax.'  called  o-ra'&o?,  from  its  standing  erect  by  its  own  stiff- 
ness, was  originally  of  leather,  before  it  was  constructed  of 
metal.  In  Mey rick's  Ancient  Armour  there  is  the  figure  of  a 
suit,  supposed  formerly  to  have  belonged  to  the  Rajah  of  Guzerat 
(Fig.  15).  The  body  part  of  this  suit  is  composed  of  four  pieces 
of  rhinoceros  hide,  showing  that,  in  all  probability,  this  was  the 
material  originally  employed  for  that  particular  class  of  armour, 
which  is  now  produced  of  the  same  form  in  metal,  a  specimen  of 
which,  ....  taken  from  the  Sikhs,  is  now  exhibited  (Fig.  16). 
In  more  advanced  communities,  as  skins  began  to  be  replaced 
by  woven  materials,  quilted  armour  supplied  the  place  of  hides. 
In  those  parts  of  the  Polynesian  Islands  in  which  armour  is 
used,  owing  probably  to  the  absence  of  suitable  skins,  woven 
armour  appears  to  have  been  employed  in  a  comparatively  low 
state  of  society.  Specimens  of  this  class  of  armour  from  the 
Museum  of  the  Institution  are  exhibited;  they  are  from  the 
Kingsmill  Islands,  Pleasant  Island,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands.  A 
helmet  from  the  latter  place  (Fig.  17)  much  resembles  the 
Grecian  in  form,  while  the  under  tippet,  from  Pleasant  Island 
(Fig.  18),  may  be  compared  to  the  pectoral  of  the  Egyptians 
(Fig.  19,  a  and  b),  which,  as  well  as  the  head-dress  (Fig.  20), 
was  of  a  thickly  quilted  material.  The  Egyptians  wore  this 
pectoral  up  to  the  time  of  Xerxes,  who  employed  their  sailors, 
armed  in  this  way,  during  his  expedition  into  Greece.  Herodotus 
says  that  the  Indians  of  Asia  wore  a  thorax  of  rush  matting. 
In  1514,  Magellan  found  tunics  of  quilted  cotton,  called  'laudes/ 
in  use  by  the  Muslims  of  Guzerat  and  the  Deccan.  An  Indian 
helmet  of  this  description  from  my  collection  (Fig.  21)  is  ex- 
hibited; in  form  it  resembles  the  Egyptian,  and  an  Ethiopian 
one  (Fig.  22),  composed  of  beads  of  the  same  form,  brought 
from  Central  Africa  by  Consul  Petherick,  is  exhibited.  Fig.  23 
shows  that  the  same  form,  in  India,  was  subsequently  produced 
in  metal.  A  suit  of  quilted  armour  formerly  belonging  to  Koer 
Singh,  and  lately  presented  to  the  Institution  by  Sir  Vincent 
Eyre,  is  also  exhibited  (Fig.  24).  The  body  armour  and  helmet 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  379 

found  upon  Tippoo  Sahib  at  his  death,  which  are  now  in  the 
Museum  of  the  Institution  (Fig.  25,  a,  b,  and  c),  were  thickly 
quilted.  Upon  the  breast,  this  armour  consists  of  two  sheets  of 
parchment,  and  nine  thicknesses  of  padding  composed  of  cocoons 
of  the  Sa-turma  mylitta,  stuffed  with  the  wool  of  the  Eriodendron 
anfractuosum,  D.C.,  neatly  sewn  together,  as  represented  in  Fig. 
25  b.  The  Aztecs  and  Peruvians  also  guarded  themselves  with  a 
wadded  cotton  doublet.  Quilted  armour  or  thick  linen  corselets 
were  used  by  the  Persians,  Phoenicians,  Chalybes,  Assyrians, 
Lusitanians,  and  Scythians,  by  the  Greeks,  and  occasionally  by 
the  Romans.  By  the  Persians  it  was  used  much  later;  and  in 
Africa  to  this  day,  quilted  armour,  of  precisely  the  same  descrip- 
tion, is  used  both  for  men  and  horses  by  the  Bornouese  of 
Central  Africa,  and  is  described  by  Denham  and  Clapperton  (Fig. 
26).  Fig.  27  is  a  suit  of  armour  ....  from  the  Navigator 
Islands,  composed  of  coco-nut  fibre  coarsely  netted.  Fig.  28  is 
part  of  a  Chinese  jacket  of  sky-blue  cotton,  quilted  with  enclosed 
plates  of  iron ;  it  is  precisely  similar  to  the  'brigandina  jacket* 
used  in  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century,  which  was  composed  of 
'small  plates  of  iron  quilted  within  some  stuff/  and  'covered 
generally  with  sky-blue  cloth.'  This  class  of  armour  may  be 
regarded  as  a  link  connecting  the  quilted  with  the  scale  armour, 
to  be  described  hereafter. 

As  a  material  for  shields,  the  hides  of  animals  were  employed 
even  more  universally,  and  up  to  a  later  stage  of  civilization.  In 
North  America  the  majority  of  the  wild  tribes  use  shields  of  the 
thickest  parts  of  the  hides  of  the  buffalo.  In  the  New  Hebrides 
the  skin  of  the  alligator  is  used  for  this  purpose,  as  appears  by 
a  specimen  belonging  to  the  Institution.  In  Africa  the  Fans  of 
the  Gaboon  employ  the  hide  of  the  elephant  for  their  large,  rec- 
tangular shields.  The  Wadi,  the  Wagogo,  and  the  Abyssinians 
in  East  Africa,  have  shields  of  buffalo's  hide,  or  some  kind  of 
leather,  like  the  Ethiopians  of  the  time  of  Herodotus.  The  ox- 
hide shields  of  the  Greeks  are  mentioned  in  Homer's  Iliad; 
that  of  Ajax  was  composed  of  seven  hides  with  a  coating  of  brass 
on  the  outside.  The  spear  of  Hector  is  described  as  piercing  six 
of  the  hides  and  the  brass  coating,  remaining  fixed  in  the  seventh 
hide.  The  Kaffirs,  Bechuanas,  Basutos,  and  others  in  South 


380  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Africa,  use  the  hide  of  the  ox.  The  Kelgeres,  Kelowi,  and 
Tawarek,  of  Central  Africa,  employ  the  hide  of  the  Leucoryx 
antelope.  Shields  of  the  rhinoceros  hide,  from  Nubia,  and  of 
the  ox,  from  Fernando  Po,  are  exhibited.  In  Asia  the  Biluchi 
carry  shields  of  the  rhinoceros  horn,  and  the  same  material  is  also 
used  in  East  Africa.  A  specimen  from  Zanzibar  is  in  the  Insti- 
tution. In  the  greater  part  of  India  the  shields  are  made  of 
rhinoceros  and  buffalo's  hide,  boiled  in  oil,  until  they  sometimes 
become  transparent,  and  are  proof  against  the  edge  of  a  sabre. 

In  a  higher  state  of  civilization,  as  the  facilities  for  construct- 
ing shields  of  improved  materials  increased,  the  skins  of  animals 
were  still  used  to  cover  the  outside.  Thus  the  negroes  of  the 
Gold  Coast  made  their  shields  of  osier  covered  with  leather. 
That  of  the  Kanembu  of  Central  Africa  is  of  wood  covered  with 
leather,  and  very  much  resembles  in  form  that  of  the  Egyptians, 
which,  as  we  learn  from  Meyrick  and  others,  was  also  covered 
with  leather,  having  the  hair  on  the  outside  like  the  shields  of 
the  Greeks.  The  Roman  'scutum'  was  of  wood  covered  with  linen 
and  sheepskin.  According  to  the  author  of  Home  Ferales,  the 
Saxon  shield  was  of  wood  covered  with  leather;  the  same  applies 
to  the  Scotch  target,  and  leather  was  used  as  a  covering  for 
shields  as  late  as  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 

Head  crests. — The  origin  of  the  hairy  crests  of  our  helmets  is 
clearly  traceable  to  the  custom  of  wearing  for  head-dresses  the 
heads  and  hair  of  animals.  The  Asiatic  Ethiopians  used  as  a 
head-covering,  the  skin  of  a  horse's  head,  stripped  from  the  car- 
case together  with  the  ears  and  mane,  and  so  contrived,  that  the 
mane  served  for  a  crest,  while  the  ears  appeared  erect  upon  the 
head  (Hdt.  vii.  70).  In  the  coins  representing  Hercules,  he 
appears  wearing  a  lion's  skin  upon  the  head.  These  skins  were 
worn  in  such  a  manner  that  the  teeth  appeared  grinning  at  the 
enemy  over  the  head  of  the  wearer  (as  represented  in  Fig.  29, 
which  is  taken  from  a  bronze  in  the  Blacas  collection),  a  custom 
which  seems  also  to  have  prevailed  in  Mexico.  Similar  head- 
dresses are  worn  by  the  soldiers  on  Trajan's  Column.  The  horns 
worn  on  the  heads  of  some  of  the  North  American  Indians  ( Fig. 
30),  and  in  some  parts  of  Africa,  are  no  doubt  derived  from  this 
practice  of  wearing  on  the  head  the  skins  of  animals  with  their 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  381 

appendages.  The  helmet  of  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus,  was  sur- 
mounted by  two  goat's  horns.  Horns  were  afterwards  repre- 
sented in  brass,  on  the  helmets  of  the  Thracians  (Fig.  31),  the 
Belgic  Gauls,  and  others.  Fig.  32  is  an  ancient  British  helmet 
of  bronze  lately  found  in  the  Thames,  surmounted  by  straight 
horns  of  the  same  material.  Horned  helmets  are  figured  on  the 
ancient  vases.  Fig.  33  is  a  Greek  helmet  having  horns  of  brass, 
and  traces  of  the  same  custom  may  still  be  observed  in  heraldry. 

The  practice  of  wearing  head-dresses  of  feathers,  to  distin- 
guish the  chiefs  from  the  rank  and  file,  is  universal  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  in  nearly  every  stage  of  civilization.  Amongst 
the  North  American  Indians  the  feathers  are  cut  in  a  particular 
manner  to  denote  the  rank  of  the  wearer,  precisely  in  the  same 
manner  that  the  long  feathers  of  our  general  officers  distinguish 
them  from  those  wearing  shorter  feathers  in  subordinate  ranks. 
This  custom,  Mr.  Schoolcraft  observes,  when  describing  the  head- 
dresses of  the  American  Indians,  may  very  probably  be  derived 
from  the  feathered  creation,  in  which  the  males,  in  most  of  the 
cock,  turkey,  and  pheasant  tribes,  are  crowned  with  bright  crests 
and  ornaments  of  feathers. 

Solid  plates. — It  has  often  struck  me  as  remarkable  that  the 
shells  of  the  tortoise  and  turtle,  which  are  so  widely  distributed 
and  so  easily  captured,  and  which  would  appear  to  furnish  shields 
ready  made  to  the  hand  of  man,  should  seldom,  if  ever,  in  so  far 
as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  be  used  by  savages  for  that  purpose. 
This  may,  however,  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  broad 
shields  of  that  particular  form,  though  common  in  more  advanced 
civilizations,  are  never  found  in  the  hands  of  savages,  at  least  in 
those  localities  in  which  the  turtle,  or  large  tortoise,  is  available. 

It  will  be  seen  subsequently,  in  tracing  the  history  of  the 
shield,  that  in  the  rudest  condition  of  savage  life,  this  weapon  of 
defence  has  a  history  of  its  own;  that  both  in  Africa  and  Aus- 
tralia it  is  derived  by  successive  stages  from  the  stick  or  club, 
and  that  the  broad  shield  does  not  appear  to  have  been  developed 
until  after  mankind  had  acquired  sufficient  constructive  skill  to 
have  been  able  to  form  shields  of  lighter  and  more  suitable 
materials  than  is  afforded  by  the  shell  of  the  turtle.  It  is,  how- 
ever, evident  that  in  later  times  the  analogy  was  not  lost  sight  of, 


382  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

as  the  word  'testudo'  is  a  name  given  by  the  Romans  to  several 
engines  of  war  having  shields  attached  to  them,  and  especially 
to  that  particular  formation  of  the  legionary  troops,  in  which 
they  approached  a  fortified  building  with  their  shields  joined  to- 
gether, and  overlapping,  like  the  scaly  shell  of  the  imbricated 
turtle,  which  is  a  native  of  the  Mediterranean  and  Asiatic  seas. 

Jointed  plates. — In  speaking  of  the  jointed  plates,  so  common 
to  all  the  Crustacea,  it  is  sufficient  to  notice  that  this  class  of 
defence  in  the  animal  kingdom,  may  be  regarded  as  the  prototype 
of  that  peculiar  form  of  armour  which  was  used  by  the  Romans, 
and  to  which  the  French,  at  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  gave  the  name  o4  'ecrevisse,'  from  its  resemblance  to  the 
shell  of  a  lobster.  The  fluted  armour,  common  in  Persia,  and  in 
the  middle  ages  of  Europe,  is  also  constructed  in  exact  imitation 
of  the  corrugated  shell  defences  of  a  large  class  of  the  Mollusca. 

Scale  armour. — That  scale  armour  derived  its  origin  from  the 
scales  of  animals,  there  can  be  little  doubt.  It  has  been  stated  on 
the  authority  of  Arrian  (Tact.  13.  14),  that  the  Greeks  distin- 
guished scale  armour  by  the  term  XeTrtSwrck ,  expressive  of  its 
resemblance  to  the  scales  of  fish;  whilst  the  jointed  armour,  com- 
posed of  long  flexible  bands,  like  the  armour  of  the  Roman  soldier, 
and  the  'ecrevisse'  of  the  middle  ages,  was  called  <£oXt8&m><?  from 
its  resemblance  to  the  scales  of  serpents.  The  brute  origin  of 
scale  armour  is  well  illustrated  by  the  breastplate  of  the  Bugo 
Dyaks,  a  specimen  of  which  ....  is  represented  in  Fig.  34. 
The  process  of  its  construction  was  described  in  a  notice  attached 
to  a  specimen  of  this  armour  in  the  Exhibition  of  1862.  The 
scales  of  the  Pangolin  are  collected  by  the  Bugis  as  they  are 
thrown  off  by  the  animal,  and  are  stitched  on  to  bark  with 
small  threads  of  cane,  so  as  to  overlap  each  other  in  the  same 
manner  that  they  are  arranged  on  the  skin  of  the  animal.  When 
the  front  piece  is  completely  covered  with  scales,  a  hole  is  cut 
in  the  bark  for  the  head  of  the  wearer.  The  specimen  now  ex- 
hibited appears,  however,  to  be  composed  of  the  entire  skin  of 
the  animal.  Captain  Grant,  in  his  Walk  across  Africa,  mentions 
that  the  scales  of  the  armadillo  are  in  like  manner  collected  by 
the  negroes  of  East  Africa,  and  worn  in  a  belt  'three  inches 
across/  as  a  charm. 


INVENTION   AND   TECHNOLOGY  383 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  use  of  scale  armour,  in 
most  countries,  originated  in  this  manner  by  sewing  on  to  the 
quilted  armour  before  described,  fragments  of  any  hard  material 
calculated  to  give  it  additional  strength.  Fig.  35  is  a  piece  of 
bark  from  Tahiti,  studded  with  pieces  of  coco-nut  stitched  on. 
The  Sarmatians  and  Quadi  are  described  by  Ammianus  Marcel- 
linus  as  being  protected  by  a  'lorica,'  composed  of  pieces  of  horn, 
planed  and  polished,  and  fastened  like  feathers  upon  a  linen  shirt. 
Pausanias  also,  who  is  confirmed  by  Tacitus,  says  that  the  Sarma- 
tians had  large  herds  of  horses,  that  they  collected  the  hoofs,  and 
after  preparing  them  for  the  purpose,  sewed  them  together,  with 
the  nerves  and  sinews  of  the  same  animal,  so  as  to  overlap  each 
other  like  the  surface  of  a  fir  cone,  and  he  adds,  that  the  'lorica' 
thus  formed  was  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  Greeks  either  in 
strength  or  elegance.  The  Emperor  Domitian  had,  after  this 
model,  a  cuirass  of  boar's  hoofs  stitched  together.  Fig.  36  repre- 
sents a  fragment  of  scale  armour  made  of  horn,  found  at  Pompeii. 
A  very  similar  piece  of  armour  (Fig.  37),  from  some  part  of 
Asia,  said  to  be  from  Japan,  but  the  actual  locality  of  which  is 
not  known,  is  figured  in  Meyrick's  Ancient  Armour,  pi.  iii.  i.  It 
is  made  of  the  hoofs  of  some  animal,  stitched  and  fastened  so  as 
to  hold  together  without  the  aid  of  a  linen  corselet.  An  ancient 
stone  figure  (Fig.  38),  having  an  inscription  in  a  character  cog- 
nate to  the  Greek,  but  in  an  unknown  language,  and  covered  with 
armour  of  this  description,  is  represented  in  the  third  volume  of 
the  Journal  of  the  Archaeological  Association.  The  Kayans,  in- 
habiting the  eastern  coast  of  Borneo,  form  a  kind  of  armour 
composed  of  little  shells  placed  one  overlapping  the  other,  like 
scales,  and  having  a  large  mother-of-pearl  shell  at  the  end.  This 
last  portion  of  the  armour  is  shown  in  the  figure  of  the  Kayan 
war-dress  already  referred  to  (Fig.  13).  Fig.  39  is  a  back- 
and  breast-piece  of  armour  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  composed 
of  seal's  teeth,  set  like  scales,  and  united  with  string. 

Similar  scales  would  afterwards  be  constructed  in  bronze  and 
iron.  It  was  thus  employed  by  the  Egyptians  (Fig.  40),  two 
scales  of  which  are  shown  in  Fig.  41  ;  also  by  the  Persians, 
Assyrians,  Philistines,  Dacians,  and  most  ancient  nations. 

The  armour  of  Goliath  is  believed  to  have  been  of  scales,  from 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  385 

the  fact  of  the  word  'kaskassim,'  used  in  the  text  of  i  Sam.  xvii, 
being  the  same  employed  in  Leviticus  and  Ezekiel,  to  express 
the  scales  of  fish.  Amongst  the  Romans,  scale  armour  was  re- 
garded as  characteristic  of  barbarians,  but  they  appear  to  have 
adopted  it  in  the  time  of  the  Emperors.  A  suit  of  Japanese 
armour  in  my  collection  shows  four  distinct  systems  of  defence, 
the  back  and  breast  being  of  solid  plates,  the  sleeves  and  leggings 
composed  of  small  pieces  of  iron,  stitched  on  to  cloth,  and  united 
with  chain,  whilst  other  portions  are  quilted  with  enclosed  pieces 
of  iron  (Fig.  42,  a  and  b).  Fig.  43  a  and  b,  is  a  suit  of  Chinese 
armour,  in  the  Museum,  having  large  iron  scales  on  the  inside 
(Fig.  44).  This  system  was  also  employed  in  Europe.  Fig.  45 
is  the  inner  side  of  a  suit  of  'jazerine'  armour  of  the  fifteenth 
or  sixteenth  century,  in  my  collection.  Fig.  46  represents  a  simi- 
lar suit  in  the  Museum  of  the  Institution,  probably  of  the  same 
date,  having  large  scales  of  iron  on  the  outside.  A  last  vestige 
of  scale  armour  may  be  seen  in  the  dress  of  the  Albanians,  which, 
like  the  Scotch  and  ancient  Irish  kilt,  and  that  formerly  worn  by 
the  Maltese  peasantry,  is  a  relic  of  costume  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  age.  In  the  Albanian  jacket  the  scales  are  still  repre- 
sented in  gold  embroidery. 

OFFENSIVE    WEAPONS    OF    MEN    AND   ANIMALS 

Piercing  weapons. — The  Gnu  of  South  Africa,  when  pressed, 
will  attack  men,  bending  its  head  downwards,  so  as  to  pierce 
with  the  point  of  its  horn.  The  same  applies  to  many  of  the 
antelope  tribe.  The  rhinoceros  destroys  the  elephant  with  the 
thrust  of  its  horn,  ripping  up  the  belly  (Fig.  47).  The  horn  rests 
on  a  strong  arch  formed  by  the  nasal  bones ;  those  of  the  African 
rhinoceros,  two  in  number,  are  fixed  to  the  nose  by  a  strong 
apparatus  of  muscles  and  tendons,  so  that  they  are  loose  when 
the  animal  is  in  a  quiescent  state,  but  become  firm  and  immovable 
when  he  is  enraged,  showing  in  an  especial  manner  that  this 
apparatus  is  destined  for  warlike  purposes.  It  is  capable  of 
piercing  the  ribs  of  a  horse,  passing  through  saddle,  padding, 
and  all.  Mr.  Atkinson,  in  his  Siberian  travels,  speaks  of  the 
tusk  of  the  wild  boar,  which  in  those  parts  is  long,  and  as  sharp 
as  a  knife,  and  he  describes  the  death  of  a  horse  which  was  killed 
by  a  single  stroke  from  this  animal,  delivered  in  the  chest.  The 


386  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

buffalo  charges  at  full  speed  with  its  horn  down.  The  bittern, 
with  its  beak,  aims  always  at  the  eye.  The  walrus  (Fig.  48) 
attacks  fiercely  with  its  pointed  tusks,  and  will  attempt  to  pierce 
the  side  of  a  boat  with  them.  The  needle-fish  of  the  Amazons  is 
armed  with  a  long  pointed  lance.  The  same  applies  to  the 
sword-fish  of -the  Mediterranean  and  Atlantic  (Fig.  49),  which, 
notwithstanding  its  food  is  mostly  vegetable,  attacks  the  whale 
with  its  spear-point  on  all  occasions  of  meeting.  There  is  an 
instance  on  record,  of  a  man,  whilst  bathing  in  the  Severn  near 

Worcester,  having  been  killed  by  the  sword-fish 

The  narwhal  has  a  still  more  formidable  weapon  of  the  same 
kind  (Fig.  50).  It  attacks  the  whale,  and  occasionally  the 
bottoms  of  ships,  a  specimen  of  the  effect  of  which  attack,  from 
the  Museum  of  the  Institution,  is  represented  in  Fig.  51.  The 
Esquimaux,  who,  in  the  accounts  which  they  give  of  their  own 
customs,  profess  to  derive  much  experience  from  the  habits  of 
the  animals  amongst  which  they  live,  use  the  narwhal's  tusk  for 
the  points  of  their  spears.  Fig.  52  represents  a  'nuguit'  from 
Greenland,  of  the  form  mentioned  by  Cranz ;  it  is  armed  with 
the  point  of  the  narwhal's  tusk.  Fig.  53,  from  my  collection, 
has  the  shaft  also  of  narwhal's  tusk;  it  is  armed  with  a  metal 
blade,  but  it  is  introduced  here  in  order  to  show  the  association 
which  existed  in  the  mind  of  the  constructor  between  his  weapon 
and  the  animal  from  which  the  shaft  is  derived,  and  for  the 
capture  of  which  it  is  chiefly  used.  The  wooden  shaft,  it  will 
be  seen,  is  constructed  in  the  form  of  the  fish,  and  the  ivory 
fore-shaft  is  inserted  in  the  snout  in  the  exact  position  of  that 
of  the  fish  itself.  At  Kotzebue  Sound,  Captain  Beechey  found 
the  natives  armed  with  lances  composed  of  a  walrus  tooth  fixed 
to  the  end  of  a  wooden  staff  (Fig.  54).  They  also  employ  the 
walrus  tooth  for  the  points  of  their  tomahawks  (Fig.  55).  The 
horns  of  the  antelope  are  used  as  lance-points  by  the  Djibba 
negroes  of  Central  Africa,  as  already  mentioned  (p.  52),  and  in 
Nubia  also  by  the  Shillooks  and  Dinkas.  The  antelope's  horn  is 
also  used  in  South  Africa  for  the  same  purpose.  The  argus 
pheasant  of  India,  the  wing-wader  of  Australia,  and  the  plover 
of  Central  Africa,  have  spurs  on  their  wings,  with  which  they 
fight ;  the  cock  and  turkey  have  spurs  on  their  feet,  used  expressly 


INVENTION   AND  TECHNOLOGY  387 

for  offence.  The  white  crane  of  America  has  been  known  to 
drive  its  beak  deep  into  the  bowels  of  a  hunter.  The  Indians  of 
Virginia,  in  1606,  are  described  as  having  arrows  armed  with 
the  spurs  of  the  turkey  and  beaks  of  birds.  In  the  Christy 
collection  there  is  an  arrow,  supposed  to  be  from  South  America, 
which  is  armed  with  the  natural  point  of  the  deer's  horn  (Fig. 
56).  The  war-club  of  the  Iroquois,  called  GA-NE-U'-GA-O- 
DUS-HA,  or  'deer-horn  war-club,'  was  armed  with  a  point  of  the 
deer's  horn  (Fig.  57),  about  4  inches  in  length;  since  communica- 
tion with  Europeans,  a  metal  point  has  been  substituted  (Fig.  58). 
It  appears  highly  probable  that  the  'martel-de-fer'  of  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  which  is  also  used  in  India  and  Persia, 
may  have  been  derived,  as  its  form  indicates,  from  a  horn  weapon 
of  this  kind.  Horn  points  suitable  for  arming  such  weapons 
have  been  found  both  in  England  and  Ireland,  two  specimens  of 
which  are  in  my  collection.  The  weapon  of  the  sting-ray,  from 
the  method  of  using  it  by  the  animal  itself,  should  more  properly 
be  classed  with  serrated  weapons,  but  it  is  a  weapon  in  general 
use  amongst  savages  for  spear  or  arrow  points  (Fig.  59),  for 
which  it  has  the  particular  merit  of  breaking  off  in  the  wound. 
It  causes  a  frightful  wound,  and  being  sharply  serrated,  as  well 
as  pointed,  there  is  no  means  of  cutting  it  out.  It  is  used  in  this 
way  by  the  inhabitants  of  Gambier  Island,  Samoa,  Otaheite,  the 
Fiji  Islands,  Pellew  Islands,  and  many  of  the  Low  Islands. 
Amongst  the  savages  of  tropical  South  America,  the  blade  of  the 
ray,  probably  the  Trygon  histrix,  is  used  for  arrow-points. 

In  the  Balistes  capriscus  (Fig.  60  a),  a  rare  British  fish,  the 
anterior  dorsal  is  preceded  by  a  strong  erectile  spine,  which  is 
used  for  piercing  other  fishes  from  beneath.  Its  base  is  expanded 
and  perforated,  and  a  bolt  from  the  supporting  plate  passes  freely 
through  it.  When  this  spine  is  raised,  a  hollow  at  the  back 
receives  a  prominence  from  the  next  bony  ray,  which  fixes  the 
spine  in  an  erect  position,  as  the  hammer  of  a  gun-lock  acts  at 
full-cock,  and  the  spine  cannot  be  forced  down  till  this  prominence 
is  withdrawn,  as  by  pulling  the  trigger.  This  mechanism  may 
be  compared  to  the  fixing  and  unfixing  of  a  bayonet ;  when  the 
spine  is  unfixed  and  bent  down,  it  is  received  into  a  groove  on 
the  supporting  plate,  and  offers  no  impediment  to  the  progress 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  389 

of  the  fish  through  the  water.  These  fishes  are  also  found 
in  a  fossil  state,  and,  to  use  the  words  of  Professor  Owen, 
from  whose  work  this  description  of  the  Batistes  is  borrowed, 
exemplify  in  a  remarkable  manner  the  efficacy,  beauty,  and 
variety  of  the  ancient  armoury  of  that  order.  The  stickleback 
is  armed  in  a  similar  manner,  and  is  exceedingly  pugnacious. 
The  Coitus  dicer  aus,  Pall.  (Fig.  60  &),  has  a  multi-barbed  horn 
on  its  back,  exactly  resembling  the  spears  of  the  Esquimaux, 
South  American,  and  Australian  savages.  The  Naseus  fronti- 
cornis,  Lac.  (Fig.  60  c),  has  also  a  spear- formed  weapon.  The 
Yellow-bellied  Acanthurus  is  armed  with  a  spine  of  considerable 
length  upon  its  tail. 

The  Australians  of  King  George's  Sound  use  the  pointed  fin 
of  the  roach  to  arm  their  spears ;  the  inhabitants  of  New  Guinea 
also  arm  their  arrows  with  the  offensive  horn  of  the  saw-fish, 
and  with  the  claw  of  the  cassowary.  The  sword  of  the  Limulus, 
or  king-crab,  is  an  offensive  weapon ;  its  habits  do  not  appear  to 
be  well  understood,  but  its  weapon  is  used  in  some  of  the  Malay 
islands  for  arrow-points  (Fig.  61).  The  natives  of  San  Salvador, 
when  discovered  by  Columbus,  used  lances  pointed  with  the  teeth 
of  fish.  The  spine  of  the  Diodon  is  also  used  for  arrow-points 
(Fig.  62).  Amongst  other  piercing  weapons  suggested  by  the 
horns  of  animals  may  be  noticed  the  Indian  'kandjar'  composed 
of  one  side  of  the  horn  of  the  buffalo,  having  the  natural  form 
and  point  (Fig.  63).  In  later  times  a  metal  dagger,  with  ivory 
handle,  was  constructed  in  the  same  country  (Fig.  64),  after  the 
exact  model  of  the  one  of  horn,  the  handle  having  one  side  flat,  in 
imitation  of  the  half-split  horn,  though  of  course  that  peculiar 
form  was  no  longer  necessitated  by  the  material  then  used.  The 
same  form  of  weapon  was  afterwards  used  with  a  metal  handle 
(Fig.  65).  The  sharp  horns  of  the  'sasin,'  or  common  antelope, 
often  steel  pointed,  are  still  used  as  offensive  weapons  in  India 
(Figs.  66,  67,  68) Three  stages  of  this  weapon  are  ex- 
hibited, the  first  having  the  natural  point,  the  second  a  metal  point, 
and  the  third  a  weapon  of  nearly  the  same  form  composed 
entirely  of  metal.  The  Fakirs  and  Dervishes,  not  being  permitted 
by  their  profession  to  carry  arms,  use  the  pointed  horn  of  the 
antelope  for  this  purpose.  Fig.  69  is  a  specimen  from  my  collec- 


390  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tion;  from  its  resemblance  to  the  Dervishes'  crutch  of  Western 
Asia,  I  presume  it  can  be  none  other  than  the  one  referred  to  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Archaeological  Association,  from  which  I  ob- 
tained this  information  respecting  the  Dervishes'  weapon.  Man- 
kind would  also  early  derive  instruction  from  the  sharp  thorns 
of  trees,  with  which  he  must  come  in  contact  in  his  rambles 
through  the  forests;  the  African  mimosa,  the  Gledischia,  the 
American  aloe,  and  the  spines  of  certain  palms,  would  afford  him 
practical  experience  of  their  efficacy  as  piercing  weapons,  and 
accordingly  we  find  them  often  used  by  savages  in  barbing  their 
arrows. 

Striking  weapons. — Many  animals  defend  themselves  by 
blows  delivered  with  their  wings  or  legs ;  the  giraffe  kicks  like  a 
horse  as  well  as  strikes  sideways  with  its  blunt  horns;  the  camel 
strikes  with  its  fore  legs  and  kicks  with  its  hind  legs;  the 
elephant  strikes  with  its  proboscis  and  tramples  with  its  feet ; 
eagles,  swans,  and  other  birds  strike  with  their  wings ;  the 
swan  is  said  to  do  so  with  sufficient  force  to  break  a  man's  leg; 
the  cassowary  strikes  forward  with  its  feet;  the  tiger  strikes  a 
fatal  blow  with  its  paw;  the  whale  strikes  with  its  tail,  and 
rams  with  such  force,  that  the  American  whaler  Essex  is  said  to 
have  been  sunk  by  that  animal.  There  is  no  known  example  of 
mankind  in  so  low  a  state  as  to  be  unacquainted  with  the  use  of 
artificial  weapons.  The  practice  of  boxing  with  the  fist,  how- 
ever, is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  British  Isles  as  some  people 
seem  to  suppose,  for  besides  the  Romans,  Lusitanians,  and  others 
mentioned  in  classical  history,  it  prevailed  certainly  in  the  Poly- 
nesian islands  and  in  Central  Africa. 

Serrated  weapons. — This  class  of  weapons  in  animals  corre- 
sponds to  the  cutting  weapons  of  men.  Amongst  the  most 
barbarous  races,  however,  as  amongst  animals,  no  example  of  a 
cutting  weapon  is  found :  although  the  Polynesian  islanders  make 
very  good  knives  of  the  split  and  sharpened  edges  of  bamboo, 
and  the  Esquimaux,  also,  use  the  split  tusk  of  the  walrus  as  a 
knife,  these  cannot  be  regarded,  nor,  indeed,  are  they  used,  as 
edged  weapons.  These,  strictly  speaking,  are  confined  to  the 
metal  age,  and  their  place,  in  the  earliest  stages  of  civilization,  is 
supplied  by  weapons  with  serrated,  or  saw-like  edges. 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  391 

Perhaps  the  nearest  approach  in  the  animal  kingdom  to  an 
edged  weapon  is  the  fore-arm  of  the  mantis,  a  kind  of  cricket, 
used  by  the  Chinese  and  others  in  the  East  for  their  amusement. 
Their  combats  have  been  compared  to  that  of  two  soldiers  fight- 
ing with  sabres.  They  cut  and  parry  with  their  fore-arms,  and, 
sometimes,  a  single  stroke  with  these  is  sufficient  to  decapitate, 
or  cut  in  two  the  body  of  an  antagonist.  But  on  closer  inspec- 
tion, these  fore-arms  are  found  to  be  set  with  a  row  of  strong 
and  sharp  spines,  similar  to  those  of  all  other  animals  that  are 
provided  with  this  class  of  weapon.  The  snout  of  the  saw-fish 
is  another  example  of  the  serrated  weapon.  Its  mode  of  attack- 
ing the  whale  is  by  jumping  up  high  in  the  air,  and  falling  on 
the  animal,  not  with  the  point,  but  with  the  sides  of  its  formid- 
able weapon,  both  edges  of  which  are  armed  with  a  row  of  sharp 
horns,  set  like  teeth,  by  means  of  which  it  rasps  a  severe  cut  in 
the  flesh  of  the  whale.  The  design  in  this  case  is  precisely  anal- 
ogous to  that  of  the  Australian  savage,  who  throws  his  similarly 
constructed  spear  so  as  to  strike,  not  with  the  bone  point,  but 
with  its  more  formidable  edges,  which  are  thick  set  with  a  row 
of  sharp-pointed  pieces  of  obsidian,  or  rock-crystal.  The  saw- 
fish is  amongst  the  most  widely  distributed  of  fishes,  belonging 
to  the  arctic,  antarctic,  and  tropical  seas.  It  may,  therefore,  very 
possibly  have  served  as  a  model  in  many  of  the  numerous  locali- 
ties in  which  this  character  of  weapon  is  found  in  the  hands  of 
savages.  The  snout  itself  is  used  as  a  weapon  by  the  inhabitants 
of  New  Guinea,  the  base  being  cut  and  bound  round  so  as  to 
form  a  handle.  Fig.  70  is  a  specimen  from  the  Museum  of  the 
Institution.  The  weapon  of  the  sting-ray,  though  used  by  sav- 
ages for  spear-points,  more  properly  belongs  to  this  class,  as 
the  mode  of  its  employment  by  the  animal  itself  consists  in 
twisting  its  long,  slender  tail  round  the  object  of  attack,  and 
cutting  the  surface  with  its  serrated  edge.  The  teeth  of  all  ani- 
mals, including  those  of  man  himself,  also  furnish  examples 
of  serrated  weapons. 

When  we  find  models  of  this  class  of  weapon  so  widely  dis- 
tributed in  the  lower  creation,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  first 
efforts  of  mankind  in  the  construction  of  trenchant  implements, 
should  so  universally  consist  of  teeth  or  flint  flakes,  arranged 


392  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

,    >'<».«!'*- 

along  the  edges  of  staves  or  clubs,  in  exact  imitation  of  the 
examples  which  he  finds  ready  to  his  hand,  in  the  mouths  of  the 
animals  which  he  captures,  and  on  which  he  is  dependent  for  his 
food.  Several  specimens  of  implements,  edged  in  this  manner 
with  sharks'  teeth  ....  are  represented  in  Figs.  71,  72,  73,  74. 
They  are  found  chiefly  in  the  Marquesas,  in  Tahiti,  Depeyster's 
Island,  Byron's  Isles,  the  Kingsmill  Group,  Radak  Island,  and  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  also  in  New  Zealand  (Fig.  75).  They  are  of 
various  shapes,  and  are  used  for  various  cutting  purposes,  as 
knives,  swords,  and  glaves.  Two  distinct  methods  of  fastening 
the  teeth  to  the  wood  prevail  in  the  Polynesian  Islands ;  firstly,  by 
inserting  them  in  a  groove  cut  in  the  sides  of  the  stick  or  weapon ; 
and  secondly,  by  arranging  the  teeth  in  a  row,  along  the  sides 
of  the  stick,  between  two  small  strips  of  wood  on  either  side  of 
the  teeth,  lashed  on  to  the  staff,  in  all  cases,  with  small  strings, 
composed  of  plant  fibre.  The  points  of  the  teeth  are  usually 
arranged  in  two  opposite  directions  on  the  same  staff,  so  that 
a  severe  cut  may  be  given  either  in  thrusting  or  withdrawing 
the  weapon. 

A  similarly  constructed  implement,  also  edged  with  sharks' 
teeth,  was  found  by  Captain  Graah  on  the  east  coast  of  Green- 
land, and  is  mentioned  in  Dr.  King's  paper  on  the  industrial 
arts  of  the  Esquimaux,  in  the  Jourtial  of  the  Ethnological  Society. 
The  teeth  in  this  implement  were  secured  by  small  nails,  or 
pegs  of  bone;  it  was  used  formerly  on  the  West  Coast.  A 
precisely  similar  implement  (Fig.  76),  but  showing  an  advance 
in  art  by  being  set  with  a  row  of  chips  of  meteoric  iron,  was 
found  amongst  the  Esquimaux  of  Davis  Strait,  and  is  now  in  the 
department  of  meteorolites  in  the  British  Museum.  Others,  of 
the  same  nature,  from  Greenland,  are  in  the  Christy  collection 
(Fig.  77).  The  'pacho'  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  appears  to 
have  been  a  sort  of  club,  armed  on  the  inner  side  with  sharks' 
teeth,  set  in  the  same  manner.  The  Tapoyers,  of  Brazil,  used  a 
kind  of  club,  which  was  broad  at  the  end,  and  set  with  teeth 
and  bones,  sharpened  at  the  point. 

Hernandez  gives  an  account  of  the  construction  of  the  Mexi- 
can 'maquahuilt'  or  Aztec  war-club,  which  was  armed  on  both 
sides  with  a  row  of  obsidian  flakes,  stuck  into  holes,  and  fastened 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  393 

with  a  kind  of  gum  (Fig.  78).  Herrera,  the  Spanish  historian, 
also  mentions  these  as  swords  of  wood,  having  a  groove  in  the 
fore  part,  in  which  the  flints  were  strongly  fixed  with  bitumen 
and  thread.  In  1530,  according  to  the  Spanish  historians,  Copan 
was  defended  by  30,000  men,  armed  with  these  weapons,  amongst 
others;  and  similar  weapons  have  been  represented  in  the  sculp- 
tures of  Yucatan.  They  are  also  represented  in  Lord  Kings- 
borough's  important  work  on  Mexican  antiquities,  from  which 
the  accompanying  representations  are  taken  (Figs.  78,  79,  80). 
One  of  these  swords,  having  six  pieces  of  obsidian  on  each  side 
of  the  blade,  is  to  be  seen  in  a  Museum  in  Mexico. 

In  the  burial  mounds  of  Western  North  America,  Mr.  Lewis 
Morgan,  the  historian  of  the  Iroquois,  mentions  that  rows  of 
flint  flakes  have  been  found  lying,  side  by  side,  in  order,  and 
suggesting  the  idea  that  they  must  have  been  fastened  into  sticks 
in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  Mexico  and  Yucatan. 

Throughout  the  entire  continent  of  Australia  the  natives  arm 
their  spears  with  small  sharp  pieces  of  obsidian,  or  crystal,  and 
recently  of  glass,  arranged  in  rows  along  the  sides  near  the 
point,  and  fastened  with  a  cement  of  their  own  preparation, 
thereby  producing  a  weapon  which,  though  thinner  in  the  shaft, 
is  precisely  similar  in  character  to  those  already  described  (Figs. 
81  and  82).  Turning  again  to  the  northern  hemisphere,  we  find 
in  the  Museum  of  Professor  Nilsson,  at  Lund,  in  Sweden,  a 
smooth,  sharp-pointed  piece  of  bone,  found  in  that  country, 
about  six  inches  long,  grooved  on  each  side  to  the  depth  of  about 
a  quarter  of  an  inch,  into  each  of  which  grooves  a  row  of  fine, 
sharp-edged,  and  slightly-curved  flints  were  inserted,  and  fixed 
with  cement.  The  instrument  thus  armed  was  fastened  to  the 
end  of  a  shaft  of  wood,  and  might  either  have  been  thrown  by 
the  hand  or  projected  from  a  bow  (Fig.  83).  Another  precisely 
similar  implement  (Fig.  84)  is  represented  in  the  illustrated 
Catalogue  of  the  Museum  at  Copenhagen,  showing  that  in  both 
these  countries  this  system  of  constructing  trenchant  implements 
was  employed.  In  Ireland,  although  there  is  no  actual  evidence 
of  flints  having  been  set  in  this  manner,  yet  from  the  numerous 
examples  of  this  class  of  weapon  that  are  found  elsewhere,  and 
the  frequent  occurrence  of  flint  implements  of  a  form  that  would 


394  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

well  adapt  them  to  such  a  purpose,  the  author  of  the  Catalogue 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  expresses  his  opinion  that  the  same 
arrangement  may  very  possibly  have  existed  in  that  country, 
and  that  the  wood  in  which  they  were  inserted  may,  like  that 
which,  as  I  have  already  said,  is  supposed  to  have  held  the  flints 
found  in  the  graves  of  the  Iroquois,  have  perished  by  decay. 

Poisoned  weapons. — It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  here  into  a 
detailed  account  of  the  use  of  poison  by  man  and  animals.  Its 
use  by  man  as  a  weapon  of  offence  is  chiefly  confined  to  those 
tropical  regions  in  which  poisonous  herbs  and  reptiles  are  most 
abundant.  It  is  used  by  the  Negroes,  Bushmen,  and  Hottentots 
of  Africa;  in  the  Indian  Archipelago,  New  Hebrides,  and  New 
Caledonia.  It  appears  formerly  to  have  been  used  in  the  South 
Seas.  It  is  employed  in  Bootan ;  in  Assam ;  by  the  Stiens  of 
Cambodia ;  and  formerly  by  the  Moors  of  Mogadore.  The 
Parthians  and  Scythians  used  it  in  ancient  times ;  and  it  appears 
always  to  have  been  regarded  by  ancient  writers  as  the  especial 
attribute  of  barbarism.  The  Italian  bravoes  of  modern  Europe 
also  used  it.  In  America  it  is  employed  by  the  Darian  Indians, 
in  Guiana,  Brazil,  Peru,  Paraguay,  and  on  the  Orinoco.  The 
composition  of  the  poison  varies  in  the  different  races,  the  Bush- 
men and  Hottentots  using  the  venomous  secretions  of  serpents 
and  caterpillars,  whilst  most  other  nations  of  the  world  employ 
the  poisonous  herbs  of  the  different  countries  they  inhabit,  show- 
ing that  in  all  probability  this  must  have  been  one  of  those  arts 
which,  though  of  very  early  origin,  arose  spontaneously  and  sepa- 
rately in  the  various  .quarters  of  the  globe,  after  the  human 
family  had  separated.  This  subject,  however,  is  deserving  of  a 
separate  treatment,  and  will  be  alluded  to  elsewhere. 

In  drawing  a  parallel  between  the  weapons  of  men  and  ani- 
mals used  in  the  application  of  poison  for  offensive  purposes,  two 
points  of  similitude  deserve  attention. 

Firstly,  the  poison  gland  of  many  serpents  is  situated  on  the 
upper  jaw,  behind  and  below  the  eyes.  A  long  excretory  duct 
extends  from  this  gland  to  the  outer  surface  of  the  upper  jaw, 
and  opens  above  and  before  the  poison  teeth,  by  which  means  the 
poison  flows  along  the  sheath  into  the  upper  opening  of  the  tooth 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  secure  its  insertion  into  the  wound.  The 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  395 

hollow  interior  of  the  bones  with  which  the  South  American  and 
other  Indians  arm  the  poisoned  arrows  secures  the  same  object 
(Fig.  85)  ;  it  contains  the  poisonous  liquid,  and  provides  a  channel 
for  its  insertion  into  the  wound.  In  the  bravo's  dagger  of  Italy, 
a  specimen  of  which  from  my  collection  is  shown  in  Fig.  86,  a 
similar  provision  for  the  insertion  of  the  poison  is  effected  by 
means  of  a  groove  on  either  side  of  the  blade,  communicating 
with  two  rows  of  small  holes,  into  which  the  poison  flows,  and  is 
retained  in  that  part  of  the  blade  which  enters  the  wound. 
Nearly  similar  blades,  with  holes,  have  been  found  in  Ireland, 
of  which  a  specimen  is  in  the  Academy's  Museum,  and  they 
have  been  compared  with  others  of  the  same  kind  from  India, 
but  I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  any  evidence  to  show  that  they 
were  used  for  poison.  Some  of  the  Indian  daggers,  however, 
are  constructed  in  close  analogy  with  the  poison  apparatus  of 
the  serpent's  tooth,  having  an  enclosed  tube  running  down  the 
middle  of  the  blade,  communicating  with  a  reservoir  for  poison 
in  the  handle,  and  having  lateral  openings  in  the  blade  for  the 
diffusion  of  the  poison  in  the  wound.  Similar  holes,  but  without 
any  enclosed  tube,  and  having  only  a  groove  on  the  surface  of 
the  blade  to  communicate  with  the  holes,  are  found  in  some  of  the 
Scotch  dirks,  and  in  several  forms  of  couteau  de  chasse,  in  which 
they  appear  to  have  been  used  merely  with  a  view  of  letting  air 
into  the  wound,  and  accelerating  death  (Figs.  87  a  and  b).  The 
Scotch  dirk,  here  represented,  has  a  groove  running  from  the 
handle  along  the  back  of  the  blade  to  within  three  and  a  half 
inches  of  the  point.  In  the  bottom  of  this  groove  ten  holes  are 
pierced,  which  communicate  with  other  lateral  holes  at  right 
angles,  opening  on  to  the  sides  of  the  blade.  Daggers  are  still 
made  at  Sheffield  for  the  South  American  market,  with  a  small 
hole  drilled  through  the  blade,  near  the  point,  to  contain  the 
poison ;  and  in  my  collection  there  is  an  iron  arrow-point  ( Fig. 
88),  evidently  formed  of  the  point  of  one  of  these  daggers,  having 
the  hole  near  the  point. 

It  often  happens  that  forms  which,  in  the  early  history  of  an 
art,  have  served  some  specific  object,  are  in  later  times  applied 
to  other  uses,  and  are  ultimately  retained  only  in  the  forms  of 
ornamentation.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  the 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  397 

pierced  work  upon  the  blades  of  weapons  which,  intended  origi- 
nally for  poison,  was  afterwards  used  as  air-holes,  and  ultimately 
for  ornament  only,  as  appears  by  a  plug  bayonet  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  eighteenth  century  in  the  Tower  Armoury,  No. 
390  of  the  official  Catalogue,  for  a  drawing  of  which,  as  well  as 
that  of  the  Scotch  dirk,  I  am  indebted  to  Captain  A.  Tupper,  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  this  Institution. 

The  second  point  of  analogy  to  which  I  would  draw  attention 
is  that  of  the  multi-barbed  arrows  of  most  savages  to  the  multi- 
barbed  stings  of  insects,  especially  that  of  the  bee  (Fig.  89), 
which  is  so  constructed  that  it  cannot  usually  be  withdrawn,  but 
breaks  off  with  its  poisonous  appendage  into  the  wound.  An 
exact  parallel  to  this  is  found  in  the  poisoned  arrows  of  savages 
of  various  races,  which,  as  already  mentioned,  are  frequently 
armed  with  the  point  of  the  sting-ray,  for  the  express  purpose 
of  breaking  in  the  wound.  In  the  arrows  of  the  Bushmen,  the 
shaft  is  often  partly  cut  through,  so  as  to  break  when  it  comes 
in  contact  with  a  bone,  and  the  barb  is  constructed  to  remain  in 
the  wound  when  the  arrow  is  withdrawn  (Fig.  90).  The  same 
applies  to  the  barbed  arrows  used  with  the  Malay  blowpipe  (Fig. 
91),  and  those  of  the  wild  tribes  of  Assam  (Fig.  92),  which  are 
also  poisoned.  The  arrow-points  of  the  Shoshones  of  North 
America  (Fig.  93),  said  to  be  poisoned,  are  tied  on,  purposely, 
with  gut  in  such  manner  as  to  remain  when  the  arrow  is  with- 
drawn. The  arrows  of  the  Macoushie  tribe  of  Guiana  (Fig.  94) 
are  made  with  a  small  barbed  and  poisoned  head,  which  is  inserted 
in  a  socket  in  the  shaft,  in  which  it  fits  loosely,  so  as  to  detach 
in  the  wound.  This  weapon  appears  to  form  the  link  between 
the  poisoned  arrow  and  the  fishing  arrow  or  harpoon,  which 
is  widely  distributed,  and  which  I  propose  to  describe  on  a  subse- 
quent occasion.  Mr.  Latham,  of  Wilkinson's,  Pall  Mall,  has 
been  kind  enough  to  describe  to  me  a  Venetian  dagger  of  glass, 
formerly  in  his  possession;  it  had  a  tube  in  the  centre  for  the 
poison,  and  the  blade  was  constructed  with  three  edges.  By 
a  sharp  wrench  from  the  assassin,  the  blade  was  broken  off,  and 
remained  in  the  wound. 

It  has  also  been  supposed  that  from  their  peculiar  construction 
most  of  the  triangular  and  concave-based  arrow-heads  of  flint 


that  are  found  in  this  country,  and  in  Ireland,  were  constructed 
for  a  similar  purpose  (Fig.  95). 

The  serrated  edges  of  weapons,  like  those  of  the  bee  and  the 
sting-ray,  when  used  as  arrow-points,  were  likewise  instrumental 
in  retaining  the  poison  and  introducing  it  into  the  wound,  and 
this  form  was  copied  with  a  similar  object  in  some  of  the 
Florentine  daggers  above  mentioned,  a  portion  of  the  blade  of 
one  of  which,  taken  from  Meyrick's  Ancient  Arms  and  Armour, 
is  shown  in  Fig.  96. 

Although  the  use  of  poison  would  in  these  days  be  scouted  by 
all  civilized  nations  as  an  instrument  in  war,  we  find  it  still 
applied  to  useful  purposes  in  the  destruction  of  the  larger  ani- 
mals. The  operation  of  whaling,  which  is  attended  with  so 
much  danger  and  difficulty,  has  of  late  been  greatly  facilitated 
by  the  use  of  a  mixture  of  strychnine  and  'woorali,'  the  well- 
known  poison  of  the  Indians  of  South  America.  An  ounce  of 
this  mixture,  attached  to  a  small  explosive  shell  fired  from  a 
carbine,  has  been  found  to  destroy  a  whale  in  less  than  eighteen 
minutes,  without  risk  to  the  whaler. 

When  we  consider  how  impotent  a  creature  the  aboriginal 
and  uninstructed  man  must  have  been,  when  contending  with 
the  large  and  powerful  animals  with  which  he  was  surrounded, 
we  cannot  too  much  admire  that  provision  of  nature  which 
appears  to  have  directed  his  attention,  during  the  very  earliest 
stages  of  his  existence,  to  the  acquirement  of  the  subtile  art  of 
poisoning.  In  the  forests  of  Guiana,  there  are  tribes,  such  as  the 
Otomacs,  apparently  weaponless,  but  which,  by  simply  poisoning 
the  thumb-nail  with  'curare'  or  'woorali,'  at  once  become  formid- 
able antagonists.  Poison  is  available  for  hunting  as  well  as  for 
warlike  purposes:  the  South  American  Indians  eat  the  monkeys 
killed  by  this  means,  merely  cutting  out  the  part  struck,  and 
the  wild  tribes  of  the  Malay  peninsula  do  not  even  trouble  them- 
selves to  cut  out  the  part  before  eating.  The  Bushmen,  and  the 
Stiens  of  Cambodia,  use  their  poisoned  weapons  chiefly  against 
wild  beasts  and  elephants. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  most  noxious  of  herbs  and  the  most 
repulsive  of  reptiles  have  been  the  means  ordained  to  instruct 
mankind  in  what,  during  the  first  ages  of  his  existence,  must 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  399 

have  been  the  most  useful  of  arts.  We  cannot  now  determine 
how  far  this  agent  may  have  been  influential  in  exterminating 
those  huge  animals,  the  Elephas  primigenius  and  Rhinoceros 
tichorhinus,  with  the  remains  of  which  the  earliest  races  of  man 
have  been  so  frequently  associated,  and  which,  in  those  primaeval 
days,  before  he  began  to  turn  his  hand  to  the  destruction  of  his 
own  species,  must  have  constituted  his  most  formidable  enemies. 
.  .  .  . — A.  LANE-FOX  PITT-RIVERS,  Journal  of  the  Royal  United 
Service  Institution,  Vol.  XI,  and  reprinted  in  The  Evolution  of 
Culture,  57-82  (Clarendon  Press,  1906). 

ON  THE  ORIGIN   OF  THE  PLOUGH  AND  WHEEL-CARRIAGE 

....  Not  only  the  beginning  of  agriculture,  but  the  invention 
of  the  plough  itself,  are  pre-historic.  The  plough  was  known  to 
the  ancient  Egyptians  and  Babylonians,  and  the  very  existence 
of  these  nations  points  to  previous  thousands  of  years  of  agri- 
cultural life,  which  alone  could  have  produced  such  dense,  settled, 
and  civilised  populations.  It  was  with  a  sense  of  what  the  plough 
had  done  for  them,  that  the  old  Egyptians  ascribed  its  invention 
to  Osiris,  and  the  Vedic  bards  said  the  Agvins  taught  its  use 
to  Manu,  the  first  man.  Many  nations  have  glorified  the  plough 
in  legend  and  religion,  perhaps  never  more  poetically  than  where 
the  Hindus  celebrate  Sitd,  the  spouse  of  Rama,  rising  brown  and 
beauteous,  crowned  with  corn-ears,  from  the  ploughed  field ;  she 
is  herself  the  furrow  (sitd)  personified.  Between  man's  first 
rude  husbandry,  and  this  advanced  state  of  tillage,  lies  the  long 
interval  which  must  be  filled  in  by  other  than  historical  evidence. 
What  has  first  to  be  looked  for  is  hardly  the  actual  invention  of 
planting,  which  might  seem  obvious  even  to  rude  tribes  who  never 
practise  it.  Every  savage  is  a  practical  botanist  skilled  in  the 
localities  and  seasons  of  all  useful  plants,  so  that  he  can  scarcely 
be  ignorant  that  seeds  or  roots,  if  put  into  proper  places  in  the 
ground,  will  grow.  When  low  tribes  are  found  not  tilling  the 
soil  but  living  on  wild  food,  as  apparently  all  mankind  once  did, 
the  reason  of  the  absence  of  agriculture  would  seem  to  be  not 
mere  ignorance,  but  insecurity,  roving  life,  unsuitable  climat", 
want  of  proper  plants,  and  in  regions  where  wild  fruits  are  plenti- 
ful, sheer  idleness  and  carelessness.  On  looking  into  the  condition 


400  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  any  known  savage  tribes,  Australians,  Andamaners,  Botocudos, 
Fuegians,  Esquimaux,  there  is  always  one  or  more  of  these 
reasons  to  account  for  want  of  tillage.  The  turning-point  in  the 
history  of  agriculture  seems  to  be  not  the  first  thought  of  plant- 
ing, but  the  practical  beginning  by  a  tribe  settled  in  one  spot  to 
assist  nature  by  planting  a  patch  of  ground  round  their  huts.  Not 
even  a  new  implement  is  needed.  Wandering  tribes  already  carry 
a  stick  for  digging  roots  and  unearthing  burrowing  animals,  such 
as  the  katta  of  the  Australians,  with  its  point  hardened  in  the  fire 
(Fig.  i),  or  the  double-ended  stick  which  Dobrizhoffer  mentions 

•• 

as  carried  by  the  Abipone  women  to  dig  up  eatable  roots,  knock 
down  fruits  or  dry  branches  for  fuel,  and  even,  if  need  were, 
break  an  enemy's  head  with.  The  stick  which  dug  up  wild  roots 
passes  to  the  kindred  use  of  planting,  and  may  be  reckoned  as 
the  primitive  agricultural  implement.  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
how  the  Hottentots  in  their  husbandry  break  up  the  ground  with 
the  same  stone-weighted  stick  they  use  so  skilfully  in  root-dig- 
ging or  unearthing  animals.  The  simple  pointed  stake  is  often 
mentioned  as  the  implement  of  barbaric  husbandry,  as  when  the 
Kurubars  of  South  India  are  described  as  with  a  sharp  stick 
digging  up  spots  of  ground  in  the  skirts  of  the  forest,  and  sowing 
them  with  ragy;  or  where  it  is  mentioned  that  the  Bodo  and 
Dhimal  of  North-East  India,  while  working  the  ground  with  iron 
bills  and  hoes,  use  a  4-ft.  two-pointed  wooden  staff  for  a  dibble. 
The  spade,  which  is  hardly  to  be  reckoned  among  primitive  agri- 
cultural implements,  may  be  considered  as  improved  from  the 
digging-stick  by  giving  it  a  flat  paddle-like  end,  or  arming  it  with 
a  broad  pointed  metal  blade,  and  afterwards  providing  a  foot-step. 
In  the  Hebrides  is  to  be  seen  a  curious  implement  called  caschrom, 
a  kind  of  heavy  bent  spade  with  an  iron-shod  point,  which  has 
been  set  down  as  a  sort  of  original  plough ;  but  its  action  is  that 
of  a  spade,  and  it  seems  out  of  the  line  of  development  of  the 
plough.  To  trace  this,  we  have  to  pass  from  the  digging-stick 
to  the  hoe. 

All  implements  of  the  nature  of  hoes  seem  derived  from  the 
pick  or  axe.  Thus  the  New  Caledonians  are  said  to  use  their 
wooden  picks  both  as  a  weapon  and  for  tilling  the  ground.  The 
tima  or  Maori  hoe  (Fig.  2),  from  R.  Taylor's,  "New  Zealand  and 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  401 

its  Inhabitants,"  p.  423,  is  a  remarkable  curved  wooden  implement 
in  one  piece.  It  is  curious  that  of  all  this  class  of  agricultural 
implements,  the  rudest  should  make  its  appearance  in  Europe. 
Tradition  in  South  Sweden  points  to  waste  pieces  of  once  tilled 
land  in  the  forests  and  wilds,  as  having  been  the  fields  of  the 
old  "hackers,"  and  within  a  generation  there  was  still  to  be  seen 
in  use  on  forest  farms  the  "hack"  itself  (Fig.  3),  made  of  a  stake 
of  spruce-fir,  with  at  the  lower  end  a  stout  projecting  branch  cut 
short  and  pointed.  Even  among  native  tribes  of  America  a  more 
artificial  hoe  than  this  was  found  in  use.  Thus  the  hoe  used  by 
the  North  American  women  in  preparing  the  soil  for  planting 
maize  after  the  old  stalks  had  been  burnt  is  described  as  a  bent 
piece  of  wood,  three  fingers  wide,  fixed  to  a  long  handle.  In  other 
North  American  tribes,  the  women  hoed  with  a  shoulderblade  of 
an  e}k  or  buffalo,  or  a  piece  of  the  shell  of  a  tortoise  fixed  to  a 
straight  handle.  From  this  stage  we  come  up  to  implements  with 
metal  blades,  such  as  the  Kafir  axe,  which  by  turning  the  blade  in 
the  handle  becomes  an  implement  for  hoeing.  The  heavy-bladed 
Indian  hoe  (Sanskrit  kndddla)  called  koddly  in  Malabar,  which 
is  shown  here  (Fig.  4),  is  one  example  of  the  iron-bladed  hoe, 
of  clumsy  and  ancient  type.  The  modern  varieties  of  the  hoe  need 
no  detailed  description  here. 

That  the  primitive  plough  was  a  hoe  dragged  through  the 
ground  to  form  a  continuous  furrow,  is  seen  from  the  very 
structure  of  early  ploughs,  and  was  accepted  as  obvious  by  Ginzrot 
("Wagen  und  Fahrwerke  der  Griechen  und  Romer,"  vol.  i,  and, 
Klemm,  "Culturwissenschaft,"  part  ii,  p.  78).  The  evidence  of 
the  transitions  through  which  agricultural  implements  have  passed 
in  Sweden  during  the  last  ten  centuries  or  so,  which  was  unknown 
to  these  writers,  is  strongly  confirmatory  of  the  same  view.  It 
appears  that  the  fir-tree  hack  (Fig.  3)  was  followed  by  a  heavier 
wooden  implement  of  similar  shape,  which  was  dragged  by  hand, 
making  small  furrows;  this  "furrow-crook"  is  still  used  for  sow- 
ing. Afterwards  was  introduced  the  "plough-crook,"  made  in 
two  pieces,  the  share  with  the  handle,  and  the  pole  for  drawing. 
The  share  was  afterwards  shod  with  a  three-cornered  iron  bill, 
but  the  implement  was  long  drawn  by  hand,  till  eventually  it 
came  to  be  drawn  by  mares  or  cows.  Thus  in  comparatively 


402 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


INVENTION   AND  TECHNOLOGY  403 

modern  times  a  transformation  took  place  in  Sweden  remarkably 
resembling  that  of  which  we  have  circumstantial  evidence  as 
having  happened  in  ancient  Egypt.  The  Egyptian  monuments 
show  a  plough,  which  was  practically  a  great  hoe,  being  dragged 
by  a  rope  by  men.  Still  more  perfect  is  the  ploughing  scene  here 
copied  in  Fig.  5.  Here  the  man  who  follows  the  plough  to  break 
up  the  clods  is  working  with  the  ordinary  Egyptian  hoe,  remark- 
able for  its  curved  wooden  blade  longer  than  the  handle,  and 
prevented  from  coming  abroad  by  the  cord  attaching  the  blade 
to  the  handle  half-way  down.  This  peculiar  implement,  with  its 
cord  to  hold  it  together,  reappears  on  a  larger  scale  in  the  plough 
itself,  where  the  straight  stick  is  lengthened  to  form  the  pole 
by  which  the  oxen  draw  it,  and  a  pair  of  handles  are  added  by 

which  the  ploughman  keeps  down  and  guides  the'  plough 

The  plough,  drawn  by  oxen  or  horses,  and  provided  with 
wheels,  has  taken  on  itself  the  accessories  of  a  wheel-carriage. 
But  when  the  plough  is  traced  back  to  its  earliest  form  of  a  hoe 
dragged  by  men,  its  nature  has  little  in  common  with  that  of  the 
vehicle.  Though  the  origin  of  the  wheel-carriage  is  even  more 
totally  lost  in  pre-historic  antiquity  than  that  of  the  plough,  there 
seems  nothing  to  object  to  the  ordinary  theoretical  explanation 
that  the  first  vehicle  was  a  sledge  dragged  along  the  ground,  that 
when  heavy  masses  had  to  be  moved,  rollers  were  put  under 
the  sledge,  and  that  these  rollers  passed  into  wheels  form- 
ing part  of  the  carriage  itself.  The  steps  of  such  a  transition, 
with  one  notable  exception  which  will  be  noticed,  are  to  be 
actually  found.  The  sledge  was  known  in  ancient  Egypt  (see  the 
well-known  painting  from  El  Bersheh  of  a  colossal  statue  being 
dragged  by  men  with  ropes  on  a  sledge  along  a  greased  way, 
Wilkinson,  "Ancient  Egyptians,"  vol.  iii).  On  mountain-roads, 
as  in  Switzerland,  as  well  as  on  the  snow  in  winter,  the  sledge 
remains  an  important  practical  vehicle.  The  use  of  rollers  under 
the  sledge  was  also  familiar  to  the  ancients  (see  the  equally  well- 
known  Assyrian  sculpture  of  the  moving  of  the  winged  bull,  in 
Layard's  "Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  p.  no).  If  now  the  middle 
part  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree  used  as  a  roller  were  cut  down  to  a 
mere  axle,  the  two  ends  remaining  as  solid  drums,  and  stops  were 
fixed  under  the  sledge  to  prevent  the  axle  from  running  away, 


404  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  result  would  be  the  rudest  imaginable  cart.  I  am  not  aware 
that  this  can  be  traced  anywhere  in  actual  existence,  either  in 
ancient  or  modern  times;  if  found,  it  would  be  of  much  interest 
as  vouching  for  this  particular  stage  of  invention  of  the  wheel- 
carriage.  But  the  stage  which  would  be  theoretically  the  next 
improvement,  is  to  be  traced  in  practical  use ;  this  is  to  saw  two 
broad  drums  off  a  tree-trunk,  and  connect  them  to  a  stout  bar 
through  their  centres,  pinned  fast,  so  that  the  whole  turns  as  a 
single  roller.  The  solid  drum-wheel  was  used  in  the  farm-carts 
of  classic  times  (see  the  article  "Plaustrum,"  by  Yates,  in  Smith's 
"Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities").  The  ox-wagon 
here  shown  is  taken  from  the  Antonine  column  (Fig.  6)  ;  it 
appears  to  have  solid  wheels,  and  the  square  end  of  the  axle 
proves  that  it  and  its  drum-wheels  turned  round  together  in  one. 
A  further  improvement  was  to  make  the  wheel  with  several  pieces 
nailed  together,  which  would  be  less  likely  to  split.  The  ancient 
Roman  farm-carts  were  mostly  made  with  such  wheels,  as  are 
their  successors  which  are  used  to  this  day  with  wonderfully 

little  change,  as  in  Greece  and  Portugal Considering  that 

the  railway-carriage  builder  gives  up  the  coach-wheel  principle, 
and  returns  to  the  primitive  construction  of  the  pair  of  wheels 
fixed  to  the  axle  turning  in  bearings,  we  see  that  our  ordinary 
carriage-wheels  turning  independently  on  their  axles  are  best 
suited  to  comparatively  narrow  wheels,  and  to  smooth  ground 
or  made  roads.  Here  they  give  greater  lightness  and  speed,  and 
especially  have  the  advantage  of  easily  changing  direction  and 
turning,  which  in  the  old  block-wheel  cart  can  only  be  done  by 

gradually  slewing  round  in  a  wide  circuit — E.  B.  TYLOR, 

Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute,  10:74-81. 

EARLY  MODES  OF  NAVIGATION 
I.    SOLID    TRUNKS    AND    DUG-OUT    CANOES 

....  It  requires  but  little  imagination  to  conceive  an  idea  of 
the  process  by  which  a  wooden  support  in  the  water  forced  itself 
upon  the  notice  of  mankind.  The  great  floods  to  which  the 
valleys  of  many  large  rivers  are  subject,  more  especially  those 
which  have  their  sources  in  tropical  regions,  sometimes  devastate 
the  whole  country  within  miles  of  their  banks,  and  by  their  sud- 


INVENTION   AND  TECHNOLOGY  4°5 

denness  frequently  overtake  and  carry  down  numbers  of  both 
men  and  animals,  together  with  large  quantities  of  timber  which 
had  grown  upon  the  sides  of  the  valleys.  The  remembrances  of 
such  deluges  are  preserved  in  the  traditions  of  many  savage 
races,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  by  this  means  that 
the  human  race  first  learnt  to  make  use  of  floating  timber  as  a 
support  for  the  body.  The  wide  distribution  of  the  word  signi- 
fying ship — Latin  navis;  Greek  vaO?;  Sanskrit  nau;  Celtic  nao; 
Assam  nao;  Port  Jackson,  Australia,  nao — attests  the  antiquity 
of  the  term.  In  Bible  history  the  same  term  has  been  employed 
to  personify  the  tradition  of  the  first  shipbuilder,  Noah. 

It  is  even  said,  though  with  what  truth  I  am  not  aware,  that 
the  American  grey  squirrel  (Sciurus  migratorius) ,  which  mi- 
grates in  large  numbers,  crossing  large  rivers,  has  been  known 
to  embark  on  a  piece  of  floating  timber,  and  paddle  itself  across. 

The  North  American  Indians  frequently  cross  rivers  by  clasp- 
ing the  left  arm  and  leg  round  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and  swimming 
with  the  right. 

The  next  stage  in  the  development  of  the  canoe  would  consist 
in  pointing  the  ends,  so  as  to  afford  less  resistance  to  the  water. 
In  this  stage  we  find  it  represented  on  the  NW.  coast  of  Australia. 
Gregory,  in  the  year  1861,  says  that  his  ship  was  visited  on 
this  coast  by  two  natives,  who  had  paddled  off  on  logs  of  wood 
shaped  like  canoes,  not  hollowed,  but  very  buoyant,  about  7 
feet  long,  and  I  foot  thick,  which  they  propelled  with  their 
hands  only,  their  legs  resting  on  a  little  rail  made  of  small 
sticks  driven  in  on  each  side.  Mr.  T.  Baines,  also,  in  a  letter 
quoted  by  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  in  his  Natural  History  of  Man 
(vol.  ii.  p.  7),  speaks  of  some  canoes  which  he  saw  in  North 
Australia  as  being  'mere  logs  of  wood,  capable  of  carrying  a 
couple  of  men.'  Others  used  on  the  north  coast  are  dug  out,  but 
as  these  are  provided  with  an  outrigger,  they  have  probably 
been  derived  from  New  Guinea.  The  canoes  used  by  the  Aus- 
tralians on  the  rivers  consist  either  of  a  bundle  of  rushes  bound 
together  and  pointed  at  the  ends,  or  else  they  are  formed  of 
bark  in  a  very  simple  manner;  but  on  the  south-east  coast,  near 
Cape  Howe,  Captain  Cook,  in  his  first  voyage,  found  numbers  of 
canoes  in  use  by  the  natives  on  the  seashore.  These  he  described 


406  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

as  being  very  like  the  smaller  sort  used  in  New  Zealand,  which 
were  hollowed  out  by  means  of  fire.  One  of  these  was  of  a  size 
to  be  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  four  men. 

It  has  been  thought  that  the  use  of  hollowed  canoes  may  have 
arisen  from  observing  the  effect  of  a  split  reed  or  bamboo  upon 
the  water.  The  nautilus  is  also  said  to  have  given  the  first  idea 
of  a  ship  to  man ;  and  Pliny,  Diodorus,  and  Strabo  have  stated 
that  large  tortoise-shells  were  used  by  primitive  races  of  man- 
kind (Kitto,  Pictorial  Bible).  It  has  also  been  supposed  that 
the  natural  decay  of  trees  may  have  first  suggested  the  employ- 
ment of  hollow  trees  for  canoes,  but  such  trees  are  not  easily 
removed  entire.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  so  great  an  ad- 
vance in  the  art  of  shipbuilding  was  first  introduced,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  agent  first  employed  for  this  purpose 
was  fire. 

I  have  noticed  when  travelling  in  Bulgaria  that  the  gipsies 
and  others  who  roam  over  that  country  usually  select  the  foot 
of  a  dry  tree  to  light  their  cooking  fire ;  the  dry  wood  of  the 
tree,  combined  with  the  sticks  collected  at  the  foot  of  it,  makes 
a  good  blaze,  and  the  tree  throws  forward  the  heat  like  a  fire- 
place. Successive  parties  camping  on  the  same  ground,  attracted 
thither  by  the  vicinity  of  water,  use  the  same  fireplaces,  and  the 
result  is  that  the  trees  by  degrees  become  hollowed  out  for  some 
distance  from  the  foot,  the  hollow  part  formed  by  the  fire  serv- 
ing the  purpose  of  a  semi-cylindrical  chimney.  Such  a  tree,  torn 
up  by  the  roots,  or  cut  off  below  the  part  excavated  by  the  fire, 
would  form  a  very  serviceable  canoe,  the  parts  not  excavated  by 
the  fire  being  sound  and  hard.  The  Andaman  islanders  use  a 
tree  in  this  manner  as  an  oven,  the  fire  being  kept  constantly 
burning  in  the  hollow  formed  by  the  flames. 

One  of  the  best  accounts  of  the  process  of  digging  out  a  canoe 
by  means  of  fire  is  that  described  by  Kalm,  on  the  Delaware 
river,  in  1747.  He  says  that,  when  the  Indians  intend  to  fell  a 
tree,  for  want  of  proper  instruments  they  employ  fire;  they 
set  fire  to  a  quantity  of  wood  at  the  roots  of  the  tree,  and 
in  order  that  the  fire  might  not  reach  further  up  than  they 
would  have  it,  they  fasten  some  rags  to  a  pole,  dip  them  in 
water,  and  keep  continually  washing  the  tree  a  little  above  the 


INVENTION   AND  TECHNOLOGY  407 

fire  until  the  lower  part  is  burnt  nearly  through;  it  is  then 
pulled  down.  When  they  intend  to  hollow  a  tree  for  a  canoe, 
they  lay  dry  branches  along  the  stem  of  the  tree  as  far  as  it 
must  be  hollowed  out,  set  them  on  fire,  and  replace  them  by 
others.  While  these  parts  are  burning,  they  keep  pouring  water 
on  those  parts  that  are  not  to  be  burnt  at  the  sides  and  ends. 
When  the  interior  is  sufficiently  burnt  out,  they  take  their  stone 
hatchets  and  shells  and  scoop  out  the  burnt  wood.  These  canoes 
are  usually  30  or  40  feet  long.  In  the  account  of  one  of  the  expe- 
ditions sent  out  by  Raleigh  in  1584  a  similar  description  is  given 
of  the  process  adopted  by  the  Indians  of  Virginia,  except  that, 
instead  of  sticks,  resin  is  laid  on  to  the  parts  to  be  excavated  and 
set  fire  to :  canoes  capable  of  holding  twenty  persons  were  formed 
in  this  manner. 

The  Waraus  of  Guiana  employ  fire  for  excavating  their 
canoes;  and  when  Columbus  discovered  the  Island  of  Guanahani 
or  San  Salvador,  in  the  West  Indies,  he  found  [fire]  employed 
for  this  purpose  by  the  natives,  who  called  their  boats  'canoe,'  a 
term  which  has  ever  since  been  employed  by  Europeans  to 
express  this  most  primitive  class  of  vessel. 

Dr.  Mouat  says  that,  in  Blair's  time,  the  Andaman  islanders 
excavated  their  canoes  by  the  agency  of  fire ;  but  it  is  not  em- 
ployed for  that  purpose  now,  the  whole  operation  being  per- 
formed by  hand.  Symes,  in  1800,  speaks  of  the  Burmese 
war-boats,  which  were  excavated  partly  by  fire  and  partly  by 
cutting.  Nos.  1276  and  1277  of  my  collection  are  models  of 
these  boats.  In  New  Caledonia,  Turner,  in  1845,  savs  tnat  tne 
natives  felled  their  trees  by  means  of  a  slow  fire  at  the  foot, 
taking  three  or  four  days  to  do  it.  In  excavating  a  canoe,  he  says, 
they  kindle  a  fire  over  the  part  to  be  burnt  out,  and  keep  dropping 
water  over  the  sides  and  ends,  so  as  to  confine  the  fire  to  the  re- 
quired spot,  the  burnt  wood  being  afterwards  scraped  out  with 
stone  tools.  The  New  Zealanders,  and  probably  the  Australians 
also,  employ  fire  for  this  purpose  [Cook].  The  canoes  of  the 
Krumen  in  West  Africa  are  also  excavated  by  means  of  fire. 

A  further  improvement  in  the  development  of  the  dug-out 
canoe  consists  in  bending  the  sides  into  the  required  form  after 
it  has  been  dug  out.  This  process  of  fire-bending  has  already 


408  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

been  described  on  p.  87  of  my  Catalogue  (Parts  i  and  ii),  when 
speaking  of  the  methods  employed  by  the  Esquimaux  and  Austra- 
lians in  straightening  their  wooden  spears  and  arrow-shafts.  The 
application  of  this  process  to  canoe-building  by  the  Ahts  of  the 
north-west  coast  of  North  America  is  thus  described  by  Mr. 
Wood  in  his  Natural  History  of  Man,  vol.  ii.  p.  732.  The  canoe 
is  carved  out  of  a  solid  trunk  of  cedar  (Thuja  gigantea).  It  is 
hollowed  out,  not  by  fire,  but  by  hand,  and  by  means  of  an  adze 
formed  of  a  large  mussel-shell ;  the  trunk  is  split  lengthwise  by 
wedges.  All  is  done  by  the  eye.  When  it  is  roughly  hollowed  it 
is  filled  with  water,  and  ret-hot  stones  put  in  until  it  boils.  This 
is  continued  until  the  wood  is  quite  soft,  and  then  a  number  of 
cross-pieces  are  driven  into  the  interior,  so  as  to  force  the  canoe 
into  its  proper  shape,  which  it  ever  afterwards  retains.  While 
the  canoe  is  still  soft  and  pliant,  several  slight  cross-pieces  are 
inserted,  so  as  to  counteract  any  tendency  towards  warping.  The 
outside  of  the  vessel  is  then  hardened  by  fire,  so  as  to  enable 
it  to  resist  the  attacks  of  insects,  and  also  to  prevent  it  crack- 
ing when  exposed  to  the  sun.  The  inside  is  then  painted 
some  bright  colour,  and  the  outside  is  usually  black  and  highly 
polished.  This  is  produced  by  rubbing  it  with  oil  after  the  fire 
has  done  its  work.  Lastly,  a  pattern  is  painted  on  its  bow. 
There  is  no  keel  to  the  boat.  The  red  pattern  of  the  painting 
is  obtained  by  a  preparation  of  anato.  For  boring  holes  the 
Ahts  use  a  drill  formed  by  a  bone  of  a  bird  fixed  in  a  wooden 
handle. 

A  precisely  similar  process  to  this  is  employed  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Burmese  dug-out  canoes,  and  has  thus  been  described 
to  me  by  Capt.  O'Callaghan,  who  witnessed  the  process  during 
the  Burmese  War  in  1852.  A  trunk  of  a  tree  of  suitable  length, 
though  much  less  in  diameter  than  the  intended  width  of  the 
boat,  is  cut  into  the  usual  form,  and  hollowed  out.  It  is  then 
filled  with  water,  and  fires  are  lit,  a  short  distance  from  it,  along 
its  sides.  The  water  gradually  swells  the  inside,  while  the  fire 
contracts  the  outside,  till  the  width  is  greatly  increased.  The 
effect  thus  produced  is  rendered  permanent  by  thwarts  being 
placed  so  as  to  prevent  the  canoe  from  contracting  in  width  as 
it  dries ;  the  depth  of  the  boat  is  increased  by  a  plank  at  each 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  409 

side,  reaching  as  far  as  the  ends  of  the  hollowed  part.  Canoes 
generally  show  traces  of  the  fire  and  water  treatment  just  de- 
scribed, the  inner  surface  being  soft  and  full  of  superficial  cracks, 
while  the  outer  is  hard  and  close. 

It  is  probable  that  this  mode  of  bending  canoes  has  been  dis- 
covered during  the  process  of  cooking,  in  which  red-hot  stones 
are  used  in  many  countries  to  boil  the  water  in  vessels  of  skin 
or  wood,  in  which  the  meat  is  cooked.  No.  1256  of  my  collec- 
tion is  a  model  of  an  Aht  canoe,  painted  as  here  described.  No. 
1257  is  a  full-sized  canoe  from  this  region,  made  out  of  a  single 
trunk;  it  is  not  painted,  so  that  the  grain  of  the  wood  can  be 
seen. 

The  distribution  of  the  dug-out  canoe  appears  to  be  almost 
universal.  It  is  especially  used  in  southern  and  equatorial  regions. 
Leaving  Australia,  we  find  it  employed  with  the  outrigger,  which 
will  be  described  hereafter  (pp.  218-9),  m  many  parts  of  the 
Polynesian  and  Asiatic  islands,  including  New  Guinea,  New  Zea- 
land, New  Caledonia,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It  was  not 
used  by  the  natives  of  Tasmania,  who  employed  a  float  consisting 
of  a  bundle  of  bark  and  rushes,  which  will  be  described  in  another 
place  (p.  203).  Wilkes  speaks  of  it  in  Samoa,  at  Manilla,  and 
the  Sooloo  Archipelago.  De  Guignes  in  1796  and  De  Morga  in 
1609  saw  them  in  the  Philippines,  where  they  are  called  pangues, 
some  carrying  from  two  to  three  and  others  from  twelve  to 
fifteen  persons.  They  are  (or  were)  also  used  in  the  Pelew, 
Nicobar,  and  Andaman  Isles.  In  the  India  Museum  there  is 
a  model  of  one  from  Assam,  used  as  a  mail  boat,  and  called  dak 
nao.  In  Burmah,  Symes,  in  1795,  describes  the  war-boats  of 
the  Irrawaddy  as  80  to  100  feet  long,  but  seldom  exceeding 
8  feet  in  width,  and  this  only  by  additions  to  the  sides;  carrying 
fifty  to  sixty  rowers,  who  use  short  oars  that  work  on  a  spindle, 
and  who  row  instead  of  paddling.  Captain  O'Callaghan,  how- 
ever, informs  me  that  they  sometimes  use  paddles  (Nos.  1276 
and  1277).  They  are  made  in  one  piece  of  the  teak  tree.  The 
king  had  five  hundred  of  these  vessels  of  war.  They  are  easily 
upset,  but  the  rowers  are  taught  to  avoid  being  struck  on  the 
broadside;  they  draw  only  3  feet  of  water.  On  the  Menan,  in 
Siam,  Turpin,  in  1771,  says  that  the  king's  ballons  are  made  of 


410  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

a  single  tree,  and  will  contain  150  rowers;  the  two  ends  are  very 
much  elevated,  and  the  rowers  sit  cross-legged,  by  which  they 
lose  a  great  deal  of  power.  The  river  vessels  in  Cochin  China 
are  also  described  as  being  of  the  same  long,  narrow  kind.  At 
Ferhabad,  in  Persia,  Pietro  della  Valle,  in  1614,  describes  the 
canoes  as  being  flat-bottomed,  hollow  trees,  carrying  ten  to  twelve 
persons. 

In  Africa,  Duarte  Barbosa,  in  1514,  saw  the  Moors  at  Zuama 
make  use  of  boats,  almadias,  hollowed  out  of  a  single  trunk,  to 
bring  clothes  and  other  merchandise  from  Angos.  Livingstone 
says  the  canoes  of  the  Bayeye  of  South  Africa  are  hollow  trees, 
made  for  use  and  not  for  speed.  If  formed  of  a  crooked  stem 
they  become  crooked  vessels,  conforming  to  the  line  of  the 
timber.  On  the  Benuwe,  at  its  junction  with  the  [Yola],  Earth, 
for  the  first  time  in  his  travels  southward,  saw  what  he  describes 
as  rude  little  shells  hollowed  out  of  a  single  tree ;  they  measured 
25  to  30  feet  in  length,  I  to  il/2  foot  in  height,  and  16  inches  in 
width;  one  of  them,  he  says,  was  quite  crooked.  On  the  White 
Nile,  in  Unyoro,  Grant  says  that  the  largest  canoe  carried  a  ton 
and  a  half,  and  was  hollowed  out  of  a  trunk.  On  the  Kitangule, 
west  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  near  Karague,  he  describes  the 
canoes  as  being  hollowed  out  of  a  log  of  timber  15  feet  long 
and  the  breadth  of  an  easy-chair.  These  kind  of  canoes  are  also 
used  by  the  Makoba  east  of  Lake  Ngami,  by  the  Apingi  and 
Camma,  and  the  Krumen  of  the  West  African  coast;  of  which 
last,  No.  1272  of  my  collection  is  a  model. 

In  South  America  the  Patagonians  use  no  canoes,  but  in  the 
northern  parts  of  the  continent  dug-out  canoes  are  common.  One 
described  by  Condamine,  in  1743,  was  from  42  to  44  feet  long, 
and  only  3  feet  wide.  They  are  also  used  in  Guiana,  and  Pro- 
fessor Wilson  says  that  the  dug-out  canoe  is  used  throughout 
the  West  Indian  Archipelago.  According  to  Bartram,  who  is 
quoted  by  Schoolcraft,  the  large  canoes  formed  out  of  the  trunks 
of  cypress  trees,  which  descended  the  rivers  of  Florida,  crossed 
the  Gulf,  and  extended  their  navigation  to  the  Bahama  Isles,  and 
even  as  far  as  Cuba,  carrying  twenty  to  thirty  warriors.  Kalm, 
in  1747,  gives  some  details  respecting  their  construction  on  the 
Delaware  river  already  referred  to  (p.  191),  and  says  that  the 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  411 

materials  chiefly  employed  in  North  America  are  the  red  juniper, 
red  cedar,  white  cedar,  chestnut,  white  oak,  and  tulip  tree.  Canoes 
of  red  and  white  cedar  are  the  best,  because  lighter,  and  they 
will  last  as  much  as  twenty  years,  whereas  the  white  oak  barely 
lasts  above  six  years.  In  Canada  these  dug-outs  were  made  of 
the  white  fir.  The  process  of  construction  on  the  west" coast  of 
North  America  has  been  already  described  (p.  192). 

In  Europe  Pliny  mentions  the  use  of  canoes  hollowed  out  of 
a  single  tree  by  the  Germans.  Amongst  the  ancient  Swiss  lake- 
dwellers  at  Robenhausen,  associated  with  objects  of  the  stone 
age,  a  dug-out  canoe,  or  Einbaum,  made  of  a  single  trunk  12 
feet  long  and  2^2  wide,  was  discovered  (Keller,  Lake  Dwellings, 
Lee2,  p.  45).  In  Ireland,  Sir  William  Wilde  says  that  amongst 
the  ancient  Irish  dug-out  canoes  were  of  three  kinds.  One  was 
small,  trough-shaped,  and  square  at  the  ends,  having  a  projection 
at  either  end  to  carry  it  by;  the  paddlers  sat  flat  at  the  bottom 
and  paddled,  there  being  no  rowlocks  to  the  boat.  A  second 
kind  was  20  feet  in  length  and  2  in  breadth,  flat-bottomed,  with 
round  prow  and  square  stern,  strengthened  by  thwarts  carved 
out  of  the  solid  and  running  across  the  boat,  two  near  the  stem 
and  one  near  the  stern.  The  prow  was  turned  up;  one  of  these 
was  discovered  in  a  bog  on  the  coast  of  Wexford,  12  feet  beneath 
the  surface.  The  third  sort  was  sharp  at  both  ends,  21  feet  long, 
12  inches  broad,  and  8  inches  deep,  and  flat-bottomed.  These 
canoes  are  often  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  crannoges, 
or  ancient  lake-habitations  of  the  country,  and  were  used  to 
communicate  with  the  land;  also  in  the  beds  of  the  Boyne  and 
Bann.  Ware  says,  that  dug-out  canoes  were  used  in  some  of 
the  Irish  rivers  in  his  time,  and  to  this  day  I  have  seen  paddles 
used  on  the  Blackwater,  in  the  south  of  Ireland.  Professor  Wil- 
son says  that  several  dug-out  canoes  have  been  found  in  the 
ancient  river-deposits  of  the  Clyde,  and  also  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Falkirk.  In  one  of  those  discovered  in  the  Clyde  deposits, 
at  a  depth  of  25  feet  from  the  surface,  a  stone  almond-shaped  celt 
was  found.  Others  have  been  found  in  the  ancient  river-deposits 
of  Sussex  and  elsewhere,  in  positions  which  show  that  the  rivers 
must  probably  have  formed  arms  of  the  sea,  at  the  time  they 
were  sunk. 


412  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

II.    VESSELS  IN  WHICH  THE  PLANKS  ARE  STITCHED  TO  EACH  OTHER 

All  vessels  of  the  dug-out  class  are  necessarily  long  and 
narrow,  and  very  liable  to  upset;  the  width  being  limited  by  the 
size  of  the  tree,  extension  can  only  be  given  to  them  by  increasing 
their  length.  In  order  to  give  greater  height  and  width  to  these 
boats,  planks  are  sometimes  added  at  the  sides  and  stitched  on 
to  the  body  of  the  canoe  by  means  of  strings  or  cords,  composed 
frequently  of  the  bark  or  leaves  of  the  tree  of  which  the  body 
is  made.  In  proportion  as  these  laced-on  gunwales  were  found 
to  answer  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  stability  of  the  vessel, 
their  number  was  increased;  two  such  planks  were  added  instead 
of  one,  and  as  the  joint  between  the  planks  was  by  this  means 
brought  beneath  the  water  line,  means  were  taken  to  caulk  the 
seams  with  leaves,  pitch,  resin,  and  other  substances.  Gradually 
the  number  of  side  planks  increased  and  the  solid  hull  diminished, 
until  ultimately,  it  dwindled  into  a  bottom-board,  or  keel,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  boat,  serving  as  a  centre-piece  on  which  the  sides 
of  the  vessel  were  built.  Still  the  vessel  was  without  ribs  or 
framework ;  ledges  on  the  sides  were  carved  out  of  the  solid 
substance  of  each  plank,  by  means  of  which  they  were  fastened 
to  the  ledges  of  the  adjoining  plank,  and  the  two  contiguous 
ledges  served  as  ribs  to  strengthen  the  boat ;  finally,  a  framework 
of  vertical  ribs  was  added  to  the  interior  and  fastened  to  the 
planks  by  cords.  Ultimately  the  stitching  was  replaced  by  wooden 
pins,  and  the  side  planks  pinned  to  each  other  and  to  the  ribs ;  and 
these  wooden  pins  in  their  turn  were  supplanted  by  iron  nails. 

In  different  countries  we  find  representations  of  the  canoe  in 
all  these  several  stages  of  development.  Of  the  first  stage,  in 
which  side  planks  were  added  to  the  body  of  the  dug-out  canoe, 
to  heighten  it,  the  New  Zealand  canoe,  No.  1259  of  my  collection, 
is  an  example.  Capt.  Cook  describes  this  as  solid,  the  largest 
containing  from  thirty  men  upwards.  One  measured  70  feet 
in  length,  6  in  width,  and  4  deep.  Each  of  the  side  pieces  was 
formed  of  an  entire  plank,  about  12  inches  wide,  and  about  il/2 
inch  thick,  laced  on  to  the  hollow  trunk  of  the  tree  by  flaxen  cords, 
and  united  to  the  plank  on  the  opposite  side  by  thwarts  across 
the  boat.  These  canoes  have  names  given  to  them  like  European 
vessels. 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  413 

On  the  Benuwe,  in  Central  Africa,  Barth  describes  a  vessel 
in  this  same  early  stage  of  departure  from  the  original  dug-out 
trunk.  It  consisted  of  'two  very  large  trunks  joined  together 
with  cordage,  just  like  the  stitching  of  a  shirt,  and  without  pitch- 
ing, the  holes  being  merely  stuffed  with  grass.  It  was  not  water- 
tight, but  had  the  advantage,'  he  says,  'over  the  dug-out  canoes 
used  on  the  same  river,  in  not  breaking  if  it  came  upon  a  rock, 
being,  to  a  certain  degree,  pliable.  It  was  35  feet  long,  and  26 
inches  wide  in  the  middle.'  No.  1258  of  my  collection  is  a  model 
of  one  of  these.  The  single  plank  added  to  the  side  of  the 
Burmese  dug-out  canoe  has  been  already  noticed  (p.  193). 
Although  my  informant  does  not  tell  me  that  these  side  planks 
are  sewn  on,  I  have  no  doubt,  judging  by  analogy,  that  this 
either  is  or  was  formerly  the  case. 

The  Waraus  of  Guiana  are  the  chief  canoe-builders  of  this 
part  of  South  America,  and  to  them  other  tribes  resort  from 
considerable  distances.  Their  canoe  is  hollowed  out  of  a  trunk 
of  a  tree,  and  forced  into  its  proper  shape  partly  by  means  of  fire 
and  partly  by  wedges,  upon  a  similar  system  to  that  described 
in  speaking  of  the  Ahts  of  North  America  (p.  192)  and  the 
Burmese;  the  largest  have  the  sides  made  higher  by  a  narrow 
plank  of  soft  wood,  which  is  laced  upon  the  gunwale,  and  the 
seam  caulked.  This  canoe  is  alike  at  both  ends,  the  stem  and  stern 
being  pointed,  curved,  and  rising  out  of  the  water;  there  is  no 
keel,  and  it  draws  but  a  few  inches  of  water.  This  appears  to 
be  the  most  advanced  stage  to  which  the  built-up  canoe  has 
arrived  on  either  continent  of  America,  with  the  exception  of 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  where  Commodore  Byron,  in  1765,  saw  canoes 
in  the  Straits  of  Magellan  made  of  planks  sewn  together  with 
thongs  of  raw  hide;  these  vessels  are  considerably  raised  at  the 
bow  and  stern,  and  the  larger  ones  are  15  feet  in  length  by  I  yard 
wide.  They  have  also  been  described  by  more  recent  travellers. 
Under  what  conditions  have  these  miserable  Fuegians  been  led  to 
the  employment  of  a  more  complex  class  of  vessel  than  their  more 
advanced  congeners  of  the  north? 

In  order  to  trace  the  further  development  of  the  canoe  in 
this  direction,  we  must  return  to  Africa  and  the  South  Seas. 
On  the  island  of  Zanzibar,  Barbosa,  in  1514,  says  that  the  in- 


414  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

habitants  of  this  island,  and  also  Penda  and  Manfia,  who  are 
Arabs,  trade  with  the  mainland  by  means  of  'small  vessels  very 
loosely  and  badly  made,  without  decks  and  with  a  single  mast; 
all  their  planks  are  sewn  together  with  cords  of  reed  or  matting, 
and  the  sails  are  of  palm  mats.'  On  the  river  Yeou,  near  Lake 
Tchad,  in  Central  Africa,  Denham  and  Clapperton  saw  canoes 
'formed  of  planks,  rudely  shaped  with  a  small  hatchet,  and 
strongly  fastened  together  by  cords  passed  through  holes  bored 
in  them,  and  a  wisp  of  straw  between,  which  the  people  say 
effectually  keeps  out  the  water;  they  have  high  poops  like  the 
Grecian  boats,  and  would  hold  twenty  or  thirty  persons.'  On 
the  Logon,  south-east  of  Lake  Tchad,  Earth  says  the  boats  are 
built  'in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  the  Budduma,  except  that 
the  planks  consist  of  stronger  wood,  mostly  Birgem,  and  generally 
of  larger  size,  whilst  those  of  the  Budduma,  consist  of  the  frailest 
material,  viz.  Fogo.  In  both,  the  joints  of  the  planks  are  pro- 
vided with  holes,  through  which  ropes  are  passed,  overlaid  with 
bands  of  reed  tightly  fastened  upon  them  by  smaller  ropes,  which 
are  again  passed  through  small  holes  stuffed  with  grass.'  On  the 
Victoria  Nyanza,  in  East  Central  Africa,  Grant  speaks  of  'a 
canoe  of  five  planks  sewn  together,  and  having  four  cross-bars 
or  seats.  The  bow  and  stern  are  pointed,  standing  for  a  yard 
over  the  water,  with  a  broad  central  plank  from  stem  to  stern, 
rounded  outside  (the  vestige  of  the  dug-out  trunk),  and  answer- 
ing for  a  keel.' 

Thus  far  we  have  found  the  planks  of  the  vessels  spoken  of, 
merely  fastened  by  cords  passed  through  holes  in  the  planks,  and 
stuffed  with  grass  or  some  other  material,  and  the  accounts  speak 
of  their  being  rarely  water-tight.  Such  a  mode  of  constructing 
canoes  might  serve  well  enough  for  river  navigation,  but  would 
be  unserviceable  for  sea  craft.  -Necessity  is  the  mother  of  inven- 
tion, and  accordingly  we  must  seek  for  a  further  development  of 
the  system  of  water-tight  stitching,  amongst  those  races  in  a 
somewhat  similar  condition  of  culture,  which  inhabit  the  islands 
of  the  Pacific  and  the  borders  of  the  ocean  between  it  and  the 
continent  of  Africa. 

The  majority  of  those  vessels  now  to  be  described  are  fur- 
nished with  the  outrigger;  but  as  the  distribution  of  this  con- 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  415 

trivance  will  be  traced  subsequently  (p.  218  ff.),  it  will  not 
be  necessary  to  describe  it  in  speaking  of  the  stitched  plank- 
work. 

In  the  Friendly  Isles  Captain  Cook,  in  1773,  says  'the  canoes 
are  built  of  several  pieces  sewed  together  with  bandage  in  so  neat 
a  manner  that  on  the  outside  it  is  difficult  to  see  the  joints.  All 
the  fastenings  are  on  the  inside,  and  pass  through  kants  or  ridges, 
which  are  wrought  on  the  edges  and  ends  of  the  several  boards 
which  compose  the  vessel.'  At  Otaheite  he  speaks  of  the  same 
process,  and  says  that  the  chief  parts  are  formed  separately  with- 
out either  saw,  plane,  or  other  tool.  La  Perouse  gives  an  illustra- 
tion of  an  outrigger  canoe  from  Easter  Island,  the  sides  of  which 
are  formed  of  drift  wood  sewn  together  in  this  manner.  At 
Wytoohee,  one  of  the  Paumotu,  or  Low  Archipelago,  Wilkcs, 
in  1838,  says  that  the  canoes  are  formed  of  strips  of  coco-nut 
tree  sewed  together.  Speaking  of  those  of  Samoa,  he  describes 
the  process  more  fully.  'The  planks  are  fastened  together  with 
sennit;  the  pieces  are  of  no  regular  size  or  shape.  On  the 
inside  edge  of  each  plank  is  a  ledge  or  projection,  which  serves 
to  attach  the  sennit,  and  connect  and  bind  it  closely  to  the  adjoin- 
ing one.  It  is  surprising/  he  says,  'to  see  the  labour  bestowed 
on  uniting  so  many  small  pieces  together,  when  large  and  good 
planks  might  be  obtained.  Before  the  pieces  are  joined,  the  gum 
from  the  husk  of  the  bread-fruit  tree  is  used  to  cement  them 
close,  and  prevent  leakage.  These  canoes  retain  their  form  much 
more  truly  than  one  would  have  imagined ;  I  saw  few  whose 
original  model  had  been  impaired  by  service.  On  the  outside 
the  pieces  are  so  closely  fitted  as  frequently  to  require  close  ex- 
amination before  the  seams  can  be  detected.  The  perfection  of 
workmanship  is  astonishing  to  those  who  see  the  tools  with  which 
it  is  effected.  They  consist  now  of  nothing  more  than  a  piece 
of  iron  tied  to  a  stick,  and  used  as  an  adze ;  this,  with  a  gimlet,  is 
all  they  have,  and  before  they  obtained  their  iron  tools,  they  used 
adzes  made  of  hard  stone  and  fish-bone.'  The  construction  of 
the  Fiji  canoe,  called  drua,  is  described  by  Williams  in  great 
detail.  A  keel  or  bottom  board  is  laid  in  two  or  three  pieces, 
carefully  scarfed  together.  From  this  the  sides  are  built  up,  with- 
out ribs,  in  a  number  of  pieces  varying  from  three  to  twenty  feet. 


416  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  edges  of  these  pieces  are  fastened  by  ledges,  tied  together  in 
the  manner  already  described.  A  white  pitch  from  the  bread- 
fruit tree,  prepared  with  an  extract  from  the  coco-nut  kernel,  is 
spread  uniformly  on  both  edges,  and  a  fine  strip  of  masi  laid 
between.  The  binding  of  sennit  with  which  the  boards,  or 
vanos,  as  they  are  called,  are  stitched  together  is  made  tighter 
by  small  wooden  wedges  inserted  between  the  binding  and  the 
wood,  in  opposite  directions.  The  ribs  seen  in  the  interior  of 
these  canoes  are  not  used  to  bring  the  planks  into  shape,  but  are 
the  last  things  inserted,  and  are  for  uniting  the  deck  more 
firmly  with  the  body  of  the  canoe.  The  carpenters  in  Fiji  con- 
stitute a  distinct  class,  and  have  chiefs  of  their  own.  The  Tongan 
canoes  were  inferior  to  those  of  Fiji  in  Captain  Cook's  time,  but 
they  have  since  adopted  Fiji  patterns.  The  Tongans  are  better 
sailors  than  the  Fijians.  Wilkes  describes  a  similar  method  of 
building  vessels  in  the  Kingsmill  Islands,  but  with  varieties  in 
the  details  of  construction.  'Each  canoe  has  six  or  eight  timbers 
in  its  construction;  they  are  well  modelled,  built  in  frames, 
and  have  much  sheer.  The  boards  are  cut  from  the  coco-nut 
tree,  from  a  few  inches  to  six  or  eight  feet  long,  and  vary  from 
five  to  seven  inches  in  width.  These  are  arranged  as  the  planking 
of  a  vessel,  and  very  neatly  put  together,  being  sewed  with  sennit. 
For  the  purpose  of  making  them  water-tight  they  use  a  slip  of 
pandanus  leaf,  inserted  as  our  coopers  do  in  plugging  a  cask. 
They  have  evinced  much  ingenuity,'  he  says,  'in  attaching  the 
uprights  to  the  flat  timbers.'  It  is  difficult,  without  the  aid  of 
drawings,  to  understand  exactly  the  peculiarities  of  this  variety 
of  construction,  but  he  says  they  are  secured  so  as  to  have  all 
the  motion  of  a  double  joint,  which  gives  them  ease,  and  compara- 
tive security  in  a  seaway. 

Turning  now  to  the  Malay  Archipelago,  Wallace  speaks  of 
a  Malay  prahdu  in  which  he  sailed  from  Macassar  to  New 
Guinea,  a  distance  of  1,000  miles,  and  says  that  similar  but 
smaller  vessels  had  not  a  single  nail  in  them.  The  largest  of 
these,  he  says,  are  from  Macassar,  and  the  Bugi  countries  of  the 
Celebes  and  Boutong.  Smaller  ones  sail  from  Ternate,  Pidore, 
East  Ceram,  and  Garam.  The  majority  of  these,  he  says,  have 
stitched  planks.  No.  1268  of  my  collection  is  a  model  of  a 


INVENTION   AND  TECHNOLOGY  417 

vessel  employed  in  those  seas.  Wallace  says  that  the  inhabitants 
of  Ke  Island,  west  of  New  Guinea,  are  the  best  boat-builders  in 
the  archipelago,  and  several  villages  are  constantly  employed  at 
the  work.  The  planks  here,  as  in  the  Polynesian  Islands,  are  all 
cut  out  of  the  solid  wood,  with  a  series  of  projecting  ledges  on 
their  edges  in  the  inside.  But  here  we  find  an  advance  upon  the 
Polynesian  system,  for  the  ledges  of  the  planks  are  pegged  to 
each  other  with  wooden  pegs.  The  planks,  however,  are  still 
fastened  to  the  ribs  by.  means  of  rattans.  The  principles  of 
construction  are  the  same  as  in  those  of  the  Polynesian  Islands, 
and  the  main  support  of  the  vessel  still  consists  in  the  planks 
and  their  ledges,  the  ribs  being  a  subsequent  addition ;  for  he 
says  that  after  the  first  year  the  rattan-tied  ribs  are  generally 
taken  out  and  replaced  by  new  ones,  fitted  to  the  planks  and 
nailed,  and  the  vessel  then  becomes  equal  to  those  of  the  best 
European  workmanship.  This  constitutes  a  remarkable  example 
of  the  persistency  with  which  ancient  customs  are  retained,  when 
we  find  each  vessel  systematically  constructed,  in  the  first  instance, 
upon  the  old  system,  and  the  improvement  introduced  in  after 
years.  I  wonder  whether  any  parallel  to  this  could  be  found 
in  a  British  arsenal.  The  psychical  aspect  of  the  proceeding 
seems  not  altogether  un-English. 

Extending  our  researches  northward,  we  find  that  Dampier,  in 
1686,  mentions,  in  the  Bashee  Islands,  the  use  of  vessels  in  which 
the  planks  are  fastened  with  wooden  pins.  On  the  Menan,  in 
Siam,  Turpin,  in  1771,  speaks  of  long,  narrow  boats,  in  the 
construction  of  which  neither  nails  nor  iron  are  employed,  the 
parts  being  fastened  together  with  roots  and  twigs  which  with- 
stand the  destructive  action  of  the  water.  They  have  the  precau- 
tion, he  says,  to  insert  between  the  planks  a  light,  porous  wood, 
which  swells  by  being  wet,  and  prevents  the  water  from  penetrat- 
ing into  the  vessel.  When  they  have  not  this  wood,  they  rub 
the  chinks,  by  which  the  water  enters,  with  clay.  In  the  India 
Museum  there  is  a  model  of  a  very  early  form  of  vessel  from 
Burmah,  described  as  a  trading  vessel.  The  bottom  is  dug  out, 
and  the  sides  formed  of  planks  laced  together.  A  large  stone 
is  employed  for  an  anchor.  Here  we  see  that  an  inferior  descrip- 
tion of  craft  survived,  upon  the  rivers,  in  the  midst  of  a  higher 


418  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

civilization  which  has  produced  a  superior  class  of  vessel  upon 
the  seas 

III.    BARK  CANOES 

The  use  of  bark  for  canoes  might  have  been  suggested  by  the 
hollowed  trunk;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  this  material 
employed  in  Australia,  where  the  hollowed  trunk  is  not  in  general 
use.  Bark  is  employed  for  a  variety  of  purposes,  such  as  cloth- 
ing, materials  for  huts,  and  so  forth.  Some  of  the  Australian 
shields  are  constructed  of  the  bark  of  trees.  The  simplest  form  of 
canoe  in  Australia  consists,  as  already  mentioned,  of  a  mere 
bundle  of  reeds  and  bark  pointed  at  the  ends.  It  is  possible  that 
the  use  of  large  pieces  of  bark  in  this  manner  may  have  suggested 
the  employment  of  the  bark  alone.  Belzoni  mentions  crossing 
to  the  island  of  Elephantine,  on  the  Nile,  in  a  ferry-boat  which 
was  made  of  branches  of  palm  trees,  fastened  together  with 
cords,  and  covered  on  the  outside  with  a  mat  pitched  all  over. 
The  solid  papyrus  boats  represented  on  the  pavement  at  Praeneste, 
before  mentioned,  have  evidently  some  other  substance  on  the 
outside  of  them;  and  Bruce  imagines  that  the  junks  of  the  Red 
Sea  were  of  papyrus,  covered  with  leather.  The  outer  covering 
would  prevent  the  water  from  soaking  into  the  bundle  of  sticks, 
and  thus  rendering  it  less  buoyant.  Bark,  if  used  in  the  same 
manner,  would  serve  a  like  purpose,  and  thus  suggest  its  use  for 
canoe-building.  Otherwise  I  am  unable  to  conceive  any  way 
in  which  bark  canoes  can  have  originated,  except  by  imitation 
of  the  dug-out  canoe. 

For  crossing  rivers,  the  Australian  savage  simply  goes  to  the 
nearest  stringy-bark  tree,  chops  a  circle  round  the  tree  at  the 
foot,  and  another  seven  or  eight  feet  higher,  makes  a  longi- 
tudinal cut  on  each  side,  and  strips  off  bark  enough  by  this 
means  to  make  two  canoes.  If  he  is  only  going  to  cross  the 
river  by  himself,  he  simply  ties  the  bark  together  at  the  ends, 
paddles  across,  and  abandons  the  piece  of  bark  on  the  other 
side,  knowing  that  he  can  easily  provide  another.  If  it  is  to  carry 
another  besides  himself,  he  stops  up  the  tied  ends  with  clay; 
but  if  it  is  to  be  permanently  employed,  he  sews  up  the  ends 
more  carefully,  and  keeps  it  in  shape  by  cross-pieces,  thereby 
producing  a  vessel  which  closely  resembles  the  bark  canoe  of 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  419 

North  America.  I  have  not  been  able  to  trace  the  use  of  the  bark 
canoe  further  north  than  Australia  on  this  side  of  the  world, 
probably  owing  to  its  being  ill  adapted  for  sea  navigation;  nor 
do  I  find  representatives  of  it  in  any  part  of  Europe  or  Africa, 
although  bark  is  extensively  used,  in  the  Polynesian  Islands  and 
elsewhere,  for  other  purposes. 

It  is  the  two  continents  of  America  which  must  be  regarded 
as  the  home  of  the  bark  canoe. 

The  Fuegian  canoe  has  been  described  by  Wilkes,  'Pritchard, 
and  others.  It  is  sewn  with  shreds  of  whalebone,  sealskin,  and 
twigs,  and  supported  by  a  number  of  stretchers  lashed  to  the 
gunwale;  the  joints  are  stopped  witlr  rushes,  and,  without, 
smeared  with  resin.  In  Guiana  the  canoe  is  made  of  the  bark 
of  the  purple-heart  tree,  stripped  off  and  tied  together  at  the 
ends.  The  ends  are  stopped  with  clay,  as  with  the  Australians. 
This  mode  of  caulking  is  not  very  effectual,  however,  and  the 
water  is  sure  to  come  in  sooner  or  later. 

The  nature  of  the  material  does  not  admit  of  much  variety 
in  the  construction;  suffice  it  to  say  that  it  is  in  general  use  in 
North  America,  up  to  the  Esquimaux  frontier.  Its  value  in 
these  regions  consists  in  the  facility  with  which  it  is  taken  out 
of  the  water  and  carried  over  the  numerous  rapids  that  prevail 
in  the  North  American  rivers.  The  Algonquins  were  famous 
for  the  construction  of  them.  Some  carry  only  two  people,  but 
the  canot  de  maitre  was  thirty-six  feet  in  length,  and  required 
fourteen  paddlers.  Kalm,  in  1747,  gives  a  detailed  account  of 
the  construction  of  them  on  the  Hudson  river,  and  Lahontan, 
in  1684,  gives  an  equally  detailed  description  of  those  used  in 
Canada.  The  bark  is  peeled  off  the  tree  by  means  of  hot  water. 
They  are  very  fragile,  and  every  day  some  hole  in  the  bottom 
has  to  be  stopped  with  gum 

IV.    CANOES  OF  WICKER  AND  SKIN 

As  we  approach  the  Arctic  regions,  the  dug-out  and  bark 
canoes  are  replaced  by  canoes  of  skin  and  wicker.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  in  the  case  of  the  bow,  and  other  arts  of  savages, 
vegetable  materials  supply  the  wants  of  man  in  southern  and 
equatorial  regions,  whilst  animal  materials  supply  their  place  in 
the  north. 


420  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  origin  of  skin  coverings  has  been  already  suggested  when 
speaking  of  bark  canoes.  The  accidental  dropping  of  a  skin 
bottle  into  the  water  might  suggest  the  use  of  such  vessels  as 
a  means  of  recovering  the  harpoon,  which,  as  I  have  already 
shown  elsewhere,  was  almost  universally  used  for  fishing  in  the 
earliest  stages  of  culture.  The  Esquimaux  lives  with  the  harpoon 
and  its  attached  bladder  almost  continually  by  his  side.  The 
Esquimaux  kayak,  Nos.  1253  and  1254  of  my  collection,  in  which 
he  traverses  the  ocean,  although  admirable  in  its  workmanship, 
and,  like  all  the  works  of  the  Esquimaux,  ingenious  in  construc- 
tion, is  in  principle  nothing  more  than  a  large,  pointed  bladder, 
similar  to  that  which  is  lashed  to  the  harpoon  at  its  side;  the 
man  in  this  case  occupying  the  opening  which,  in  the  bladder,  is 
filled  by  the  wooden  pin  that  serves  for  a  cork. 

This  is,  I  believe,  a  very  primitive  form  of  vessel,  although 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  links  in  the  history  of  its 
development  have  been  lost.  Unlike  the  dug-out  canoe,  such 
a  fragile  contrivance  as  the  wicker  canoe  perishes  quickly,  and  no 
direct  evidence  of  its  ancestry  can  be  traced  at  the  present  time. 
It  is  only  by  means  of  survivals  that  we  can  build  up  the  past 
history  of  its  development;  and  these  are,  for  the  most  part, 
wanting. 

The  skin  of  an  animal,  flayed  off  the  body  with  but  one  incision, 
served,  as  I  have  elsewhere  shown,  a  variety  of  purposes :  from 
it  the  bellows  was  derived,  the  bagpipes,  water-vessels,  and 
pouches  of  various  kinds ;  and,  filled  with  air,  it  served  the  pur- 
pose of  a  float.  Steinitz,  in  his  History  of  the  Ship,  gives  an 
illustration  of  an  inflated  ox  skin,  which  in  India  is  used  to 
cross  rivers ;  the  owner  riding  upon  the  back  of  the  animal  and 
paddling  with  his  hands,  as  if  it  had  been  a  living  ox. 

In  the  Assyrian  sculptures  there  are  numerous  illustrations 
representing  men  floating  upon  skins  of  this  kind,  which  they 
clasp  with  the  left  hand,  like  the  tree  trunks,  already  mentioned, 
that  are  used  by  the  American  Indians,  and  swim  with  the 
right.  Layard  says  this  manner  of  crossing  rivers  is  still  prac- 
tised in  Mesopotamia.  He  also  describes  the  raft,  composed  of 
a  number  of  such  floats,  made  of  the  skins  of  sheep  flayed  off 
with  as  few  incisions  as  possible;  a  square  framework  of  poplar 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  421 

beams  is  placed  over  a  number  of  these,  and  tied  together  with 
osier  and  other  twigs.  The  mouths  of  the  sheep-skins  are  placed 
upwards,  so  that  they  can  be  opened  and  refilled  by  the  raft-men. 
On  these  rafts  the  merchandise  is  floated  down  the  river  to 
Bagdad ;  the  materials  are  then  disposed  of  and  the  skins  packed 
on  mules,  to  return  for  another  voyage.  On  the  Nile  similar 
rafts  are  used,  the  skins  being  supplanted  by  earthen  pots,  which, 
like  the  skins  on  the  Euphrates,  serve  only  a  temporary  purpose, 
and  after  the  voyage  down  the  river  are  disposed  of  in  the  bazaars. 

This  mode  of  floating  upon  skins  I  should  conjecture  to  be  of 
northern  origin,  and  to  be  practised  chiefly  by  nomadic  races; 
but  we  find  it  employed  on  the  Morbeya,  in  Morocco,  by  the 
Moors,  who  no  doubt  had  it  from  the  East.  It  is  thus  described 
by  Lempriere,  in  1789.  A  raft  is  formed  of  eight  sheep-skins 
filled  with  air,  and  tied  together  with  small  cords;  a  few  slender 
poles  are  laid  over  them,  to  which  they  are  fastened,  and  that  is 
the  only  means  used  at  Buluane  to  convey  travellers,  with  their 
baggage,  over  the  river.  As  soon  as  the  raft  is  loaded,  a  man 
strips,  jumps  into  the  water,  and  swims  with  one  hand,  whilst  he 
pulls  the  raft  after  him  with  the  other ;  another  swims  and  pushes 
behind.  This  reminds  us  of  the  custom  of  the  Gran  Chaco 
Indians  of  South  America,  who,  in  crossing  rivers,  use  a  square 
boat  or  tub  of  bull's  hide,  called  pclota.  It  is  attached  by  a  rope 
to  the  tail  of  a  horse,  which  swims  in  front;  or  the  rope  is  taken 

in  the  mouth  of  an  expert  swimmer 

v.  RAFTS 

The  trunks  of  trees,  united  by  mutual  attraction,  as  they 
floated  down  the  stream,  would  suggest  the  idea  of  a  raft.  The 
women  of  Australia  use  rafts  made  of  layers  of  reeds,  from  which 
they  dive  to  obtain  mussel-shells.  In  New  Guinea  the  catamaran, 
or  small  raft  formed  of  three  planks  lashed  together  with  rattan, 
is  the  commonest  vessel  used.  Others  are  larger,  containing  ten 
or  twelve  persons,  and  consist  of  three  logs  lashed  together  in 
five  places,  the  centre  log  being  the  longest,  and  projecting  at 
both  ends. 

This  is  exactly  like  the  catamaran  used  on  the  coast  of 
Madras,  a  model  of  one  of  which  is  in  the  Indian  Museum ;  they 
are  also  used  on  the  Ganges,  and  in  the  Asiatic  isles.  At  Manilla 


422  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

they  are  known  by  the  name  of  saraboas;  but  the  perfection 
of  raft  navigation  is  on  the  coast  of  Peru.  Ulloa,  in  1735, 
describes  the  balsas  used  on  the  Guayaquil,  in  Ecuador,  and  on 
the  coast  as  far  south  as  Paita.  They  are  called  by  the  Indians 
of  the  Guayaquil  jungadas,  and  by  the  Darien  Indians  puero. 
They  are  made  of  a  wood  so  light  that  a  boy  can  easily  carry  a 
log  i  foot  in  diameter  and  3  or  4  yards  long.  They  are  always 
made  of  an  odd  number  of  beams,  like  the  New  Guinea  and 
Indian  rafts,  the  longest  and  thickest  in  the  centre,  and  the  others 
lashed  on  each  side.  Some  are  70  ft.  in  length  and  20  broad. 
When  sailing,  they  are  guided  by  a  system  of  planks,  called 
guaras,  which  are  shoved  down  between  the  beams  of  different 
parts  of  the  raft  as  they  are  wanted,  the  breadth  of  the  plank 
being  in  the  direction  of  the  lines  of  the  timbers.  By  means  of 
these  they  are  able  to  sail  near  the  wind,  and  to  luff  up,  bear 
away,  and  tack  at  pleasure.  When  a  guara  is  put  down  in  the 
fore  part  of  the  raft,  it  luffs  up,  and  when  in  the  hinder  part,  it 
bears  away.  This  system  of  steering,  he  says,  the  Indians  have 
learnt  empirically,  'their  uncultivated  minds  never  having  exam- 
ined into  the  rationale  of  the  thing.' 

It  was  one  of  these  vessels  which  Bartholomew  Ruiz,  pilot  of 
the  second  expedition  for  the  discovery  of  Peru,  met  with;  and 
which  so  astonished  the  sailors,  who  had  never  before  seen  any 
vessel  on  the  coast  of  America  provided  with  a  sail.  Condamine 
speaks  of  the  rafts  in  1743,  on  the  Chinchipe,  in  Peru.  They 
are  also  used  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  where  they  are  also  called 
jungadas,  from  which  locality  there  is  a  model  of  one  in  the 
British  Museum,  and  another  in  the  Christy  collection.  Professor 
Wilson  thinks  it  was  by  means  of  these  vessels,  driven  off  the 
coast  of  America  westward,  that  the  Polynesian  and  Malay  islands 
were  peopled;  and  this  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  the 
peculiar  class  of  vessel  which  is  distributed  over  a  continuous 
area  in  the  Pacific  and  adjoining  seas,  viz.  the  outrigger  canoe, 
which,  I  shall  endeavour  to  show,  was  derived  from  the  raft. 

VI.     OUTRIGGER-CANOES 

The  sailing  properties  of  the  balsa,  or  any  other  similar  raft, 
must  have  been  greatly  impeded  by  the  resistance  offered  to  the 
water  by  the  ends  of  its  numerous  beams.  In  order  to  diminish 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  423 

the  resistance,  the  obvious  remedy  was  to  use  only  two  beams, 
placed  parallel  to  each  other  at  a  distance  apart,  with  a  platform 
laid  on  cross-poles  between  them. 

Of  this  kind  we  find  a  vessel  used  by  the  Tasmanians,  and 
described  by  Mr.  Bonwick,  on  the  authority  of  Lieut.  Jeffreys. 
The  natives,  he  says,  would  select  two  good  stems  of  trees  and 
place  them  parallel  to  each  other,  but  a  couple  of  yards  apart; 
cross-pieces  of  small  size  were  laid  on  these,  and  secured  to  the 
trees  by  scraps  of  tough  bark.  A  stronger  cross-timber,  of 
greater  thickness,  was  laid  across  the  centre,  and  the  whole  was 
then  covered  by  wicker-work.  Such  a  float  would  be  thirty  feet 
long,  and  would  hold  from  six  to  ten  persons. 

In  Fiji,  Williams  describes  a  kind  of  vessel  called  ulatoka,  a 
raised  platform,  floating  on  two  logs,  which  must  evidently  be 
a  vessel  of  the  same  description  as  that  used  in  Tasmania. 

From  these  two  logs  were  derived  the  double  canoe  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  canoe  with  the  outrigger  on  the  other 

VII.      RUDDERS,  SAILS,  AND  OTHER  CONTRIVANCES 

All  the  various  items  of  evidence  which  I  have  collected,  and 
endeavoured  to  elucidate  by  means  of  survivals,  whether  in  rela- 
tion to  modes  of  navigation  or  other  branches  of  industry,  appear 
to  me  to  tend  towards  establishing  a  gradual  development  of 
culture  as  we  advance  northward.  Although  Buddhism  and  its 
concomitant  civilization  may  have  come  from  the  north,  there 
has  been  an  earlier  and  prehistoric  flow  of  culture  in  the  opposite 
direction — northward — from  the  primaeval  and. now  submerged 
cradle  of  the  human  family  in  the  southern  hemisphere.  This, 
I  venture  to  think,  will  establish  itself  more  and  more  clearly, 
in  proportion  as  we  divest  ourselves  of  the  numerous  errors 
which  have  arisen  from  our  acceptance  of  the  Noachian  deluge 
as  a  universal  catastrophe. 

As  human  culture  developed  northward  from  the  equator 
toward  the  4Oth  parallel  of  latitude,  civilization  began  to  bud 
out  in  Egypt,  India,  and  China,  and  a  great  highway  of  nations 
was  established  by  means  of  ships  along  the  southern  margin  of 
the  land,  from  China  to  the  Red  Sea. 

Along  this  ocean  highway  may  be  traced  many  connexions 
in  ship  forms  which  have  survived  from  the  earliest  times.  The 


424  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

oculus,  which,  on  the  sacred  boats  of  the  Egyptians,  represented 
the  eye  of  Osiris  guiding  the  mummy  of  the  departed  across  the 
sacred  lake,  is  still  seen  eastward — in  India  and  China — converted 
into  an  ornamental  device,  whilst  westward  it  lived  through  the 
period  of  the  Roman  and  Grecian  bir ernes  and  triremes,  and  has 
survived  to  this  day  on  the  Maltese  rowing-boats  and  the  xebecque 
of  Calabria,  or  has  been  converted  into  a  hawser-hole  in  modern 
European  craft.  The  function  of  the  rudder — which  in  the  primi- 
tive vessels  of  the  southern  world  is  still  performed  by  the 
paddlers,  whilst  paddling  with  their  faces  to  the  prow — was  con- 
fided, as  sails  began  to  be  introduced,  to  the  rearmost  oars.  In 
some  of  the  Egyptian  sculptures  the  three  hindermost  rowers  on 
each  side  are  seen  steering  the  vessel  with  their  oars.  Ultimately 
one  greatly  developed  oar  on  each  side  of  the  stern  performed 
this  duty;  the  loom  of  which  was  attached  to  an  upright  beam 
on  the  deck,  as  is  still  the  case  in  some  parts  of  India.  In  some 
of  the  larger  Malay  prahaus  there  are  openings  or  windows  in 
the  stern,  considerably  below  the  deck,  by  which  the  steersmen 
have  access  to  two  large  rudders,  one  on  each  side;  each  rudder 
being  the  vestige  of  a  side  oar. 

Throughout  the  Polynesian  Islands  the  steering  is  performed 
with  either  one  or  two  greatly  developed  paddles.  Both  in  the 
rudder  of  the  Egyptian  sculptures  and  in  the  gubernaculum  of  the 
Roman  vessels,  we  see  the  transition  from  the  large  double  oar, 
one  on  each  side,  to  the  single  oar  at  the  stern.  The  ship  of 
Ptolemaeus  Philopator  had  four  rudders,  each  thirty  cubits  in 
length.  The  Chinese  and  Japanese  rudder  is  but  a  modification 
of  the  oar,  worked  through  large  holes  in  the  stern  of  the  vessel ; 
which  large  holes,  in  the  case  of  the  Japanese,  owe  their  preserva- 
tion to  the  orders  of  the  Tycoon,  who  caused  them  to  be  retained 
in  all  his  vessels,  in  order  to  prevent  his  subjects  from  venturing 
far  to  sea.  The  buccina,  or  shell  trumpet,  which  is  used  especially 
on  board  all  canoes  in  the  Pacific,  from  the  coast  of  Peru  to 
Ceylon,  is  represented,  together  with  the  gubernaculum,  in  the 
hands  of  Tritons,  in  Roman  sculptures,  and  the  shell  form  of  it 
was  preserved  in  its  metallic  representatives. 

The  sail,  in  its  simplest  form,  consists  of  a  triangular  mat, 
with  bamboos  lashed  to  the  two  longer  sides.  In  New  Guinea 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  425 

and  some  of  the  other  islands,  this  sail,  which  is  here  seen  it  its 
simplest  form,  is  simply  put  up  on  deck,  with  the  apex  down- 
wards and  the  broad  end  up,  and  kept  up  by  stays  fore  and  aft. 
When  a  separate  mast  was  introduced,  this  sail  was  hauled  up 
by  a  halyard  attached  to  one  of  the  bamboos,  at  the  distance  of 
about  one-fifth  of  its  length  from  the  broad  end,  the  apex  of 
the  bamboo-edged  mat  being  fastened  forward  by  means  of  a 
tack.  By  taking  away  the  lower  bamboo  the  sail  became  the 
lateen  sail  of  the  Malay  pirate  proa,  the  singular  resemblance 
of  which  to  that  of  the  Maltese  galley  of  the  eighteenth  century 
(a  resemblance  shared  by  all  other  parts  of  the  two  vessels)  may 
be  seen  by  two  models  placed  side  by  side  in  the  Royal  United 
Service  Institution.  Professor  Wilson  observes  that  the  use  of 
the  sail  appears  to  be  almost  unknown  on  either  continent  of 
America,  and  the  surprise  of  the  Spaniards  on  first  seeing  one 
used  on  board  a  Peruvian  balsa  arose  from  this  known  peculiarity 
of  early  American  navigation  (p.  218).  Lahontan,  however,  in 
1684,  says  that  the  Canadian  bark  canoes,  though  usually  pro- 
pelled by  paddles,  sometimes  carried  a  small  sail.  He  does  not, 
however,  say  whether  the  knowledge  of  these  has  been  derived 
from  Europeans.  Mr.  Lloyd  also  mentions  small  sails  used  with 
bark  canoes  in  Newfoundland. 

The  crow's-nest,  which  in  the  Egyptian  vessels  served  to 
contain  a  slinger  or  an  archer  at  the  top  of  the  mast,  and  which 
is  also  represented  in  the  Assyrian  sculptures,  was  still  used 
for  the  same  purpose  in  Europe  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was 
modified  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  became  the  mast-head  so 
well  known  to  midshipmen  in  our  own  time.  The  two  raised 
platforms,  which  in  the  Egyptian  vessels  served  to  contain  the 
man  with  the  fathoming  pole  in  the  fore  part,  and  the  steersman 
behind,  became  the  prora  and  the  puppis  of  the  Romans,  and 
the  forecastle  and  poop  of  modern  European  vessels.  The 
aplustre,  which,  in  the  form  of  a  lotus,  ornamented  the  stern  of 
the  Egyptian  war-craft,  gave  the  form  to  the  aplustre  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  and  may  still  be  seen  on  the  stern  of  the 

Burmese  war-boats  at  the  present  time — A.   LANE-FOX 

PITT-RIVERS,  //.  of  the  Anth.  Inst.,  4:399-435.  Reprinted  in 
The  Evolution  of  Culture,  189-227. 


426  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

INVENTION  AND  DISCOVERY 

The  material  progress  of  mankind  rests  upon  an  ever-deep- 
ening and  widening  study  of  natural  phenomena,  from  which 
results  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  wealth  of  means  at  a  man's 
disposal  for  his  own  emancipation,  and  for  the  improvement  and 
embellishment  of  his  life.  The  discovery  how  to  make  fire  by 
friction  was  an  act  of  the  intellect  which  in  its  own  degree  de- 
manded as  much  thinking  power  as  the  invention  of  the  steam- 
engine.  The  inventor  of  the  bow  or  the  harpoon  must  have  been  a 
genius,  whether  his  contemporaries  thought  him  one  or  not.  And 
then  as  now,  whatever  intellectual  gains  were  due  to  natural 
suggestions  must  have  grown  up  in  the  individual  intellect,  in 
order,  when  circumstances  were  favourable,  to  make  its  way  to 
the  minds  of  several  or  many  persons.  Only  suggestions  of  a 
lower,  less  developed  kind,  such  as  we  may  call  quite  generally 
tones  of  mind,  appear  like  epidemics  in  many  simultaneously, 
and  are  capable  as  it  were  of  giving  their  tone  to  the  mental 
physiognomy  of  a  race.  Intellectual  gains  are  individual 
achievements,  and  the  history  of  even  the  simplest  discovery 
is  a  fragment  of  the  intellectual  history  of  mankind. 

When  primitive  man  was  brought  naked  into  the  world,  Na- 
ture came  to  meet  him  in  two  ways.  She  gave  him  the  materials 
of  food,  clothing,  weapons,  and  so  forth,  and  offered  him  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  most  suitable  methods  of  turning  them  to  ac- 
count. It  is  with  these  suggestions  that  we  have  now  to  concern 
ourselves.  In  invention,  as  in  all  that  is  spiritual  in  man,  the 
external  world,  mirrored  in  his  soul,  plays  a  part.  We  cannot 
doubt  that  much  has  been  taken  from  it.  The  agreement  between 
type  and  copy  seems  very  close  when  we  find  the  tail  of  a  gnu 
or  eland  used  by  the  Bushmen  of  South  Africa,  just  as  it  was  by 
its  first  owner,  to  keep  off  the  flies  of  that  fly-abounding  region ; 
or  when  Peter  Kolb  relates  how  the  Hottentots  look  only  for  such 
roots  and  tubers  as  are  eaten  by  the  baboons  and  other  animals. 
When  we  come  to  consider  the  evolution  of  agriculture,  we  shall 
discover  many  other  cases  of  similar  suggestions ;  justifying  us  in 
the  reflection  that  in  the  lower  stages  of  culture  man  is  nearer 
to  the  beast,  learns  from  it  more  easily,  and,  similarly,  has 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  427 

a  larger  share  of  brute-instinct.  Other  discoveries  go  back  to  the 
earliest  observations  of  the  sequence  of  cause  and  effect;  and 
with  the  course  of  discovery  the  beginnings  of  science  also  reach 
back  to  the  earliest  ages  of  mankind.  Some  natural  occurrence 
strikes  a  man ;  he  wishes  to  see  it  repeated,  and  is  thus  compelled 
to  put  his  own  hand  to  it.  Thus  he  is  led  to  inquire  into  the 
particulars  of  the  occurrence  and  its  causes. 

But  it  is  the  individual  alone  who,  in  the  first  instance,  makes 
the  discovery  and  profits  by  it.  More  is  required  if  it  is  to  become 
an  addition  to  the  store  of  culture  such  as  the  history  of  culture 
can  take  into  account.  For  the  mode  in  which  the  acquisitions 
of  the  intellect  are  amassed  is  twofold.  First,  we  have  the  con- 
centrated creative  force  of  the  individual  genius,  which  brings 
one  possession  after  another  into  the  treasury  of  mankind;  and 
secondly,  the  diffusion  of  these  among  the  masses,  which  is  a 
preliminary  condition  of  their  preservation.  The  discovery  which 
the  individual  keeps  to  himself  dies  with  him;  it  can  survive  only 
if  handed  down.  The  degree  of  vitality  possessed  by  discoveries 
depends,  therefore,  upon  the  force  of  tradition ;  and  this  again 
upon  the  internal  organic  interdependence  of  the  generations. 
Since  this  is  strongest  in  those  classes  who  either  have  leisure 
or  are  led  by  their  calling  to  attend  to  intellectual  matters,  even 
in  their  most  primitive  form,  the  force  which  tends  to  preserve 
what  the  intellect  has  won  is  also  dependent  on  the  social  organi- 
sation. And  lastly,  since  a  store  of  intellectual  possession  has  a 
stimulating  effect  upon  creative  minds,  which  would  otherwise  be 
condemned  to  be  always  beginning  anew,  everything  which 
strengthens  the  force  of  tradition  in  a  race  will  have  a  favourable 
effect  upon  the  further  development  of  its  store  of  ideas,  dis- 
coveries, inventions.  Those  natural  conditions,  therefore,  may  be 
regarded  as  indirectly  most  especially  favourable  to  intellectual 
development,  which  affect  the  density  of  the  whole  population, 
the  productive  activity  of  individuals,  and  therewith  the  enrich- 
ment of  the  community.  But  the  wide  extension  of  a  race  and 
abundant  possibilities  of  commerce  are  also  operative  in  this 
direction.  If  we  consider,  not  finding  only,  but  the  preservation 
of  what  has  been  found — by  diffusion  through  a  wide  sphere 
and  incorporation  with  the  permanent  stock  of  culture, — is  es- 


428  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

sential  to  invention,  we  shall  comprehend  that  this  element  of 
invention,  so  important  for  progress,  will  not  attain  an  equally 
effective  character  in  all  stages  of  civilization.  Everything  tends 
to  limit  its  effectiveness  in  the  lower  stages,  for  the  lower  we 
go  in  civilization,  the  less  is  the  interdependence  of  men  kept 
up;  and  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  increasing  interdependence 
of  men  the  pace  of  culture  is  accelerated. 

How  many  inventions  of  men  may  have  been  lost  in  the  long 
ages  before  great  communities  were  formed !  Even  to-day  how 
many  do  we  see  fallen  with  their  inventors  into  oblivion,  or,  in 
the  most  favourable  case,  laboriously  dug  up  again  and  so  pre- 
served? And  who  can  measure  the  inertia  of  the  stubborn  oppo- 
sition which  stands  in  the  way  of  the  birth  of  new  ideas?  We 
may  remember  Cook's  description  of  the  New  Zealanders  in  the 
report  of  his  second  voyage :  "The  New  Zealanders  seem  per- 
fectly content  with  the  scraps  of  knowledge  which  they  possess, 
without  showing  the  least  impulse  to  improve  upon  them.  Nor 
do  they  show  any  particular  curiosity  either  in  their  questions  or 
their  remarks.  Novelties  do  not  surprise  them  as  much  as  one 
would  expect ;  nay,  they  do  not  hold  their  attention  for  an  in- 
stant." We  know  now  that  on  the  remote  Easter  Island  writing, 
the  most  important  of  inventions,  was  generally  known.  It 
seems  to  have  died  out  there  without  leaving  any  offspring. 

What  a  vista  of  eternally  futile  starts  opens  when  we  think  of 
this  mental  immobility  and  this  lack  of  quickening  interdepend- 
ence! We  get  a  feeling  that  all  the  sweat  which  the  struggle 
after  new  improvements  has  cost  our  age  of  inventions  is  but  a 
drop  in  the  ocean  of  labours  wherein  the  inventors  of  primitive 
times  were  submerged.  The  germ  of  civilization  will  not  grow  in 
every  soil.  The  bulk  of  civilized  methods  which  a  race  is  capa- 
ble of  assimilating  is  in  direct  proportion  to  its  average  of  civ- 
ilization. Anything  that  is  offered  to  it  beyond  this  is  only 
received  externally,  and  remains  of  no  importance  to  the  life  of 
the  race,  passing  as  time  goes  on  into  oblivion  or  rigidity 

If  we  draw  conclusions  from  certain  acquisitions  of  culture 
which  may  be  found  among  a  people,  such  as  garden  plants, 
domestic  animals,  implements  and  the  like,  to  its  contact  with 
some  other  people,  we  may  easily  forget  this  simple  but  im- 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  429 

portant  circumstance.  Many  institutions  among  the  inhabitants 
of  our  mountains  fail  to  betray  the  fact  that  they  have  lived  for 
ages  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  high  civilization;  the  Bushmen 
have  appropriated  astonishingly  little  of  the  more  copious  store 
of  weapons,  implements,  dexterity,  possessed  by  the  Bechuanas. 
On  the  one  side  the  stock  of  culture  progresses,  on  the  other  it 
retrogrades  or  stands  still,  a  condition  into  which  a  movement, 
evidently  in  its  nature  not  strong,  easily  passes.  This  is  an  in- 
structive phenomenon,  and  a  comparison  of  various  degrees  of 
this  stationariness  is  specially  attractive.  Any  one  who  starts  with 
the  view  that  pottery  is  a  very  primitive  invention,  less  remote 
than  almost  any  other  from  the  natural  man,  will  note  with  as- 
tonishment, not  in  Australia  only  but  in  Polynesia,  how  a  talented 
race,  in  the  face  of  needs  by  no  means  inconsiderable,  manages 
to  get  along  without  that  art.  And  when  he  finds  it  in  existence 
only  in  Tonga  and  the  smaller  Easter  Island  at  the  extreme 
eastern  limit  of  Polynesia,  he  will  be  apt  to  think  how  much  more 
the  intercourse  between  lands  and  islands  has  contributed  to  the 
enrichment  of  men's  stock  of  culture  than  has  independent  in- 
vention. But  that  even  here  again  intercourse  is  very  capricious, 
we  learn  from  the  absence  of  this  art  among  the  Assiniboines  of 
North  America,  next  door  to  the  Mandans,  who  excel  in  it. 
Here  we  learn  that  inventions  do  not  spread  like  a  prairie-fire, 
but  that  human  will  takes  a  hand  in  the  game  and  not  without 
caprice,  indolently  declines  some  things  while  all  the  more  readily 
accepting  others.  The  tendency  to  stand  still  at  a  stage  that  has 
been  once  reached  is  greater  in  proportion  as  the  average  of 
civilization  is  lower.  You  do  just  what  is  enough  and  no  more. 
Just  because  the  Polynesians  were  able  to  heat  water  by  putting 
red-hot  stones  into  it,  they  would  never  have  proceeded  to  pot- 
tery without  foreign  aid.  We  must  beware  of  thinking  even 
simple  inventions  necessary.  It  seems  far  more  correct  to  credit 
the  intellect  of  "natural"  races  with  great  sterility  in  all  that  does 
not  touch  the  most  immediate  objects  of  life.  Migrations  may 
also  have  given  occasion  for  sundry  losses,  since  the  raw  material 
often  occurs  only  in  limited  quantity,  and  every  great  migration 
causes  a  rift  in  tradition.  Tapa  plays  an  important  part  among 
the  Polynesians,  but  the  Maoris  lost  the  art  of  its  manufacture. 


430  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

In  these  lower  stages  of  civilization  the  whole  social  life  is  much 
more  dependent  upon  the  rise  or  upon  the  loss  of  some  simple 
invention  than  is  the  case  in  the  higher.  The  nearer  life  stands 
to  Nature,  the  thinner  the  layer  of  culture  in  which  it  is  rooted, 
the  shorter  the  fibres  which  it  strikes  down  to  the  natural  soil, 
the  more  comprehensive,  the  further-reaching  every  change  in 
that  soil  naturally  is.  The  invention  of  the  way  to  manufacture 
clothing,  whether  in  the  form  of  woven  stuffs  or  of  beaten  bark, 
is  surely  natural  and  yet  rich  in  results.  The  entire  refinement  of 
existence  among  the  natural  races  of  Polynesia,  resting  upon 
cleanliness  and  modesty,  and  sufficient  by  itself  to  give  them  a 
high  place,  is  inconceivable  without  the  inconspicuous  material 
known  as  tapa.  Bark  is  converted  into  a  stuff  for  clothing, 
which  provides  not  only  a  plentiful  covering  for  the  body  but 
also  a  certain  luxury  in  the  frequent  change  it  allows,  a  certain 
taste  in  wearing  and  in  the  selection  of  colours  and  patterns, 
and,  lastly,  a  means  of  amassing  capital  by  preserving  stores  of 
this  material  which  are  always  convertible.  Think,  on  the  other 
hand,  of  an  Eskimo's  skin  coat  or  a  Negress's  leather  apron, 
which  are  worn  through  successive  generations  and  laden  with 
the  dirt  of  them.  Tapa,  a  material  which  can  be  provided  in 
quantities  without  much  ^ trouble,  naturally  represses  the  weaver's 
art,  which  can  only  have  proceeded  by  a  long  and  toilsome  road 
from  plaiting.  In  the  lake-dwellings  there  are  products  which, 
with  equal  justice,  are  referred  to  both  one  and  the  other  form 
of  work.  This  suggests  the  relations  between  basket-weaving  and 
pottery ;  large  earthenware  vessels  were  made  by  covering  baskets 
with  clay.  There  is  no  need  on  this  account,  with  William  H. 
Holmes,  to  call  the  whole  art  of  pottery,  as  contrasted  with 
plaiting,  a  "servile  art,"  but  this  outgrowth  is  instructive. 

The  fact  that  the  most  necessary  kinds  of  knowledge  and  dex- 
terity are  spread  throughout  mankind,  so  that  the  total  impression 
of  the  stock  of  culture  possessed  by  the  "natural"  races  is  one  of 
a  fundamental  uniformity,  gives  rise  to  a  further  feeling  that  this 
scanty  stock  is  only  the  remains  of  a  larger  total  of  possessions 
from  which  all  that  was  not  absolutely  necessary  has  gradually 
dropped  out.  Or  can  we  suppose  that  the  art  of  producing  fire 
by  friction  made  its  way  all  alone  through  the  world,  or  the  art 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  431 

of  making  bows  and  arrows?  To  discuss  these  questions  is  im- 
portant, not  only  in  order  to  estimate  the  measure  of  the  in- 
ventive talent  possessed  by  natural  races,  but  also  to  obtain  the 
right  perspective  for  the  history  of  primitive  humanity,  for  it 
must  be  possible  to  read  in  the  stock  of  culture,  if  anywhere,  from 
what  elements  and  by  what  ways  mankind  of  to-day  has  become 
what  it  is.  Now  if  we  pass  in  review  what  is  possessed  by  the 
natural  races  in  artifices,  implements,  weapons,  and  so  on,  and 
deduct  what  is  and  has  been  imported,  in  some  cases  already  to  a 
large  extent,  by  means  of  trade  with  modern  civilized  races,  we 
are  inclined  to  form  a  high  conception  of  their  inventive  talent. 
But  what  guarantee  have  we  of  the  independent  discovery  of  all 
these  things?  Undoubtedly  before  there  were  any  relations  with 
Europeans,  relations  existed  with  other  races  which  reached 
down  to  these  lower  strata,  and  thus  many  a  crumb  must  have 
fallen  here  from  the  richly  spread  tables  of  the  old  civilizations 
of  Egypt,  Mesopotamia,  India,  China,  and  Japan,  and  has  con- 
tinued here  in  a  mutilated  shape  perhaps  quite  alien  to  the 
original  uses  served  by  it.  The  ethnographer  knows  cases  enough 
of  such  borrowings ;  every  single  race  shows  examples  of  them. 
Nor  is  the  examination  of  their  nature  and  significance  any- 
thing new.  We  may  specially  recall  an  original  remark  of  Liv- 
ingstone's which,  though  made  with  another  intention,  is  fairly 
applicable  here :  "The  existence  of  various  implements  which 
are  in  use  among  the  Africans  and  other  partially  civilized  races, 
points  to  the  communication  of  an  instruction  which  must  have 
proceeded  at  some  time  or  another  from  a  superhuman  being." 
Think  as  we  may  about  the  conclusion  of  this  remark,  its  main 
point  is  fully  justified  as  a  contradiction  of  the  widespread  as- 
sumption that  everything  which  natural  races  have  to  show  of 
their  own  came  into  existence  in  the  place  where  it  is  now  seen, 
and  was  invented  by  those  races  themselves.  When  we  find  all 
races  in  Africa,  from  Moors  to  Hottentots,  producing  and  work- 
ing iron  after  one  and  the  same  method,  it  is  far  more  probable 
that  this  art  reached  them  all  from  a  common  source  than  that 
it  was  independently  discovered  in  all  parts  alike.  At  one  time 
people  pointed  triumphantly  to  the  turkey  as  an  animal  which 
had  been  independently  domesticated  by  barbarous  races,  until 


432  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Spencer  Baird  discovered  in  Mexico  the  ancestor  of  this  ill- 
tempered  sovereign  of  the  poultry-yard.  In  the  matter  of  uten- 
sils, borrowing  from  civilization  is  naturally  more  difficult  to 
prove,  since  these  do  not,  like  plants  and  animals,  bear  about 
them,  however  obliterated,  the  marks  of  their  origin.  But  may 
not  the  Indian,  who  got  his  maize  from  Mexico,  have  learnt 
from  the  same  quarter  the  art  of  his  delicate  stone-work?  Such 
introduction,  together  with  its  consequence  of  the  widest  possible 
propagation,  must  seem  to  us  more  natural  than  the  independent 
invention  of  one  and  the  same  utensil,  or  one  and  the  same  touch 
of  art  in  a  dozen  different  places.  Attention  has  been  quite  re- 
cently called  to  the  fact  that  the  Solomon  Islanders  have  bows 
and  arrows,  while  the  inhabitants  of  New  Zealand  and  others 
in  the  neighbourhood  have  not,  and  people  were  quite  ready  to 
credit  the  former  with  the  invention  of  this  ingenious  weapon. 
As  has  been  already  pointed  out,  people  are,  in  this  matter,  won- 
derfully inconsistent.  On  the  one  hand  the  natural  races  are 
put  down  to  the  level  of  the  brute,  on  the  other  hand  inventions 
are  ascribed  to  them  which  are,  at  least,  not  of  an  easy  kind.  One 
is  always  too  apt  to  think  of  invention  as  easy,  considering  only 
the  difficulties  of  finding  out,  which  for  a  brain  of  genius  are 
small;  but  it  is  otherwise  with  the  retaining  of  what  has  been 
found  out.  In  some  cases  it  has  been  possible  to  penetrate 
down  to  the  more  remote  origin  of  apparently  quite  spontaneous 
productions  of  "natural"  races.  Bastian  has  compiled  a  list  of 
cases  in  which  certain  elements  of  European  civilization  have 
been  formally  imitated;  a  good  instance  being  the  characteristic 
Fijian  form  of  club  copied  from  a  musket  of  the  last  century. 
The  savages  thought  they  would  have  to  have  the  dreaded  weapon 
at  least  in  wood,  and  produced  a  club  remarkably  ill-adapted  to 
its  proper  purpose.  A  head-dress  used  in  the  New  Hebrides  is 
a  colossal  exaggeration  of  an  admiral's  cocked-hat.  The  re- 
markable cross-bow  used  by  the  Fans  is  more  to  the  purpose. 
It  reached  the  Fans  of  the  interior  from  the  Portuguese  dis- 
coverers on  the  west  coast,  and  they  retained  the  pattern,  while 
on  the  coast  firearms  came  into  use,  as  in  Europe.  Now,  after 
four  hundred  years,  the  cross-bow  turns  up  again;  but  as  the 
Fans  have  neither  the  patience  nor  the  tools  to  fashion  a  lock, 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  433 

they  slit  the  stock,  and  use  the  cross-bow  to  shoot  little  poisoned 
arrows  which  might  just  as  well  be  shot  from  a  light  long-bow. 

If  it  were  less  difficult  to  seize  the  manifestations  of  intel- 
lectual life  among  the  lower  races,  we  should  be  able  to  gather  a 
much  richer  harvest  among  them.  Indian  traces  run  through  the 
religion  of  the  Malays  and  extend  perhaps  to  Melanesia  and 
Polynesia.  We  find  such  striking  similarities,  especially  in  the  cos- 
mogonic  legends  of  Bushmen  and  Australians,  Polynesians,  and 
North  Americans,  that  nothing  but  borrowing  is  left  to  explain 
them.  So  in  the  domain  of  politics  we  find  points  of  accord. 
The  institutions  of  Kazembe's  country,  as  described  by  Lacerda 
and  Livingstone,  or  Muata  Jamvo's,  as  reported  by  Pogge  and 
Buchner,  remind  us  partly  of  India,  partly  of  ancient  Egypt. 
In  the  domain  of  social  and  political  conceptions  and  institu- 
tions, the  coincidences  are  striking.  The  deeper  we  search  into 
these  matters,  the  more  convinced  we  are  of  the  correctness  of  an 
expression  used  by  Bastian  at  a  date  when  the  sharp  division  of 
races  was  a  gospel,  and  the  unity  of  mankind  was  scouted.  In 
his  Journey  to  San  Salvador  he  says:  "Even  to  the  islands 
slumbering  on  the  bosom  of  the  Pacific,  ocean-currents  seem  to 
have  driven  the  message  of  the  more  abstract  triumphs  of  civ- 
ilization ;  perhaps  even  to  the  shores  of  the  American  continent." 
We  may  be  permitted  to  add  the  conclusion  that  no  one  under- 
stands the  natural  races  who  does  not  make  due  allowance  for 
their  intercourse  and  connection,  often  disguised  as  it  is,  with 
each  other,  and  with  civilized  peoples.  There  is,  and  always  has 
been,  more  intercourse  between  them  than  we  would  sup- 
pose from  a  superficial  observation.  Thus,  long  before  the  Nile 
route  was  opened  to  traffic,  wares  of  European  origin,  especially 
pearls,  made  their  way  from  Darfour  by  Hofrat  el  Nahas,  even  to 
the  Azandeh.  Where  strong  resemblances  occur,  the  question  of 
intercourse,  of  communication  from  abroad,  should  always  be 
raised  in  the  first  instance;  in  many  cases  possibly  that  of  very 
direct  intercourse.  We  think  that  we  are  quite  justified  in  asking 
whether  it  is  not  by  fugitive  slaves  that  so  many  elements  of 
African  civilization  have  been  spread  through  South  America. 
For  centuries  the  Japanese  have  had  very  little  intercourse  with 
the  races  of  the  North  Pacific;  yet  it  may  be  that  we  ought  to 


434  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

refer  to  some  such  intercourse  as  this  (which,  in  truth,  not  only 
enlarges,  but,  as  time  goes  on,  always  tends  to  decompose)  the 
wicker  armour  worn  by  the  Chukchis,  so  like  Japanese  armour. 
Thus,  however,  races  formerly  depended  on  each  other ;  and  no 
more  than  at  present  was  there  ever  on  this  earth,  so  far  as  our 
historical  knowledge  shows,  a  group  of  men  who  could  be  said 
to  be  devoid  of  relations  with  others.  Everywhere  we  see  agree- 
ments, similarities,  affinities,  radiating  out  till  they  form  a  close 
network  over  the  earth ;  even  the  most  remote  islanders  can  only 
be  understood  when  we  take  into  account  their  neighbours,  far 
and  near. 

These  most  remote  islands,  too,  show  how  indigenous  in- 
dustries always  dwindle  where  European  or  American  manu- 
factures come.  When  Hamilton  visited  Car  Nicobar  in  1790, 
the  women  wore  a  kind  of  short  petticoat,  made  of  tufts  of 
grass  or  rushes  strung  in  a  row,  which  simply  hung  down ;  now 
they  universally  cover  up  their  bodies  with  stuff  cloths.  Thus 
a  century's  progress  has  resulted  in  the  replacing  of  the  grass 
petticoat  by  woven  materials.  Meanwhile,  the  domestic  industry 
perishes,  and  no  new  dexterity  arises  in  its  stead.  On  the  lower 
Congo  we  no  longer  find  the  bark-stuffs  and  fine  webs  which 
Lopez  and  other  travellers  of  the  sixteenth  century  prized  so 
highly.  Where,  too,  is  the  art  of  polishing  gems  and  obsidian, 
which  produced  such  conspicuous  results  in  ancient  Mexico? 
or  the  goldsmith's  work  and  tapestry  of  the  old  Peruvians? 

For  estimating  the  importance  of  external  suggestion,  nothing 
is  more  instructive  than  the  consideration  of  races  which  are 
poorest  in  an  ethnographical  sense.  Of  them  we  can  say  that 
they  are  invariably  also  those  whose  intercourse  with  others 
is  scantiest.  Why  are  the  most  remote  races  at  the  extremities 
of  the  continents  or  on  the  less  accessible  islands  the  most  desti- 
tute? Ethnographic  poverty  is  only  in  part  a  consequence  of  the 
penury,  the  general  poverty,  which  presses  on  a  people.  This 
has  been  readily  recognised  in  the  case  of  many  races,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  Australians,  whose  life  on  the  arid  steppes  of  their 
continent,  almost  destitute  of  useful  plants  and  animals,  is  one 
of  the  poorest  and  most  depressed  that  has  been  allotted  to  any 
race  on  the  earth.  But  even  in  the  most  favoured  northern  tracts 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  435 

within  the  tropics,  they  are  almost  totally  devoid  of  that  tend- 
ency to  the  artistic  adornment  of  existence  which  flourishes  so 
profusely  among  their  Papuan  neighbours,  and  forms  the  luxury 
of  barbarous  races.  In  this  case  we  need  not  seek  far  for  the 
causes  of  their  ethnographical  poverty.  Every  glance  at  the 
conditions  and  mode  of  these  people's  life  shows  how  sharp  is 
their  struggle  to  maintain  bare  existence,  but  it  also  shows  the 
impoverishing  effects  of  remoteness  from  the  great  streams  of 
traffic.  The  out-of-the-way  situation  of  Australia,  southern 
South  America,  the  interior  of  South  Africa,  and  eastern  Poly- 
nesia, exercises  the  same  impoverishing  influence  everywhere 
upon  the  indigenous  races.  If  any  one  is  inclined  to  see  in  this 
a  sort  of  contagion  of  poverty,  referable  to  the  smaller  number 
of  suggestions  offered  under  these  conditions  by  Nature  to  the 
mind,  and  especially  to  the  fancy,  he  must  beware  of  hasty  con- 
clusions. Easter  Island,  though  small,  and  by  nature  poor,  is 
ethnographically  rich ;  and  hardly  any  barbarous  race  is  superior 
in  artistic  development  to  the  Eskimo. 

We  know  how  the  utensils  and  weapons  of  civilized  races 
have  spread  as  it  were  by  stages  and  continue  to  spread  to  races 
which  previously  possessed  no  notion  of  them.  When  Stanley 
crossed  the  Dark  Continent,  on  his  first  remarkable  journey  along 
the  Congo,  the  last  point  where  firearms  were  seen  in  native 
hands  was  left  on  the  east  at  the  famous  market-town  of  Ny- 
angwe.  He  came  upon  them  again  to  the  westward  at  Nbenga, 
6°  north  of  Nyangwe,  in  the  shape  of  those  four  old  Portuguese 
muskets,  ever  to  be  historical  as  the  first  sign  from  which  the 
party  learned,  at  the  most  critical  moment  of  their  journey,  "that 
we  had  not  missed  the  way,  and  that  the  great  stream  really 
reached  the  sea."  Nyangwe  and  Nbenga  are  on  the  borders  of 
an  area  of  200,000  to  250,000  square  miles  wherein  firearms, 
with  which  the  coasts  of  Africa  have  roared  these  four  hun- 
dred years,  were  a  few  years  ago  unknown.  It  is  true  that  other 
things  have  been  more  quickly  diffused,  as  for  instance  those 
American  products  which  were  not  brought  here  till  the  sixteenth 
century — tobacco,  maize,  and  potatoes.  But  they  too  have  trav- 
elled by  stages ;  the  Damaras  have  only  come  to  know  tobacco 
within  the  last  few  dozen  years. — F.  RATZEL,  History  of  Man- 
kind, i : 76-84. 


In  Part  II  we  saw  that  the  formal  education  of  the 
savage  child  was  concerned  mainly  with  the  develop- 
ment of  his  character.  The  serious  and  protracted 
attempt  of  the  old  men  of  the  Australians  to  render  the 
youth  ertwa,  murra,  oknirra  (man,  good,  very)  was 
not  only  remarkably  successful  but  embodied  a  very 
respectable  ideal.  And  this  insistence  on  a  moral  life 
is  dominant  in  the  educational  systems  of  all  savages. 
The  North  American  Indians,  especially,  had  developed 
a  noble  conception  of  personal  character  and  an  elabo- 
rate symbolism  for  impressing  it  on  the  young  men.  In 
this  connection  I  may  call  attention  to  the  following 
passage  from  Miss  Fletcher's  "The  Hako:  A  Pawnee 
Ceremony"  (Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Eth- 
nology, 22:365): 

"There  is  one  aspect  of  the  ritual,  essential  to  its 
understanding,  that  was  carefully  explained  by  the 
Kurahus,  and  the  substance  of  many  conversations  on 
the  subject  follows.  A  man's  life  is  an  onward  move- 
ment. If  one  has  within  him  a  determined  purpose  and 
seeks  the  help  of  the  powers  his  life  will  'climb  up.' 
Here  the  Kurahus  made  a  gesture  indicating  a  line 
slanting  upward;  then  he  arrested  the  movement  and, 
still  holding  his  hand  where  he  had  stopped,  went  on  to 
say  that  as  a  man  is  climbing  up  he  does  something  that 
marks  a  place  in  his  life  where  the  powers  have  given 
him  the  opportunity  to  express  in  acts  his  peculiar  en- 
dowments, so  this  place,  this  act,  forms  a  stage  in  his 
career,  and  he  takes  a  new  name  to  indicate  that  he  is 

436 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  437 

on  a  level  different  from  that  which  he  occupied  pre- 
viously. Some  men,  he  said,  can  rise  only  a  little  way, 
others  live  on  a  dead  level,  and  he  illustrated  his  words 
by  moving  his  hands  horizontally.  Men  having  power 
to  advance,  climb  step  by  step,  and  here  again  he  made 
his  idea  plain  by  a  gesture  picturing  a  slant,  then  a 
level,  a  slant  and  a  level.  In  this  connection  he  called 
attention  to  the  words,  in  line  1359,  'ruturahwitz  pari,' 
'to  overtake  walking/  saying  that  the  people  who  desire 
to  have  a  name,  or  to  change  their  name,  must  strive  to 
overtake  in  the  walk  of  life  an  upper  level,  such  a  one 
as  these  ancient  men  spoken  of  in  the  ritual  had  reached, 
where  they  threw  away  the  names  by  which  they  had 
been  known  before.  'Ruturahwitz  pari1  is  a  call  to 
the  Pawnees,  bidding  them  emulate  these  men  and 
overtake  them  by  the  doing  of  like  deeds." 

The  defect  of  this  educational  system,  like  that  of 
our  own  system  so  long  as  it  remained  exclusively  a 
moral  discipline,  was  the  absence  of  any  considerable 
and  exact  body  of  knowledge. 

Furthermore  the  whole  attempt  of  the  savage  to 
control  the  outside  world,  so  far  as  it  contained  a 
theory  or  doctrine,  was  based  on  magic.  This  is  es- 
pecially well  illustrated  in  the  selection  from  Frazer  in 
Part  VI,  and  I  have  alluded  to  it  in  the  introductory 
chapter.  Where  civilized  man  controls  through  sci- 
ence the  savage  attempted  to  control  through  magic. 
He  paid  as  much  attention  to  his  magic  as  we  pay 
to  our  science,  but  in  doing  so  he  wasted  his  attention. 

In  this  state  of  affairs  mechanical  invention  has  a 
peculiar  importance.  The  group  solidarity  of  early 
man,  secured  through  moral  teaching,  was  hardly  more 
complete  than  the  gregarious  organization  of  some  ani- 


438  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

mals,  and  his  magic  was  a  positive  loss.  But  in  me-» 
chanical  invention  he  had  the  experimental  method  of 
modern  science.  And  there  is  no  doubt  that  primitive 
man's  inventions  raised  him  above  the  brutes  just  as 
our  science  constitutes  our  main  superiority  to  the 
lower  races.  For  the  physical  feebleness  of  man  is 
conspicuous  in  comparison  with  the  size  and  strength 
of  many  animals,  and  his  subjugation  of  the  animal 
world  is  a  matter  which  cannot  cease  to  engage  our 
admiration.  "The  personal  power  of  man  to  obtain  the 
means  of  subsistence  is  exceedingly  limited.  His  physi- 
cal form  is  poorly  adapted  to  the  performance  of  those 
acts  by  which  alone  the  resources  of  the  earth  are  to  be 
increased.  With  neither  the  wings  of  the  eagle  nor  the 
fleetness  of  the  hound,  he  finds  himself  soon  outstripped 
by  the  grouse  and  the  hare.  With  neither  gills  nor 
fins  he  is  readily  evaded  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  water. 
Destitute  of  appropriate  weapons  of  offense,  he  finds 
himself  no  match  for  many  of  the  animals  which  he 
would  gladly  kill  for  food.  Unprovided  with  claws  for 
digging  the  ground,  he  cannot  burrow  for  safety  either 
from  his  enemies  or  from  the  elements.  Unfitted,  as 
he  is,  for  periodical  migration  for  the  purpose  of  escap- 
ing extremes  of  temperature,  and  yet  frequently  com- 
pelled to  change  his  habitat  in  consequence  of  the  rapid 
increase  in  his  numbers  which  soon  renders  food  scarce 
in  any  one  locality,  he  finds  himself  in  danger  of  being 
dashed  against  Scylla  whenever  he  seeks  to  avoid 
Charybdis.  With  all  these  limitations  upon  his  exist- 
ence and  progress,  there  remained  but  one  hope  for  him 
and  this  lay  through  invention"  (Professor  Lester  F. 
Ward,  Dynamic  Sociology,  1:548). 

On  its  subjective  side  Part  III  may  be  regarded  as  a 


INVENTION  AND  TECHNOLOGY  439 

continuation  of  Part  II.  Pp.  359-66,  especially,  deal 
with  the  formation  of  abstract  conceptions  and  systems. 
An  attentive  reading  of  the  selections  from  Mason  and 
Pitt-Rivers  reveals  the  most  acute  attention  on  the  part 
of  primitive  man  to  the  details  of  his  environment  and 
a  marvelous  ingenuity  in  taking  advantage  of  them.  It 
also  confirms  the  view  expressed  in  Part  II  that  his 
mental  organization  is  not  defective.  If  we  make  due 
allowance  for  the  low  state  of  knowledge  and  the  pau- 
city of  materials  we  must  admit  that  his  ingenuity  and 
interest  are  of  absolutely  the  same  pattern  as  those  of 
the  modern  scientist  or  inventor. 

The  whole  of  Mason's  book,  The  Origins  of  Inven- 
tion, should  be  read,  and  additional  titles  on  primitive 
invention  will  be  found  in  his  footnotes.  I  particularly 
wished  to  include  here  his  paper  on  the  Traps  of  the 
Amerinds,  listed  below,  but  considerations  of  space 
prevented  it. 


1  ::  '  BIBLIOGRAPHY    3 

I  ABBOTT,  C.  C.  Primitive  Industry:  Illustrations  of  the  Handiwork 
in  Stone,  Bone  and  Clay  of  the  Native  Races  of  the  Atlantic  Sea- 
board of  America.  Salem,  Mass.,  1881. 

*2  ANDREE,   RICHARD.     Die  Metalle  bei  den  Naturvolkern  mit  Beriick- 
sichtigung  prdhistorischer  Verh'dltnisse.     Leipzig,  1884. 

*3  BALFOUR,   H.     "On  the    Structure   and   Affinities   of   the   Composite 
Bow,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  19:220-50. 

4  BANDELIER,  A.  "On  the  Art  of  War  and  Mode  of  Warfare  of  the 
Ancient  Mexicans,"  Peabody  Mus.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  Rep.,  10:95-159. 

*5  BECK,   L.     Die   Geschichte   des   Eisens   in    technischer   und    kultur- 
g  esc  hie  ht  lie  her  Beziehung.     Braunschweig,  1881-1903.     5  v. 

6  BOEHMER,  G.  H.     "Prehistoric  Naval  Architecture  of  the  North  of 
Europe,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1891:527-647. 

7  BORDIER,    A.      "Toxicologie    primitive,"    Rev.    mensuelle    de    I'ecole 
d'anth.,  3:301-15. 

8  BOURKE,  J.  G.     "Primitive  Distillation  among  the  Tarascoes,"  Amer. 
Anth.,  6:65-69. 

9  BOURKE,   J.    G.     "Distillation   by    Early   American    Indians,"   Amer. 
Anth.,  7:297-99. 

10  CODRINGTON,  R.  H.    "On  Poisoned  Arrows  in  Melanesia,"  Jour.  Anth. 
Inst.,  19:215-19. 

11  COWPER,  H.  S.     The  Art  of  Attack.    Ulverston,  1906. 
*I2  GUSHING,  F.  H.     "The  Arrow,"  Amer.  Anth.,  8;.3O7~49. 

[Announced  "To  be  continued,"  but  not  completed.] 

13  DORSEY,  J.  O.     "Omaha  Dwellings,  Furniture,  and  Implements,"  Bur. 
Amer.  Ethn.,  Ann.  Rep.,  13:306-27. 

14  ESCHER,  R.     "Erfinden  und  Erfinder,"  Zeit.  f.  Socialwissenschaft,  2: 
161-75. 

15  ESPINAS,  A.  "V.    Les  origines  de  la  technologic.     Paris,  1897. 

17  FRIEDERICI,    G.      "Die    Wirkung    des    Indianerbogens,"    Globus,    91 : 
325-30. 

440 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  441 

18  HAPP,  E.    Grundlinien  einer  Philosophic  der  Technik.    Braunschweig, 
1878. 

19  HEDINGER,  A.  "Zur  Frage  der  altesten  Methode  der  Feuererzeugung," 
Archiv  f.  Anth.,  25:165-70. 

*2O  HOLMES,  W.  H.  "Order  of  Development  of  the  Primal  Shaping 
Arts,"  Smithsonian  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1901 : 501-13. 

*2i  HOLMES,  W.  H.  "The  Natural  History  of  Flaked  Stone  Imple- 
ments," Internat.  Cong,  of  Anth.,  Mem.,  120-39. 

*22  HOLMES,  VV.  H.    "The  Tomahawk,"  Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  10:264-76. 

*23  HOUGH,  W.     "Aboriginal  Fire-Making,"  Amer.  Anth.,  3:359-71. 

*24  HOUGH,  W.  "The  Methods  of  Fire-Making,"  Smithsonian  Inst., 
Ann.  Rep.  for  1890:395-409. 

*25  HOUGH,  W.  "Primitive  American  Armor,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann. 
Rep.  for  1893:625-51. 

26  HOUGH,  W.    "The  Pulque  of  Mexico,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Proc.,  33: 
577-92. 

27  HOUGH,  W.     "The  Development  of  Illumination,"  Smithsonian  Inst., 
Ann.  Rep.  for  1901:493-500. 

28  JOHNSTON,  SIR  H.     George  Grenfell  and  the  Congo,  "Arts  and  In- 
dustries," 2 : 798-813. 

29  KARUTZ,  DR.     "Der  Stand  der  Bogen-  und  Pfeilforschung,"  Globus, 
76:380-89. 

*3O  LIPPERT,  J.  Kulturgeschichte  der  Menschheit,  "Die  Zahmung  des 
Feuers,"  i :  250-79 ;  "Die  Fortschritte  des  Werkzeugs  als  Waff e,"  i : 
280-312;  "Ausblick  auf  die  Entwickelung  differenzierter  Cerate," 
i =313-45- 

*3i  McGuiRE,  J.  D.  "Classification  and  Development  of  Primitive  Im- 
plements," Amer.  Anth.,  9:227-36. 

*32  McGuiRE,  J.  D.  "On  the  Evolution  of  the  Art  of  Working  in 
Stone,"  Amer.  Anth.,  6:  307-19. 

*33  McGuiRE,  J.  D.    "A  Study  of  Primitive  Methods  of  Drilling,"  U.  S. 

Nat.  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1894:623-756. 
*34  MASON,  O.  T.    Origins  of  Invention  ("Contemp.  Sci."  Ser.).    London, 

I^95-  [The  best  book  on  the  subject.] 

35  MASON,    O.    T.     "Resemblances    in    Arts    Widely    Separated,"    Am. 

Naturalist,  20:246-51. 

*36  MASON,  O.  T.  "Aboriginal  American  Mechanics,"  Internat.  Cong,  of 
Anth.,  Mem.,  60-83. 


442  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

37  MASON,  O.  T.  "The  Birth  of  Invention,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep. 
for  1892:603-11. 

*38  MASON,  O.  T.  "Aboriginal  American  Zootechny,"  Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S., 
i:4S-8i. 

*39  MASON,  O.  T.,  AND  OTHERS.  "Arrows  and  Arrow-Makers :  A  Sym- 
posium," Amer.  Anth.,  4:45-74. 

[MASON,  O.  T.,  "Introduction,"  45-49 ;  HOLMES,  W.  H.,  "Manufacture  of  Stone 
Arrow  Points,"  49-58 ;  WILSON,  T.,  "Forms  of  Ancient  Arrow  Heads," 
58-60 ;  HOUGH,  W.,  "Arrow  Feathering  and  Pointing,"  60-63 ;  FLINT, 
W.,  "The  Arrow  and  Modern  Archery,"  63-67 ;  HOFFMAN,  W.  J., 
"Poisoned  Arrows ;"  BOURKE,  J.  G.,  "Folk-Lore  Concerning  Arrows," 
67-71.] 

*39a  MASON,  O.  T.    "Traps  of  the  Amerinds,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  2:  657-75. 

40  MASON,  O.  T.  "Traps  of  American  Indians — A  Study  in  Psy- 
chology and  Invention,"  Smithsonian  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1901 : 
4§i-73. 

*4i  MASON,  O.  T.  "North  American  Bows,  Arrows,  and  Quivers," 
Smithsonian  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1893:631-79. 

42  MASON,    O.    .T.      "The    Man's    Knife    among    the    North    American 
Indians,"   U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1897:725-45. 

43  MASON,    O.    T.      "The    Ulu    or    Woman's    Knife    of    the    Eskimo," 
U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1890:411-16. 

44  MASON,  O.  T.     "Aboriginal  American  Harpoons :  A  Study  in  Ethnic 
Distribution  and  Invention,"   U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for   1900: 
189-304. 

45  MASON,  O.  T.     "Aboriginal  Skin-dressing,"   U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann. 
Rep.  for  1889:553-89- 

46  MASON,  O.  T.     "A  Primitive  Frame  for  Weaving  Narrow  Fabrics," 
U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1899:485-510. 

48  MASON,   O.   T.     "The   Technic   of   Aboriginal   American   Basketry," 

Amer.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  3:109-28. 
*49  MASON,   O.  T.     "Primitive  Travel   and  Transportation,"    U.   S.   Nat. 

Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1894:237-593. 
*5O  MASON,  O.  T.    "Beginnings  of  the  Carrying  Industry,"  Amer.  Anth., 

2 : 21-46. 

51  MASON,  O.  T.     "Pointed  Bark  Canoes  of  the  Kutenai  and  Amur," 
U.  S.  Nat  Mus.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1899:532-37. 

52  MASON,  O.  T.     "The  Human  Beast  of  Burden,"   U.  S.  Nat.  Mus., 
Ann.  Rep.  for  1887:237-95. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  443 

53  MEYER,  H.    "Bows  and  Arrows  in  Central  Brazil,"  Smithsonian  Inst., 
Ann.  Rep.  for  1896:549-82. 

55  MORTILLET,    G.     "Empoisonnement   des    armes,"    Rev.    mensuelle    de 
I'ecole  d'anth.,  1:97-106. 

56  PEET,  S.  D.    "The  Earliest  Constructed  Dwellings  and  the  Locality  in 
Which  Man  Made  His  First  Home,"  Amer.  Antiq.,  22:85-100. 

*57  POWELL,  J.  W.     "Technology,  or  the  Science  of  Industries,"  Amer. 

Anth.,  N.  S.,  1:319-49. 
*57a  RAU,    C.      "Prehistoric    Fishing    in    Europe    and    North    America," 

Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  25 : 1-342. 

58  REULEAUX,    F.      "Technology    and    Civilisation,"    Smithsonian    Inst., 
Ann.  Rep.  for  1890:705-19. 

59  ROYCE,  J.     "The    Psychology   of  Invention,"   Psych.   Rev.,   5 : 1 13-44. 

60  SPENCER,   B.,   and   GILLEN,  F.   J.     The  Northern   Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  "Weapons  and  Implements,"  633-82. 

61  SPENCER,    H.      Descriptive    Sociology,    "Weapons — Implements,"    i : 
59-62;  2:66,  67;  3:56-59;  4:43-45;  5:54,  55;  6:51-53;  7:114-16;  8: 
146-49. 

62  STUBEL,  A.,  REISS,  W.,  AND  KOPPEL,  B.     Kultur  und  Industrie  sud- 
amerikanischer  Volker.     Berlin,  1889-91.    2  v. 

63  SKEAT    AND    BLAGDEN.      Pagan    Races    of    the    Malay    Peninsula, 
"Weapons  and  Implements,"  1:242-337;  "Arts  and  Crafts,"  1:373-94. 

64  SKERTCHLEY,  S.  B.  J.    "Borneo  Traps,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  20:211-22. 

65  THOMAS,  N.  W.    "Australian  Canoes  and  Rafts,"  Jour.  Anth..  Inst., 
35:56-79. 

66  THOMAS,  W.   I.     Sex  and  Society,  "Sex   and   Primitive   Industry," 
123-48. 

67  TYLOR,  E.  B.     Early  History  of  Mankind,  "Fire,  Cooking  and  Ves- 
sels," 229-74. 

68  WACHTER,  W.    Das  Feucr  in  dcr  Natur,  im  Kultus  und  Mythus,  im 
Volkerleben.     Wien,  1904. 

*69  WARD,  L.  F.  Psychic  Factors  of  Civilization,  "The  Inventive  Fac- 
ulty," 181-89;  "Psychology  of  Invention,"  190-95;  "The  Inventive 
Genius,"  196-207. 

*7O  WARD,  L.  F.    Pure  Sociology,  "The  Conquest  of  Nature,"  511-43. 
71  WATKINS,  J.  E.     "The  Transportation  and  Lifting  of  Heavy  Bodies 
by  the  Ancients,"  Smithsonian  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1898:615-19. 

[For  houses,  pottery,  textiles,  basketry,  see  Bibliography  of  Part  5.  For  a 
further  and  more  critical  indication  of  American  archaeology  see  end 
of  Bibliography  8.  -For  European  prehistorics  see  Bibliography  13.] 


PART  IV 
SEX  AND  MARRIAGE 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE 

THE  ORIGIN  AND  ANTIQUITY  OF  HUMAN  MARRIAGE 

We  can  no  more  stop  within  the  limits  of  our  own 

species,  when  trying  to  find  the  root  of  our  psychical  and  social 
life,  than  we  can  understand  the  physical  condition  of  the  human 
race  without  taking  into  consideration  that  of  the  lower  animals. 
I  must,  therefore,  beg  the  reader  to  follow  me  into  a  domain 
which  many  may  consider  out  of  the  way,  but  which  we  must, 
of  necessity,  explore  in  order  to  discover  what  we  seek. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  preservation  of  the  progeny  of  the  low- 
est animals  depends  mainly  upon  chance.  In  the  great  sub- 
kingdom  of  the  Invertebrata,  even  the  mothers  are  exempted 
from  nearly  all  anxiety  as  regards  their  offspring.  In  the  high- 
est orders,  the  Insects,  the  eggs  are  hatched  by  the  heat  of  the 
sun,  and  the  mother  in  most  cases,  does  not  even  see  her  young. 
Her  care  is  generally  limited  to  seeking  out  an  appropriate  place 
for  laying  the  eggs,  and  to  fastening  them  to  some  proper  object 
and  covering  them,  if  this  be  necessary  for  their  preservation. 

Again,  to  the  male's  share  nothing  falls,  but  the  function  of 
propagation. 

In  the  lowest  classes  of  the  Vertebrata,  parental  care  is  like- 
wise almost  unheard  of.  In  the  immense  majority  of  species, 
young  fishes  are  hatched  without  the  assistance  of  their  parents, 
and  have,  from  the  outset,  to  help  themselves.  Many  Teleostei 
form,  however,  an  exception ;  and,  curiously  enough,  it  is  the 
male  on  which,  in  these  cases,  the  parental  duty  generally  de- 
volves. In  some  instances  he  constructs  a  nest,  and  jealously 
guards  the  ova  deposited  in  it  by  the  female :  while  the  male  of 
certain  species  of  Arius  carries  the  ova  about  with  him  in  his 
capacious  pharynx.  Most  of  the  Reptiles  place  their  eggs  in  a 
convenient  and  sunny  spot  between  moss  and  leaves,  and  take 
no  further  trouble  about  them.  But  several  of  the  larger  ser- 
pents have  a  curious  fashion  of  laying  them  in  a  heap,  and  then 
coiling  themselves  around  them  in  a  great  hollow  cone.  And 

447 


448  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

female  Crocodiles,  as  also  certain  aquatic  snakes  of  Cochin  China, 
observed  by  Dr.  M  or  ice,  carry  with  them  even  their  young. 

Among  the  lower  Vertebrata  it  rarely  happens,  that  both  parents 
jointly  take  care  of  their  progeny.  M.  Milne  Edwards  states,  in- 
deed, that  in  the  Pipa,  or  Toad  of  Surinam,  the  male  helps  the 
female  to  disburthen  herself  of  her  eggs ;  and  the  Chelonia  are 
known  to  live  in  pairs.  "La  femelle,"  says  M.  Espinas,  "vient  sur< 
les  plages  sablonneuses  au  moment  de  la  ponte,  accompagnee  du 
male,  et  construit  un  nid  en  forme  de  four  ou  la  chaleur  du  soleil 
fait  (jclore  les  ceufs."  But  it  may  be  regarded  as  an  almost  uni- 
versal rule  that  the  relations  of  the  sexes  are  utterly  fickle.  The 
male  and  female  come  together  in  the  pairing  time ;  but  having 
satisfied  their  sexual  instincts,  they  part  again,  having  nothing 
more  to  do  with  one  another. 

The  Chelonia  form,  with  regard  to  their  domestic  habits,  a 
transition  to  the  Birds,  as  they  do  also  from  a  zoological  and, 
particularly,  from  an  embryological  point  of  view.  In  the  latter 
class,  parental  affection  has  reached  a  very  high  degree  of  develop- 
ment, not  only  on  the  mother's  side,  butalso  on  the  father's.  Male 
and  female  help  each  other  to  build  the  nest,  the  former  generally 
bringing  the  materials,  the  latter  doing  the  work.  In  fulfilling 
the  numberless  duties  of  the  breeding  season,  both  birds  take  a 
share.  Incubation  rests  principally  with  the  mother,  but  the 
father,  as  a  rule,  helps  his  companion,  taking  her  place  when  she 
wants  to  leave  the  nest  for  a  moment,  or  providing  her  with  food 
and  protecting  her  from  every  danger.  Finally,  when  the  duties 
of  the  breeding  season  are  over,  and  the  result  desired  is  obtained, 
a  period  with  new  duties  commences.  During  the  first  few  days 
after  hatching,  most  birds  rarely  leave  their  young  for  long,  and 
then  only  to  procure  food  for  themselves  and  their  family.  In 
cases  of  great  danger,  both  parents  bravely  defend  their  off- 
spring. As  soon  as  the  first  period  of  helplessness  is  over,  and 
the  young  have  grown  somewhat,  they  are  carefully  taught  to 
shift  for  themselves ;  and  it  is  only  when  they  are  perfectly  capa- 
ble of  so  doing  that  they  leave  the  nest  and  the  parents. 

There  are,  indeed,  a  few  birds  that  from  the  first  day  of  their 
ultra-oval  existence  lack  all  parental  care ;  and  in  some  species, 
as  the  ducks,  it  frequently  happens  that  the  male  leaves  family 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  449 

duties  wholly  to  the  female.  But,  as  a  general  rule,  both  share 
prosperity  and  adversity.  The  hatching  of  the  eggs  and  the 
chief  part  of  the  rearing-duties  belong  to  the  mother,  whilst  the 
father  acts  as  protector,  and  provides  food,  &c. 

The  relation  of  the  sexes  are  thus  of  a  very  intimate  charac- 
ter, male  and  female  keeping  together  not  only  during  the  breed- 
ing season,  but  also  after  it.  Nay,  most  birds,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  those  belonging  to  the  Gallinaceous  family,  when  pairing, 
do  so  once  for  all  till  either  one  or  the  other  dies.  And  Dr. 
Brehm  is  so  filled  with  admiration  for  their  exemplary  family 
life,  that  he  enthusiastically  declares  that  "real  genuine  marriage 
can  only  be  found  among  birds." 

This  certainly  cannot  be  said  of  most  of  the  Mammals.  The 
mother  is,  indeed,  very  ardently  concerned  for  the  welfare  of 
her  young,  generally  nursing  them  with  the  utmost  affection,  but 
this  is  by  no  means  the  case  with  the  father.  There  are  cases  in 
which  he  acts  as  an  enemy  of  his  own  progeny.  But  there  are 
not  wanting  instances  to  the  contrary,  the  connections  between 
the  sexes,  though  generally  restricted  to  the  time  of  the  rut, 
being,  with  several  species,  of  a  more  durable  character.  This 
is  the  case  with  whales,  seals,  the  hippopotamus,  the  Cervus  cam- 
pestris,  gazelles,  the  Neotragus  Hemprichii  and  other  small  ante- 
lopes, rein-deer,  the  Hydromus  corpus,  squirrels,  moles,  the 
ichneumon,  and  some  carnivorous  animals,  as  a  few  cats  and 
martens,  the  yaguarundi  in  South  America,  the  Canis  Brasilien- 
sis,  and  possibly  also  the  wolf.  Among  all  these  animals  the 
sexes  remain  together  even  after  the  birth  of  the  young,  the  male 
being  the  protector  of  the  family. 

What  among  lower  Mammals  is  an  exception,  is  among  the 
Quadrumana  a  rule.  The  natives  of  Madagascar  relate  that  in 
some  species  of  the  Prosimii,  male  and  female  nurse  their  young 
in  common — a  statement,  however,  which  has  not  yet  been  proved 
to  be  true.  The  mirikina  (Nyctipithecus  trivirgatus)  seems, 
according  to  Rengger,  to  live  in  pairs  throughout  the  whole 
year,  for,  whatever  the  season,  a  male  and  a  female  are  always 
found  together.  Of  the  Mycetes  Caraya,  Cebus  Azarae,  and 
Ateles  paniscus,  single  individuals  are  very  seldom,  or  never, 
seen,  whole  families  being  generally  met  with.  Among  the  Arc- 


450  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

topitheci,  the  male  parent  is  expressly  said  to  assist  the  female 
in  taking  care  of  the  young  ones. 

The  most  interesting  to  us  are,  of  course,  the  man-like  apes. 
Diard  was  told  by  the  Malays,  and  he  found  it  afterwards  to  be 
true,  that  the  young  Siamangs,  when  in  their  helpless  state,  are 
carried  about  by  their  parents,  the  males  by  the  father,  the 
females  by  the  mother.  Lieutenant  C.  de  Crespigny,  who  was 
wandering  in  the  northern  part  of  Borneo  in  1870,  gives  the 
following  description  of  the  Orang-utan :  "They  live  in  families 
— the  male,  female,  and  a  young  one.  On  one  occasion  I  found  a 
family  in  which  were  two  young  ones,  one  of  them  much  larger 
than  the  other,  and  I  took  this  as  a  proof  that  the  family  tie  had 
existed  for  at  least  two  seasons.  They  build  commodious  nests 
in  the  trees  which  form  their  feeding-ground,  and,  so  far  as 
I  could  observe,  the  nests,  which  are  well  lined  with  dry 
leaves,  are  only  occupied  by  the  female  and  young,  the  male 
passing  the  night  in  the  fork  of  the  same  or  another  tree  in  the 
vicinity.  The  nests  are  very  numerous  all  over  the  forest,  for 
they  are  not  occupied  above  a  few  nights,  the  mias  (or  Orang- 
utan) leading  a  roving  life."  According  to  Dr.  Mohnike,  how- 
ever, the  old  males  generally  live  with  the  females  during  the 
rutting-season  only;  and  Dr.  Wallace  never  saw  two  full-grown 
animals  together.  But  as  he  sometimes  found  not  only  females, 
but  also  males,  accompanied  by  half-grown  young  ones,  we  may 
take  for  granted  that  the  offspring  of  the  Orang-utan  are  not 
devoid  of  all  paternal  care. 

More  unanimous  are  the  statements  which  we  have  regarding 
the  Gorilla.  According  to  Dr.  Savage,  they  live  in  bands,  and 
all  his  informants  agree  in  the  assertion  that  but  one  adult  male 
is  seen  in  every  band.  "It  is  said  that  when  the  male  is  first  seen 
he  gives  a  terrific  yell  that  resounds  far  and  wide  through  the 
forest The  females  and  young  at  the  first  cry  quickly  dis- 
appear ;  he  then  approaches  the  enemy  in  great  fury,  pouring  out 
his  horrid  cries  in  quick  succession."  Again,  M.  du  Chaillu  found 
"almost  always  one  male  with  one  female,  though  sometimes  the 
old  male  wanders  companionless ;"  and  Mr.  Winwood  Reade 
states  likewise  that  the  Gorilla  goes  "sometimes  alone,  sometimes 
accompanied  by  his  female  and  young  one."  The  same  traveller 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  451 

was  told  that,  when  a  family  of  Gorillas  ascend  a  tree  and  eat  a 
certain  fruit,  the  old  father  remains  seated  at  the  foot  of  the  tree. 
And  when  the  female  is  pregnant,  he  builds  a  rude  nest,  usually 
about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  from  the  ground  ;  here  she  is  delivered, 
and  the  nest  is  then  abandoned. 

For  more  recent  information  about  the  Gorilla  we  are  indebted 
to  Herr  von  Koppenfells.  He  states  that  the  male  spends  the  night 
crouching  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  against  which  he  places  his  back, 
and  thus  protects  the  female  and  their  young,  which  are  in  the 
nest  above,  from  the  nocturnal  attacks  of  leopards.  Once  he 
observed  a  male  and  female  with  two  young  ones  of  different 
ages,  the  elder  being  perhaps  about  six  years  old,  the  younger 
about  one. 

When  all  these  statements  are  compared,  it  is  impossible  to 
doubt  that  the  Gorilla  lives  in  families,  the  male  parent  being  in 
the  habit  of  building  the  nest  and  protecting  the  family.  And  the 
same  is  the  case  with  the  Chimpanzee.  According  to  Dr.  Savage, 
"it  is  not  unusual  to  see  'the  old  folks'  sitting  under  a  tree  regal- 
ing themselves  with  fruit  and  friendly  chat,  while  'their  children' 
are  leaping  around  them  and  swinging  from  branch  to  branch  in 
boisterous  merriment."  And  Herr  von  Koppenfells  assures  us 
that  the  Chimpanzee,  like  the  Gorilla,  builds  a  nest  for  the  young 
and  female  on  a  forked  branch,  the  male  himself  spending  the 
night  lower  down  in  the  tree. 

Passing  from  the  highest  monkeys  to  the  savage  and  barbar- 
ous races  of  man,  we  meet  with  the  same  phenomenon.  With 
the  exception  of  a  few  cases  in  which  certain  tribes  are  asserted 
to  live  together  promiscuously — almost  all  of  which  assertions  I 
shall  prove  further  on  to  be  groundless — travellers  unanimously 
agree  that  in  the  human  race  the  relations  of  the  sexes  are,  as  a 
rule,  of  a  more  or  less  durable  character.  The  family  consisting  of 
father,  mother,  and  offspring,  is  a  universal  institution,  whether 
founded  on  a  monogamous,  polygynous,  or  polyandrous  mar- 
riage. And,  as  among  the  lower  animals  having  the  same  habit, 
it  is  to  the  mother  that  the  immediate  care  of  the  children  chiefly 
belongs,  while  the  father  is  the  protector  and  guardian  of  the 
family.  Man  in  the  savage  state  is  generally  supposed  to  be 
rather  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  his  wife  and  children,  and 


452  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

this  is  really  often  the  case,  especially  if  he  be  compared  with 
civilized  man.  But  the  simplest  paternal  duties  are,  nevertheless, 
universally  recognized.  If  he  does  nothing  else,  the  father  builds 
the  habitation,  and  employs  himself  in  the  chase  and  in  war. 

Thus,  among  the  North  American  Indians,  it  was  considered 
disgraceful  for  a  man  to  have  more  wives  than  he  was  able  to 
maintain.  Mr.  Powers  says  that  among  the  Patwin,  a  Californian 
tribe  which  ranks  among  the  lowest  in  the  world,  "the  sentiment 
that  the  men  are  bound  to  support  the  women — that  is,  to  fur- 
nish the  supplies — is  stronger  even  than  among  us."  Among  the 
Iroquois  it  was  the  office  of  the  husband  "to  make  a  mat,  to 
repair  the  cabin  of  his  wife,  or  to  construct  a  new  one."  The 
product  of  his  hunting  expeditions,  during  the  first  year  of  mar- 
riage, belonged  of  right  to  his  wife,  and  afterwards  he  shared  it 
equally  with  her,  whether  she  remained  in  the  village,  or  accom- 
panied him  to  the  chase.  Azara  states  that  among  the  Charruas 
of  South  America,  "du  moment  oil  un  homme  se  marie,  il  forme 
une  famille  a  part,  et  travaille  pour  la  nourrir;"  and  among  the 
Fuegians,  according  to  Admiral  Fitzroy,  "as  soon  as  a  youth  is 
able  to  maintain  a  wife,  by  his  exertions  in  fishing  or  bird-catch- 
ing, he  obtains  the  consent  of  her  relations."  Again,  among  the 
utterly  rude  Botocudos,  whose  girls  are  married  very  young, 
remaining  in  the  house  of  the  father  till  the  age  of  puberty,  the 
husband  is  even  then  obliged  to  maintain  his  wife,  though  living 
apart  from  her. 

To  judge  from  the  recent  account  of  Herr  Lumholtz,  the 
paternal  duties  seem  to  be  scarcely  recognized  by  the  natives  of 
Queensland.  But  with  reference  to  the  Kurnai  in  South  Aus- 
tralia, Mr.  Howitt  states  that  "the  man  has  to  provide  for  his 
family  with  the  assistance  of  his  wife.  His  share  is  to  hunt  for 
their  support,  and  to  fight  for  their  protection."  As  a  Kurnai 
once  said  to  him,  "A  man  hunts,  spears  fish,  fights,  and  sits 
about."  And  in  the  Encounter  Bay  tribe  the  paternal  care  is  con- 
sidered so  indispensable,  that,  if  the  father  dies  before  a  child  is 
born,  the  child  is  put  to  death  by  the  mother,  as  there  is  no  longer 
any  one  to  provide  for  it. 

Among  the  cannibals  of  New  Britain,  the  chiefs  have  to  see 
that  the  families  of  the  warriors  are  properly  maintained,  and 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  453 

"should  a  man  neglect  his  family,"  says  Mr.  Angas,  "a  mode  of 
punishment  very  similar  to  one  practised  by  school-boys  amongst 
civilized  nations  is  adopted."  Speaking  of  the  marriage  of  the 
Tonga  Islanders,  Martin  remarks  "A  married  woman  is  one  who 
cohabits  with  a  man,  and  lives  under  his  roof  and  protection;" 
and  in  Samoa,  according  to  Mr.  Pritchard,  "whatever  intercourse 
may  take  place  between  the  sexes,  a  woman  does  not  become  a 
man's  wife  unless  the  latter  take  her  to  his  own  house."  In 
Radack,  as  we  are  informed  by  Chamisso,  even  natural  children 
are  received  by  the  father  into  his  house,  as  soon  as  they  are  able 
to  walk. 

The  Rev.  D.  Macdonald  states  that,  in  some  African  tribes, 
"a  father  has  to  fast  after  the  birth  of  his  child,  or  take  some 
such  method  of  showing  that  he  recognizes  that  he  as  well  as  the 
mother  should  take  care  of  the  young  stranger."  Certain  Afri- 
cans will  not  even  go  on  any  warlike  expedition  when  they  have 
a  young  child ;  and  the  South  American  Guaranies,  while  their 
wives  are  pregnant,  do  not  risk  their  lives  in  hunting  wild  beasts. 
In  Lado  the  bridegroom  has  to  assure  his  father-in-law  three 
times  that  he  will  protect  his  wife,  calling  the  people  present  to 
witness.  And  among  the  Touaregs,  according  to  Dr.  Chavanne, 
a  man  who  deserts  his  wife  is  blamed,  as  he  has  taken  upon  him- 
self the  obligation  of  maintaining  her. 

The  wretched  Rock  Veddahs  in  Ceylon,  according  to  Sir  J. 
Emerson  Tennent,  "acknowledge  the  marital  obligation  and  the 
duty  of  supporting  their  own  families."  Among  the  Maldivians, 
"although  a  man  is  allowed  four  wives  at  one  time,  it  is  only  on 
condition  of  his  being  able  to  support  them."  The  Nagas  are 
not  permitted  to  marry,  until  they  are  able  to  set  up  house  on  their 
own  account.  The  Nairs,  we  are  told,  consider  it  a  husband's 
duty  to  provide  his  wife  with  food,  clothing,  and  ornaments ; 
and  almost  the  same  is  said  by  Dr.  Schwaner  with  reference  to 
the  tribes  of  the  Barito  district,  in  the  south-east  part  of  Borneo. 
A  Burmese  woman  can  demand  a  divorce,  if  her  husband  is  not 
able  to  maintain  her  properly.  Among  the  Mohammedans,  the 
maintenance  of  the  children  devolves  so  exclusively  on  the  father, 
that  the  mother  is  even  entitled  to  claim  wages  for  nursing  them. 
And  among  the  Romans,  maims  implied  not  only  the  wife's 


454  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

subordination  to  the  husband,  but  also  the  husband's  obligation  to 
protect  the  wife. 

The  father's  place  in  the  family  being  that  of  a  supporter  and 
protector,  a  man  is  often  not  permitted  to  marry  until  he  has 
given  some  proof  of  his  ability  to  fulfil  these  duties. 

The  Koyukuns  believe  that  a  youth  who  marries  before  he 
has  killed  a  deer  will  have  no  children.  The  aborigines  of  Penn- 
sylvania considered  it  a  shame  for  a  boy  to  think  of  a  wife  before 
having  given  some  proof  of  his  manhood.  Among  the  wild  In- 
dians of  British  Guiana,  says  Mr.  Im  Thurn,  before  a  man  is 
allowed  to  choose  a  wife  he  must  prove  that  he  can  do  a  man's 
work  and  is  able  to  support  himself  and  his  family.  Among 
the  Dyaks  of  Borneo,  the  Nagas  of  Upper  Assam,  and  the 
Alfura  of  Ceram,  no  one  can  marry  unless  he  has  in  his  pos- 
session a  certain  number  of  heads.  The  Karmanians,  according 
to  Strabo,  were  considered  marriageable  only  after  having  killed 
an  enemy.  The  desire  of  a  Galla  warrior  is  to  deprive  the  enemy 
of  his  genitals,  the  possession  of  such  a  trophy  being  a  neces- 
sary preliminary  to  marriage.  Among  the  Bechuana  and  Kafir 
tribes  south  of  the  Zambesi,  the  youth  is  not  allowed  to  take  a 
wife  until  he  has  killed  a  rhinoceros.  In  the  Marianne  Group, 
the  suitor  had  to  give  proof  of  his  bodily  strength  and  skill.  And 
among  the  Arabs  of  Upper  Egypt,  the  man  must  undergo  an 
ordeal  of  whipping  by  the  relations  of  his  bride,  in  order  to  test 
his  courage.  If  he  wishes  to  be  considered  worth  having,  he  must 
receive  the  chastisement,  which  is  sometimes  exceedingly  severe, 
with  an  expression  of  enjoyment. 

The  idea  that  a  man  is  bound  to  maintain  his  family  is,  indeed, 
so  closely  connected  with  that  of  marriage  and  fatherhood,  that 
sometimes  even  repudiated  wives  with  their  children  are,  at 
least  to  a  certain  extent,  supported  by  their  former  husbands. 
This  is  the  case  among  the  Chukchi  of  North-Western  Asia,  the 
Sotho  Negroes  in  Southern  Africa,  and  the  Munda  Kols  in  Chota 
Nagpore.  Further,  a  wife  frequently  enjoys  her  husband's  pro- 
tection even  after  sexual  relations  have  been  broken  off.  And 
upon  his  death,  the  obligation  of  maintaining  her  and  her  chil- 
dren devolves  on  his  heirs,  the  wide-spread  custom  of  a  man 
marrying  the  widow  of  his  deceased  brother  being,  as  we  shall 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  455 

see  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  not  only  a  privilege  belonging  to 
the  man,  but,  among  several  peoples,  even  a  duty.  We  may  thus 
take  for  granted  that  in  the  human  race,  at  least  at  its  present 
stage,  the  father  has  to  perform  the  same  function  as  in  other 
animal  species,  where  the  connections  between  the  sexes  last 
longer  than  the  sexual  desire. 

In  encyclopedical  and  philosophical  works  we  meet  with  sev- 
eral different  definitions  of  the  word  marriage.  Most  of  these 
definitions  are,  however,  of  a  merely  juridical  or  ethical  nature, 
comprehending  either  what  is  required  to  make  the  union  legal, 
or  what,  in  the  eye  of  an  idealist,  the  union  ought  to  be.  But  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  say  how  far  I  am  here  from  using  the 
word  in  either  of  these  senses.  It  is  the  natural  history  of 
human  marriage  that  is  the  object  of  this  treatise;  and,  from  a 
scientific  point  of  view,  I  think  there  is  but  one  definition  which 
may  claim  to  be  generally  admitted,  that,  namely,  according  to 
which  marriage  is  nothing  else  than  a  more  or  less  durable  con- 
nection between  male  and  female,  lasting  beyond  the  mere  act 
of  propagation  till  after  the  birth  of  the  offspring.  This  defi- 
nition is  wide  enough  to  include  all  others  hitherto  given,  and 
narrow  enough  to  exclude  those  wholly  loose  connections  which 
by  usage  are  never  honoured  with  the  name  of  marriage.  It 
implies  not  only  sexual  relations,  but  also  living  together,  as  is 
set  forth  in  the  proverb  of  the  Middle  Ages,  "Boire,  manger, 
coucher  ensemble  est  mariage,  ce  me  semble."  And,  though 
rather  vague,  which  is  a  matter  of  course,  it  has  the  advantage  of 
comprehending  in  one  notion  phenomena  essentially  similar  and 
having  a  common  origin. 

Thus,  as  appears  from  the  preceding  investigation,  the  first 
traces  of  marriage  are  found  among  the  Chelonia.  With  the 
Birds  it  is  an  almost  universal  institution,  whilst,  among  the 
Mammals,  it  is  restricted  to  certain  species  only.  We  observed, 
however,  that  it  occurs,  as  a  rule,  among  the  monkeys,  espe- 
cially the  anthropomorphous  apes,  as  well  as  in  the  races  of 
men.  Is  it  probable,  then,  that  marriage  was  transmitted  to 
man  from  some  ape-like  ancestor  and  that  there  never  was  a  time 
when  it  did  not  occur  in  the  human  race?  These  questions  can- 


456  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

not  be  answered  before  we  have  found  out  the  cause  to  which 
it  owes  its  origin. 

It  is  obvious  that  where  the  generative  power  is  restricted 
to  a  certain  season,  it  cannot  be  the  sexual  instinct  that  keeps 
male  and  female  together  for  months  or  years.  Nor  is  there 
any  other  egoistic  motive  that  could  probably  account  for  this 
habit.  Considering  that  the  union  lasts  till  after  the  birth  of  the 
offspring,  and  considering  the  care  taken  of  this  by  the  father, 
we  may  assume  that  the  prolonged  union  of  the  sexes  is,  in  some 
way  or  other,  connected  with  parental  duties.  I  am,  indeed, 
strongly  of  opinion  that  the  tie  which  joins  male  and  female  is 
an  instinct  developed  through  the  powerful  influence  of  natural 
selection.  It  is  evident  that,  when  the  father  helps  to  protect  the 
offspring,  the  species  is  better  able  to  subsist  in  the  struggle  for 
existence  than  it  would  be  if  this  obligation  entirely  devolved  on 
the  mother.  Paternal  affection  and  the  instinct  which  causes 
male  and  female  to  form  somewhat  durable  alliances,  are  thus 
useful  mental  dispositions,  which,  in  all  probability,  have  been 
acquired  through  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

But  how,  then,  can  it  be  that  among  most  animals  the  father 
never  concerns  himself  about  his  progeny?  The  answer  is  not 
difficult  to  find.  Marriage  is  only  one  of  many  means  by  which 
a  species  is  enabled  to  subsist.  Where  parental  care  is  lacking, 
we  may  be  sure  to  find  compensation  for  it  in  some  other  way. 
Among  the  Invertebrata,  Fishes,  and  Reptiles,  both  parents  are 
generally  quite  indifferent  as  to  their  progeny.  An  immense  pro- 
portion of  the  progeny  therefore  succumbs  before  reaching 
maturity;  but  the  number  of  eggs  laid  is  proportionate  to  the 
number  of  those  lost,  and  the  species  is  preserved  neverthe- 
less. If  every  grain  of  roe,  spawned  by  the  female  fishes, 
were  fecundated  and  hatched,  the  sea  would  not  be  large 
enough  to  hold  all  the  creatures  resulting  from  them.  The 
eggs  of  Reptiles  need  no  maternal  care,  the  embryo  being 
developed  by  the  heat  of  the  sun ;  and  their  young  are  from  the 
outset  able  to  help  themselves,  leading  the  same  life  as  the 
adults.  Among  Birds,  on  the  other  hand,  parental  care  is  an 
absolute  necessity.  Equal  and  continual  warmth  is  the  first  re- 
quirement for  the  development  of  the  embryo  and  the  preserva- 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  457 

tion  of  the  young  ones.  For  this  the  mother  almost  always  wants 
the  assistance  of  the  father,  who  provides  her  with  necessaries, 
and  sometimes  relieves  her  of  the  brooding.  Among  Mammals, 
the  young  can  never  do  without  the  mother  at  the  tenderest  age, 
but  the  father's  aid  is  generally  by  no  means  indispensable.  In 
some  species,  as  the  walrus,  the  elephant,  the  Bos  americamis, 
and  the  bat,  there  seems  to  be  a  rather  curious  substitute  for 
paternal  protection,  the  females,  together  with  their  young  ones, 
collecting  in  large  herds  or  flocks  apart  from  the  males.  Again, 
as  to  the  marriage  of  the  Primates,  it  is,  I  think,  very  probably 
due  to  the  small  number  of  young,  the  female  bringing  forth 
but  one  at  a  time;  and  among  the  highest  apes,  as  in  man, 
also  to  the  long  period  of  infancy.  Perhaps,  too,  the  defect- 
ive family  life  of  the  Orang-utan,  compared  with  that  of 
the  Gorilla  and  Chimpanzee,  depends  upon  the  fewer  dangers  to 
which  this  animal  is  exposed.  For  "except  man,"  Dr.  Mohnike 
says,  "the  Orang-utan  in  Borneo  has  no  enemy  of  equal  strength." 
In  short,  the  factors  which  the  existence  of  a  species  depends 
upon,  as  the  number  of  the  progeny,  their  ability  to  help  them- 
selves when  young,  maternal  care,  marriage,  &c.,  vary  indefinitely 
in  different  species.  But  in  those  that  do  not  succumb,  all  these 
factors  are  more  or  less  proportionate  to  each  other,  the  product 
always  being  the  maintenance  of  the  species. 

Marriage  and  family  are  thus  intimately  connected  with  each 
other:  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  young  that  male  and  female 
continue  to  live  together.  Marriage  is  therefore  rooted  in  family, 
rather  than  family  in  marriage.  There  are  also  many  peoples 
among  whom  true  conjugal  life  does  not  begin  before  a  child 
is  born,  and  others  who  consider  that  the  birth  of  a  child  out  of 
wedlock  makes  it  obligatory  for  the  parents  to  marry.  Lieu- 
tenant Holm  states  that,  among  the  Eastern  Greenlanders,  mar- 
riage is  not  regarded  as  complete  till  the  woman  has  become  a 
mother.  Among  the  Shawanese  and  Abipones,  the  wife  very 
often  remains  at  her  father's  house  till  she  has  a  child.  Among 
the  Khyens,  the  Ainos  of  Yesso,  and  one  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes  of  China,  the  husband  goes  to  live  with  his  wife  at  her 
father's  house,  and  never  takes  her  away  till  after  the  birth  of  a 
child.  In  Circassia,  the  bride  and  bridegroom  are  kept  apart 


458  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

until  the  first  child  is  born ;  and  among  the  Bedouins  of  Mount 
Sinai,  a  wife  never  enters  her  husband's  tent  until  she  becomes 
far  advanced  in  pregnancy.  Among  the  Baele,  the  wife  remains 
with  her  parents  until  she  becomes  a  mother,  and  if  this  does  not 
happen,  she  stays  there  for  ever,  the  husband  getting  back  what 
he  has  paid  for  her.  In  Siam,  a  wife  does  not  receive  her  mar- 
riage portion  before  having  given  birth  to  a  child ;  whilst  among 
the  Atkha  Aleuts,  according  to  Erman,  a  husband  does  not  pay 
the  purchase  sum  before  he  has  become  a  father.  Again,  the 
Badagas  in  Southern  India  have  two  marriage  ceremonies,  the 
second  of  which  does  not  take  place  .till  there  is  some  indication 
that  the  pair  are  to  have  a  family ;  and  if  there  is  no  appearance 
of  this,  the  couple  not  uncommonly  separate.  Dr.  Berenger- 
Feraud  states  that,  among  the  Wolofs  in  Senegambia,  "ce  n'est 
que  lorsque  les  signes  de  la  grossesse  sont  irrecusables  chez  la 
fiancee,  quelquefois  meme  ce  n'est  qu'apres  la  naissance  d'un  ou 
plusieurs  enfants,  que  la  ceremonie  du  mariage  proprement  dit 
s'accomplit."  And  the  Igorrotes  of  Luzon  consider  no  engage- 
ment binding  until  the  woman  has  become  pregnant. 

On  the  other  hand,  Emin  Pasha  tells  us  that,  among  the  Madi 
in  Central  Africa,  "should  a  girl  become  pregnant,  the  youth  who 
has  been  her  companion  is  bound  to  marry  her,  and  to  pay  to  her 
father  the  customary  price  of  a  bride."  Burton  reports  a  similar 
custom  as  prevailing  among  peoples  dwelling  to  the  south  of  the 
equator.  Among  many  of  the  wild  tribes  of  Borneo,  there  is 
almost  unrestrained  intercourse  between  the  youth  of  both  sexes ; 
but,  if  pregnancy  ensue,  marriage  is  regarded  as  necessary.  The 
same,  as  I  am  informed  by  Dr.  A.  Bunker,  is  the  case  with  some 
Karen  tribes  in  Burma.  In  Tahiti,  according  to  Cook,  the  father 
might  kill  his  natural  child,  but  if  he  suffered  it  to  live,  the 
parties  were  considered  to  be  in  the  married  state.  Among  the 
Tipperahs  of  the  Chittagong  Hills,  as  well  as  the  peasants  of  the 
Ukraine,  a  seducer  is  bound  to  marry  the  girl,  should  she  become 
pregnant.  Again,  Mr.  Powers  informs  us  that,  among  the  Califor- 
nian  Wintun,  if  a  wife  is  abandoned  when  she  has  a  young  child, 
she  is  justified  by  her  friends  in  destroying  it  on  the  ground  that 
it  has  no  supporter.  And  among  the  Creeks,  a  young  woman  that 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  459 

becomes  pregnant  by  a  man  whom  she  had  expected  to  marry, 
and  is  disappointed,  is  allowed  the  same  privilege 

If  it  be  admitted  that  marriage,  as  a  necessary  requirement 
for  the  existence  of  certain  species,  is  connected  with  some  pecu- 
liarities in  their  organism,  and,  more  particularly  among  the  high- 
est monkeys,  with  the  paucity  of  their  progeny  and  their  long 
period  of  infancy, — it  must  at  the  same  time  be  admitted  that, 
among  primitive  men,  from  the  same  causes  as  among  these  ani- 
mals, the  sexes  in  all  probability  kept  together  till  after  the  birth  of 
the  offspring.  Later  on,  when  the  human  race  passed  beyond  its 
f rugivorous  stage  and  spread  over  the  earth,  living  chiefly  on  ani- 
mal food,  the  assistance  of  an  adult  male  became  still  more  neces- 
sary for  the  subsistence  of  the  children.  Everywhere  the  chase 
devolves  on  the  man,  it  being  a  rare  exception  among  savage  peo- 
ples for  a  woman  to  engage  in  it.  Under  such  conditions  a  family 
consisting  of  mother  and  young  only,  would  probably,  as  a  rule, 
have  succumbed. 

It  has,  however,  been  suggested  that,  in  olden  times,  the 
natural  guardian  of  the  children  was  not  the  father,  but  the 
maternal  uncle.  This  inference  has  been  drawn  chiefly  from  the 
common  practice  of  a  nephew  succeeding  his  mother's  brother  in 
rank  and  property.  But  sometimes  the  relation  between  the  two 
is  still  more  intimate.  "La  famille  Malaise  proprement  dite — le 
Sa-Mandei, —  '  says  a  Dutch  writer,  as  quoted  by  Professor 
Giraud-Teulon,  "consiste  dans  la  mere  et  ses  enfants ;  le  pere  n'en 
fait  point  partie.  Les  liens  de  parente  qui  unissent  ce  dernier  a 
ses  freres  et  soeurs  sont  plus  etroits  que  ceux  qui  le  rattachent  a 
sa  femme  et  a  ses  propres  enfants.  II  continue  meme  apres  son 
manage  a  vivre  dans  sa  famille  maternelle;  c'est  la  qu'est  son 
veritable  domicile,  et  non  pas  dans  la  maison  de  sa  femme :  il  ne 
cesse  pas  de  cultiver  le  champ  de  sa  propre  famille,  a  travailler 
pour  elle,  et  n'aide  sa  femme  qu'accidentellement.  Le  chef  de  la 
famille  est  ordinairement  le  frere  aine  du  cote  maternel  (le  mamak 
ou  avunculus).  De  par  ses  droits  et  ses  devoirs,  c'est  lui  le  vrai 
pere  des  enfants  de  sa  sceur."  As  regards  the  mountaineers  of 
Georgia,  especially  the  Pshaves,  M.  Kovalevsky  states  that,  among 
them,  "le  frere  de  la  mere  prend  la  place  du  pere  dans  toutes 


460  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

les  circonstances  ou  il  s'agit  de  venger  le  sang  repandu,  surtout 
au  cas  de  meurtre  commis  sur  la  personne  de  son  neveu."  Among 
the  Goajiro  Indians,  the  Negroes  of  Bondo,  the  Barea,  and  the 
Bazes,  it  is  the  mother's  brother  who  has  the  right  of  selling  a 
girl  to  her  suitor.  Touching  the  Kois,  the  Rev.  John  Cain  says, 
"The  maternal  uncle  of  any  Koi  girl  has  the  right  to  bestow  her 
hand  on  any  one  of  his  sons,  or  any  other  suitable  candidate  who 
meets  with  his  approval.  The  father  and  the  mother  of  the  girl 
have  no  acknowledged  voice  in  the  matter.  A  similar  custom 
prevails  amongst  some  of  the  Komati  (Vaisya)  caste."  Among 
the  Savaras  in  India,  the  bridegroom  has  to  give  a  bullock  not 
only  to  the  girl's  father,  but  to  the  maternal  uncle ;  whilst  among 
the  Creeks,  the  proxy  of  the  suitor  asked  for  the  consent  of  the 
uncles,  aunts,  and  brothers  of  the  young  woman,  "the  father 
having  no  voice  or  authority  in  the  business." 

But  such  cases  are  rare.  Besides,  most  of  them  imply  only 
that  the  children  in  a  certain  way  belong  to  the  uncle,  not  that 
the  father  is  released  from  the  obligation  of  supporting  them. 
Even  where  succession  runs  through  females  only,  the  father  is 
nearly  always  certainly  the  head  of  the  family.  Thus,  for  instance, 
among  the  Australians,  with  whom  the  clan  of  the  children  is, 
as  a  rule,  determined  by  that  of  the  mother,  the  husband  is,  to 
quote  Mr.  Curr,  almost  an  autocrat  in  his  family,  and  the  chil- 
dren always  belong  to  his  tribe.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  to 
believe  that  it  was  generally  otherwise  in  former  times.  A  man 
could  not  of  course  be  the  guardian  of  his  sister's  children  if 
he  did  not  live  in  close  connection  with  them.  But  except  in  such 
a  decidedly  anomalous  case  as  that  of  the  Malays,  just  referred 
to,  this  could  scarcely  happen,  as  a  general  rule,  unless  mar- 
riages were  contracted  between  persons  living  closely  together. 
Nowadays,  however,  such  marriages  are  usually  avoided,  and  I 
shall  endeavour  later  on  to  show  that  they  were  probably  also 
avoided  by  our  remote  ancestors. 

It  might,  further,  be  objected  that  the  children  were  equally 
well  or  better  provided  for,  if  not  the  fathers  only,  but  all  the 
males  of  the  tribe  indiscriminately  were  their  guardians.  The  sup- 
porters of  the  hypothesis  of  promiscuity,  and  even  other  sociolo- 
gists,fas  for  instance  Herr  Kautsky,  believe  that  this  really  was  the 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  461 

case  among  primitive  men.  According  to  them,  the  tribe  or  horde 
is  the  primary  social  unit  of  the  human  race,  and  the  family  only 
a  secondary  unit,  developed  in  later  times.  Indeed,  this  assump- 
tion has  been  treated  by  many  writers,  not  as  a  more  or  less 
probable  hypothesis,  but  as  a  demonstrated  truth.  Yet  the  idea 
that  a  man's  children  belong  to  the  tribe,  has  no  foundation  in 
fact.  Everywhere  we  find  the  tribes  or  clans  composed  of  several 
families,  the  members  of  each  family  being  more  closely  con- 
nected with  one  another  than  with  the  rest  of  the  tribe.  The 
family,  consisting  of  parents,  children,  and  often  also  their  next 
descendants,  is  a  universal  institution  among  existing  peoples. 
And  it  seems  extremely  probable  that,  among  our  earliest  human 
ancestors,  the  family  formed,  if  not  the  society  itself,  at  least  the 
nucleus  of  it.  As  this  is  a  question  of  great  importance,  I  must 
deal  with  it  at  some  length. 

Mr.  Darwin  remarks,  "Judging  from  the  analogy  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Quadrumana,  it  is  probable  that  the  early  ape-like 
progenitors  of  man  were  likewise  social."  But  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  Mr.  Darwin  would  have  drawn  this  inference,  had  he 
taken  into  consideration  the  remarkable  fact  that  none  of  the 
monkeys  most  nearly  allied  to  man  can  be  called  social  animals. 

The  solitary  life  of  the  Orang-utan  has  already  been  noted. 
As  regards  Gorillas,  Dr.  Savage  states  that  there  is  only  one  adult 
male  attached  to  each  group ;  and  Mr.  Reade  says  expressly  that 
they  are  not  gregarious,  though  they  sometimes  seem  to  assemble 
in  large  numbers.  Both  M.  du  Chaillu  and  Herr  von  Koppenfels 
assure  us  likewise  that  the  Gorilla  generally  lives  in  pairs  or 
families. 

The  same  is  the  case  with  the  Chimpanzee.  "It  is  seldom," 
Dr.  Savage  says,  "that  more  than  one  or  two  nests  are  seen  upon 
the  same  tree  or  in  the  same  neighbourhood  ;  five  have  been  found, 
but  it  was  an  unusual  circumstance.  They  do  not  live  in  'villages.' 

....  They  are  more  often  seen  in  pairs  than  in  gangs 

As  seen  here,  they  cannot  be  called  gregarious."  This  statement, 
confirmed  or  repeated  by  M.  du  Chaillu  and  Professor  Hartmann, 
is  especially  interesting,  as  the  Chimpanzee  resembles  man  also 
in  his  comparatively  slight  strength  and  courage,  so  that  a  gre- 
garious life  might  be  supposed  to  be  better  suited  to  this  animal. 


462  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Mr.  Spencer,  however,  has  pointed  out  that  not  only  size, 
strength,  and  means  of  defence,  but  also  the  kind  and  distribu- 
tion of  food  and  other  factors  must  variously  co-operate  and  con- 
flict to  determine  how  far  a  gregarious  life  is  beneficial,  and  how 
far  a  solitary  life.  Considering,  then,  that,  according  to  Dr. 
Savage,  the  Chimpanzees  are  more  numerous  in  the  season  when 
the  greatest  number  of  fruits  come  to  maturity,  we  may  almost 
with  certainty  infer  that  the  solitary  life  generally  led  by  this  ape 
is  due  chiefly  to  the  difficulty  it  experiences  in  getting  food  at 
other  times  of  the  year. 

Is  it  not,  then,  most  probable  that  our  fruit-eating  human  or 
half-human  ancestors,  living  on  the  same  kind  of  food,  and  requir- 
ing about  the  same  quantities  of  it  as  the  man-apes,  were  not 
more  gregarious  than  they?  It  is  likely,  too,  that  subsequently, 
when  man  became  partly  carnivorous,  he  continued,  as  a  rule, 
this  solitary  kind  of  life,  or  that  gregariousness  became  his  habit 
only  in  part.  "An  animal  of  a  predatory  kind,"  says  Mr.  Spencer, 
"which  has  prey  that  can  be  caught  and  killed  without  help, 
profits  by  living  alone :  especially  if  its  prey  is  much  scattered,  and 
is  secured  by  stealthy  approach  or  by  lying  in  ambush.  Gregari- 
ousness would  here  be  a  positive  disadvantage.  Hence  the  tend- 
ency of  large  carnivores,  and  also  of  small  carnivores  that  have 
feeble  and  widely-distributed  prey,  to  lead  solitary  lives."  It  is, 
indeed,  very  remarkable  that  even  now  there  are  savage  peoples 
who  live  rather  in  separate  families  than  in  tribes,  and  that  most 
of  these  peoples  belong  to  the  very  rudest  races  in  the  world. 

"The  wild  or  forest  Veddahs,"  Mr.  Pridham  states,  "build 
their  huts  in  trees,  live  in  pairs,  only  occasionally  assembling  in 
greater  numbers,  and  exhibit  no  traces  of  the  remotest  civiliza- 
tion, nor  any  knowledge  of  social  rites."  According  to  Mr. 
Bailey,  the  Nilgala  Veddahs,  who  are  considered  the  wildest,  "are 
distributed  through  their  lovely  country  in  small  septs,  or  fami- 
lies, occupying  generally  caves  in  the  rocks,  though  some  have 
little  bark  huts.  They  depend  almost  solely  on  hunting  for  their 
support,  and  hold  little  communication  even  with  each  other." 

In  Tierra  del  Fuego,  according  to  Bishop  Sterling,  family  life 
is  exclusive.  "Get  outside  the  family,"  he  says,  "and  relation- 
ships are  doubtful,  if  not  hostile.  The  bond  of  a  common  Ian- 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  463 

guage  is  no  security  for  friendly  offices."  Commander  Wilkes 
states  likewise  that  the  Fuegians  "appear  to  live  in  families  and 
not  in  tribes,  and  do  not  seem  to  acknowledge  any  chief;"  and, 
according  to  M.  Hyades,  "la  famille  est  bien  constitute,  mais  la 
tribu  n'existe  pas,  a  proprement  parler."  Each  family  js  perfectly 
independent  of  all  the  others,  and  only  the  necessity  of  common 
defence  now  and  then  induces  a  few  families  to  form  small  gangs 
without  any  chief.  With  reference  to  the  Yahgans  of  the  south- 
ern part  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  the  Rev.  T.  Bridges  writes  to  me, 
"They  live  in  clans,  called  by  them  Ucuhr,  which  means  a  house. 
These  Ucuhr  comprise  many  subdivisions,  and  the  members  are 
necessarily  related.  But,"  he  continues,  "the  Yahgans  are  a  rov- 
ing people,  having  their  districts  and  moving  about  within  these 
districts  from  bay  to  bay  and  island  to  island  in  canoes,  without 
any  order.  The  whole  clan  seldom  travels  together,  and  only  occa- 
sionally and  then  always  incidentally  is  it  to  be  found  collected. 

The  smaller  divisions  keep  more  together Occasionally,  as 

many  as  five  families  are  to  be  found  living  in  a  wigwam,  but 
generally  two  families."  Indeed,  in  'A  Voice  for  South  America,' 
Mr.  Bridges  says  that  "family  influence  is  the  one  great  tie 
which  binds  these  natives  together,  and  the  one  great  preventive 
of  violence." 

Speaking  of  the  West  Australians,  who  are  probably  better 
known  to  him  than  to  any  other  civilized  man,  Bishop  Salvado 
says  that  they  "au  lieu  de  se  gouverner  par  tribus,  paraissent  se 
gouverner  a  la  maniere  patriarchale :  chaque  famille,  qui  generale- 
ment  ne  compte  pas  plus  de  six  a  neuf  individus,  forme  com  me 
une  petite  societe,  sous  la  seule  dependance  de  son  propre  chef. 
....  Chaque  famille  s'approprie  une  espece  de  district,  dont 
cependant  les  families  voisines  jouissent  en  commun  si  Ton  vit  en 
bonne  harmonic." 

Mr.  Stanbridge,  who  spent  eighteen  years  in  the  wilds  of 
Victoria,  tells  us  that  the  savages  there  are  associated  in  tribes 
or  families,  the  members  of  which  vary  much  in  number.  Each 
tribe  has  its  own  boundaries,  the  land  of  which  is  parcelled  out 
amongst  families  and  carefully  transmitted  by  direct  descent ; 
these  boundaries  being  so  sacredly  maintained  that  the  member 
of  no  single  family  will  venture  on  the  lands  of  a  neighbouring 


464  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

one  without  invitation.  And  touching  the  Gournditch-mara, 
Mr.  Howitt  states  that  "each  family  camped  by  itself." 

The  Bushmans  of  South  Africa,  according  to  Dr.  Fritsch,  are 
almost  entirely  devoid  of  a  tribal  organization.  Even  when  a 
number  of  families  occasionally  unite  in  a  larger  horde,  this  asso- 
ciation is  more  or  less  accidental,  and  not  regulated  by  any  laws. 
But  a  horde  commonly  consists  of  the  different  members  of  one 
family  only,  at  least  if  the  children  are  old  and  strong  enough  to 
help  their  parents  to  find  food.  "Sexual  feelings,  the  instinctive 
love  to  children,  or  the  customary  attachment  among  relations," 
says  Lichtenstein,  "are  the  only  ties  that  keep  them  in  any  sort  of 
union." 

The  like  is  stated  to  be  true  of  several  peoples  in  Brazil.  Ac- 
cording to  v.  Martius,  travellers  often  meet  there  with  a  language 
"used  only  by  a  few  individuals  connected  with  each  other  by 
relationship,  who  are  thus  completely  isolated,  and  can  hold  no 
communication  with  any  of  their  other  countrymen  far  or  near." 
With  reference  to  the  Botocudos,  v.  Tschudi  says  that  "the  family 
is  the  only  tie  which  joins  these  rude  children  of  nature  with  each 
other."  The  Guachis,  Manhes,  and  Guatos  for  the  most  part  live 
scattered  in  families,  and  the  social  condition  of  the  Caishanas, 
among  whom  each  family  has  its  own  solitary  hut,  "is  of  a  low 
type,  very  little  removed,  indeed,  from  that  of  the  brutes  living  in 
the  same  forests."  The  Maraua  Indians  live  likewise  in  separate 
families  or  small  hordes,  and  so  do  some  other  of  the  tribes  visited 
by  Mr.  Bates.  According  to  Mr.  Southey,  the  Cayaguas  or  Wood- 
Indians,  who  inhabited  the  forests  between  the  Parana  and  the 
Uruguay,  were  not  in  a  social  state;  "one  family  lived  at  a  dis- 
tance from  another,  in  a  wretched  hut  composed  of  boughs ;  they 
subsisted  wholly  by  prey,  and  when  larger  game  failed,  were 
contented  with  snakes,  mice,  pismires,  worms,  and  any  kind  of 
reptile  or  vermin."  Again,  speaking  of  the  Coroados,  v.  Spix 
and  v.  Martius  say  that  "they  live  without  any  bond  of  social 
union,  neither  under  a  republican  nor  a  patriarchal  form  of  gov- 
ernment. Even  family  ties  are  very  loose  among  them." 

The  Togiagamutes,  an  Eskimo  tribe,  never  visited  by  white 
men  in  their  own  country  until  the  year  1880,  who  lead  a 
thoroughly  nomadic  life,  wandering  from  place  to  place  in  search 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  465 

of  game  or  fish,  appear,  according  to  Petroff,  "to  live  in  the  most 
perfect  state  of  independence  of  each  other.  Even  the  communi- 
ties do  not  seem  bound  together  in  any  way ;  families  and  groups 
of  families  constantly  changing  their  abode,  leaving  one  com- 
munity and  joining  another,  or  perhaps  forming  one  of  their  own. 
The  youth,  as  soon  as  he  is  able  to  build  a  kaiak  and  to  support 
himself,  no  longer  observes  any  family  ties,  but  goes  where  his 
fancy  takes  him,  frequently  roaming  about  with  his  kaiak  for 
thousands  of  miles  before  another  fancy  calls  him  to  take  a 
wife,  to  excavate  a  miserable  dwelling,  and  to  settle  down  for 
a  time." 

The  ancient  Finns,  too,  according  to  the  linguistic  researches 
of  Professor  Ahlqvist,  were  without  any  kind  of  tribal  organiza- 
tion. In  his  opinion,  such  a  state  would  have  been  almost  impos- 
sible among  them,  as  they  lived  in  scattered  families  for  the  sake 
of  the  chase  and  in  order  to  have  pastures  for  their  reindeer. 

That  the  comparatively  solitary  life  which  the  families  of 
these  peoples  live,  is  due  to  want  of  sufficient  food,  appears  from 
several  facts.  Lichtenstein  tells  us  that  the  hardships  experi- 
enced by  the  Bushmans  in  satisfying  the  most  urgent  necessities 
of  life,  preclude  the  possibility  of  their  forming  larger  societies. 
Even  the  families  that  form  associations  in  small  separate  hordes 
are  sometimes  obliged  to  disperse,  as  the  same  spot  will  not  afford 
sufficient  sustenance  for  all.  "The  smaller  the  number,  the 
easier  is  a  supply  of  food  procured." 

"Scarcity  of  food,  and  the  facility  with  which  they  move  from 
one  place  to  another  in  their  canoes,"  says  Admiral  Fitzroy,  "are, 
no  doubt,  the  reasons  why  the  Fuegians  are  always  so  dispersed 
among  the  islands  in  small  family  parties,  why  they  never  remain 
long  in  one  place,  and  why  a  large  number  are  not  seen  many 
days  in  society." 

The  natives  of  Port  Jackson,  New  South  Wales,  when  visited 
a  hundred  years  ago  by  Captain  Hunter,  were  associated  in 
tribes  of  many  families  living  together,  apparently  without  a 
fixed  residence,  the  different  families  wandering  in  different  direc- 
tions for  food,  but  uniting  on  occasions  of  disputes  with  another 
tribe.  The  Rev.  A.  Meyer  assures  us  likewise,  as  regards  the 
Encounter  Bay  tribe,  that  "the  whole  tribe  does  not  always  move 


466  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

in  a  body  from  one  place  to  another,  unless  there  should  be  abun- 
dance of  food  to  be  obtained  at  some  particular  spot ;  but  gener- 
ally they  are  scattered  in  search  of  food."  Again,  with  reference 
to  the  Australians  more  generally,  Mr.  Brough  Smyth  remarks 
that  "in  any  large  area  occupied  by  a  tribe,  where  there  was  not 
much  forest  land,  and  where  kangaroos  were  not  numerous,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  the  several  families  composing  the  tribe 
would  withdraw  from  their  companions  for  short  periods,  at  cer- 
tain seasons,  and  betake  themselves  to  separate  portions  of  the 
area,  ....  and  it  is  more  than  probable — it  is  almost  certain — 
that  each  head  of  a  family  would  betake  himself,  if  practicable, 
to  the  portion  which  his  father  had  frequented." 

Finally,  from  Mr.  Wyeth's  account  in  Schoolcraft's  great 
work  on  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  I  shall  make  the 
following  characteristic  quotation  with  reference  to  the  Snakes 
inhabiting  the  almost  desert  region  which  extends  southward 
from  the  Snake  River  as  far  as  the  southern  end  of  the  Great 
Salt  Lake,  and  eastward  from  the  Rocky  to  the  Blue  Mountains. 
"The  paucity  of  game  in  this  region  is,  I  have  little  doubt,  the 
cause  of  the  almost  entire  absence  of  social  organization  among 
its  inhabitants ;  no  trace  of  it  is  ordinarily  seen  among  them, 
except  during  salmon-time,  when  a  large  number  of  the  Snakes 
resort  to  the  rivers,  chiefly  to  the  Fishing  Falls,  and  at  such 

places  there  seems  some  little  organization Prior  to  the 

introduction  of  the  horse,  no  other  tribal  arrangement  existed 
than  such  as  is  now  seen  in  the  management  of  the  salmon 
fishery The  organization  would  be  very  imperfect,  be- 
cause the  remainder  of  the  year  would  be  spent  by  them  in 
families  widely  spread  apart,  to  eke  out  the  year's  subsistence 
on  the  roots  and  limited  game  of  their  country.  After  a  portion 
of  them,  who  are  now  called  Bonacks,  had  obtained  horses,  they 
would  naturally  form  bands  and  resort  to  the  Buffalo  region  to 
gain  their  subsistence,  retiring  to  the  most  fertile  places  in  their 
own,  to  avoid  the  snows  of  the  mountains  and  feed  their  horses. 
Having  food  from  the  proceeds  of  the  Buffalo  hunt,  to  enable 
them  to  live  together,  they  would  annually  do  so,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  their  horses,  lodges,  &c.,  &c.  These  interests  have 
caused  an  organization  among  the  Bonacks,  which  continues  the 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  467 

year  through,  because  the  interests  which  produce  it  continue ; 
and  it  is  more  advanced  than  that  of  the  other  Snakes." 

Here,  I  think,  we  have  an  excellent  account  of  the  origin  of 
society,  applicable  not  only  to  the  Snakes,  but  in  its  main 
features,  to  man  in  general.  The  kind  of  food  he  subsisted 
upon,  together  with  the  large  quantities  of  it  that  he  wanted, 
probably  formed  in  olden  times  a  hindrance  to  a  true  gregarious 
manner  of  living,  except  perhaps  in  some  unusually  rich  places. 
Man  in  the  savage  state,  even  when  living  in  luxuriant  countries, 
is  often  brought  to  the  verge  of  starvation,  in  spite  of  his  having 
implements  and  weapons  which  his  ruder  ancestors  had  no  idea 
of.  If  the  obstacle  from  insufficient  food-supply  could  be  over- 
come, gregariousness  would  no  doubt  be  of  great  advantage  to 
him.  Living  together,  the  families  could  resist  the  dangers  of 
life  and  defend  themselves  from  their  enemies  much  more  easily 
than  when  solitary, — all  the  more  so,  as  the  physical  strength  of 
man,  and  especially  savage  man,  is  comparatively  slight.  Indeed, 
his  bodily  inferiority,  together  with  his  defencelessness  and  help- 
lessness, has  probably  been  the  chief  lever  of  civilization. 

"He  has,"  to  quote  Mr.  Darwin,  "invented  and  is  able  to  use 
various  weapons,  tools,  traps,  &c.,  with  which  he  defends  him- 
self, kills  or  catches  prey,  and  otherwise  obtains  food.  He  has 
made  rafts  or  canoes  for  fishing  or  crossing  over  to  neighbouring 
fertile  islands.  He  has  discovered  the  art  of  making  fire,  by 
which  hard  and  stringy  roots  can  be  rendered  digestible,  and 
poisonous  roots  or  herbs  innocuous."  In  short,  man  gradually 
found  out  many  new  ways  of  earning  his  living,  and  more  and 
more  emancipated  himself  from  direct  dependence  on  surrounding 
nature.  The  chief  obstacle  to  a  gregarious  life  was  by  this  means 
in  part  surmounted,  and  the  advantages  of  such  a  life  induced 
families  or  small  gangs  to  unite  together  in  larger  bodies.  Thus 
it  seems  that  the  gregariousness  and  sociability  of  man  sprang, 
in  the  main,  from  progressive  intellectual  and  material  civiliza- 
tion, whilst  the  tie  that  kept  together  husband  and  wife,  parents 
and  children,  was,  if  not  the  only,  at  least  the  principal  social 
factor  in  the  earliest  life  of  man.  I  cannot,  therefore,  agree  with 
Sir  John  Lubbock  that,  as  a  general  rule,  as  we  descend  in  the 
scale  of  civilization,  the  family  diminishes,  and  the  tribe  increases, 


468  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

in  importance.  This  may  hold  good  for  somewhat  higher  stages, 
but  it  does  not  apply  to  the  lowest  stages.  Neither  do  I  see 
any  reason  to  believe  that  there  ever  was  a  time  when  the 
family  was  quite  absorbed  in  the  tribe.  There  does  not  exist 
a  single  well  established  instance  of  a  people  among  whom  this 
is  the  case. 

I  do  not,  of  course,  deny  that  the  tie  which  bound  the  chil- 
dren to  the  mother  was  much  more  intimate  and  more  lasting 
than  that  which  bound  them  to  the  father.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  only  result  to  which  a  critical  investigation  of  facts  can 
lead  us  is,  that  in  all  probability  there  has  been  no  stage  of  human 
development  when  marriage  has  not  existed,  and  that  the  father 
has  always  been,  as  a  rule,  the  protector  of  his  family.  Human 
marriage  appears,  then,  to  be  an  inheritance  from  some  ape-like 
progenitor. — E.  Westermarck,  The  History  of  Human  Marriage, 
9-24;  39-50  (Macmillan,  1901). 

AUSTRALIAN  MARRIAGE 

....  [In  the  Urabunna  tribe  we  can]  distinguish  women  of 
three  different  levels  of  generation;  the  Noivillie  belong  to  that 
of  the  father  and  to  still  older  generations ;  the  Biaka  to  younger 
ones  and  the  Apillia  and  Nupa  to  the  same  generation  as  the 
individual  concerned.  A  man  can  only  marry  women  who  stand 
to  him  in  the  relationship  of  Nupa,  that  is,  are  the  children  of 
his  mother's  elder  brothers  blood  or  tribal,  or,  what  is  the  same 
thing,  of  his  father's  elder  sisters.  The  mother  of  a  man's 
Nupa  is  NozviUie  to  him,  and  any  woman  of  that  relationship 
is  Mura  to  him  and  he  to  her,  and  they  must  not  speak  to  one 
another.  In  connection  with  this  it  must  be  remembered  that  it 
is  not  necessary  for  the  woman  to  actually  have  a  daughter  for 
her  to  be  Nowillie  and  so  Mura  to  the  man,  the  very  fact  that 
she  was  born  a  sister  of  his  father  places  her  in  this  relationship. 
In  the  same  way  Nupa,  the  term  applied  to  a  woman  with  whom 
it  is  lawful  for  a  man  to  have  marital  relations,  and  which  is 
thus  the  term  applied  to  a  wife,  cannot,  strictly  speaking,  be 
regarded  as  at  all  the  equivalent  of  the  latter  term.  It  is  applied 
indiscriminately  by  a  dingo  man  to  each  and  every  member  of 
a  group  of  water-hen  women  with  one  or  more  of  whom  he 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  469 

may  perhaps  actually  have  marital  relations,  but  with  any  one  of 
whom  it  is  lawful  and  possible  for  him  to  do  so.  When  we  say 
possible  for  him  to  have  such  marital  relations,  we  mean  that  any 
one  of  these  women  might  be  assigned  to  him,  as  they  all,  in  fact, 
stand  to  him  in  the  relationship  of  potential  wives. 

The  word  Nupa  is  without  any  exception  applied  indiscrim- 
inately by  men  of  a  particular  group  to  women  of  another  group, 
and  vice  versa,  and  simply  implies  a  member  of  a  group  of 
possible  wives  or  husbands  as  the  case  may  be. 

While  this  is  so,  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  actual  prac- 
tice each  individual  man  has  one  or  perhaps  two  of  these  Nupa 
women  who  are  specially  attached  to  himself  and  live  with  him 
in  his  own  camp.  In  addition  to  them,  however,  each  man  has 
certain  Nupa  women,  beyond  the  limited  number  just  referred 
to,  with  whom  he  stands  in  the  relationship  of  Piraungaru.  To 
women  who  are  the  Piraungaru  of  a  man  (the  term  is  a  reciprocal 
one),  the  latter  has  access  under  certain  conditions,  so  that  they 
may  be  considered  as  accessory  wives. 

The  result  is  that  in  the  Urabunna  tribe  every  woman  is  the 
special  Nupa  of  one  particular  man,  but  at  the  same  time  he  has 
no  special  right  to  her  as  she  is  the  Piraungaru  of  certain  other 
men  who  also  have  the  right,  of  access  to  her.  Looked  at  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  man  his  Piraungaru  are  a  limited  number 
of  the  women  who  stand  in  the  relationship  of  Nupa  to  him. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  one  man  having  the  exclusive  right  to 
one  woman ;  the  elder  brothers,  or  Nuthie,  of  the  latter,  in  whose 
hands  the  matter  lies,  will  give  one  man  a  preferential  right,  but 
at  the  same  time  they  will  give  other  men  of  the  same  group  a 
secondary  right  to  her.  Individual  marriage  does  not  exist  either 
in  name  or  in  practice  in  the  Urabunna  tribe. 

The  initiation  in  regard  to  establishing  the  relationship  of 
Piraungaru  between  a  man  and  a  woman  must  be  taken  by  the 
elder  brothers,  but  the  arrangement  must  receive  the  sanction  of 
the  old  men  of  the  group  before  it  can  take  effect.  As  a  matter 
of  actual  practice,  this  relationship  is  usually  established  at  times 
when  considerable  numbers  of  the  tribe  are  gathered  together  to 
perform  important  ceremonies,  and  when  these  and  other  matters 
of  importance  which  require  the  consideration  of  the  old  men 


47°  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

are  discussed  and  settled.  The  number  of  a  man's  Piraungaru 
depend  entirely  upon  the  measure  of  his  power  and  popularity ; 
if  he  be  what  is  called  "urku,"  a  word  which  implies  much  the 
same  as  our  word  "influential,"  he  will  have  a  considerable  num- 
ber, if  he  be  insignificant  or  unpopular,  then  he  will  meet  with 
scanty  treatment. 

A  woman  may  be  Piraungaru  to  a  number  of  men,  and  as  a 
general  rule  men  and  women  who  are  Piraungaru  to  one  another 
are  to  be  found  living  grouped  together.  A  man  may  alwavs 
lend  his  wife,  that  is,  the  woman  to  whom  he  has  the  first  right, 
to  another  man,  provided  always  he  be  her  Nupa,  without  the 
relationship  of  Piraungaru  existing  between  the  two,  but  unless 
this  relationship  exists,  no  man  has  any  right  of  access  to  a 
woman.  Occasionally,  but  rarely,  it  happens  that  a  man  attempts 
to  prevent  his  wife's  Piraungaru  from  having  access  to  her,  but 
this  leads  to  a  fight  and  the  husband  is  looked  upon  as  churlish. 
When  visiting  distant  groups  where,  in  all  likelihood,  the  husband 
has  no  Piraungaru,  it  is  customary  for  other  men  of  his  own  class 
to  offer  him  the  loan  of  one  or  more  of  their  Nupa  women,  and 
a  man,  besides  lending  a  woman  over  whom  he  has  the  first  right, 
will  also  lend  his  Piraungaru. 

All  the  children  of  women  who  are  Nupa  to  any  man,  whether 
they  are  his  special  Nupas,  or  Piraungaru,  or  Nupa  women  with 
whom  he  has  no  marital  relations,  call  him  Nia,  and  he  calls  them 
Biaka.  Whilst  naturally  there  is  a  closer  tie  between  a  man  and 
the  children  of  the  women  who  habitually  live  in  camp  with  him, 
still  there  is  no  name  to  distinguish  between  the  children  of  his 
special  Nupa  and  those  of  any  other  woman  to  whom  he  is  Nupa, 
but  with  whom  he  has  no  marital  relations.  All  Biaka,  or  chil- 
dren of  men  who  are  at  the  same  level  in  the  generation  and 
belong  to  the  same  class  and  totem,  are  regarded  as  the  common 
children  of  these  men,  and  in  the  same  way  the  latter  are  regarded 
collectively  by  the  Biaka  as  their  Nia. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  in  the  Urabunna  tribe  we  have 
apparently  an  organisation  closely  similar  to  that  described  by 
Mr.  Howitt  as  occurring  in  the  Dieri  tribe  with  which  it  is 
associated  locally.  It  will  also  be  evident  that  in  both  these  tribes 
there  is  what  can  only  be  described  as  a  modified  form  of  group- 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  471 

marriage,  the  important  features  of  which  may  be  summarised 
as  follows.    We  have: — 

(1)  A  group  of  men  all  of  whom  belong  to  one  moiety  of 
the  tribe  who  are  regarded  as  the  Nupas  or  possible  husbands 
of  a  group  of  women  who  belong  to  the  other  moiety  of  the  tribe. 

(2)  One  or  more  women  specially  allotted  to  one  particular 
man,  each  standing  in  the  relationship  of  Nupa  to  the  other, 
but  no  man  having  exclusive  right  to  any  one  woman,  only  a 
preferential  right. 

(3)  A.  group  of  men  who  stand  in  the  relationship  of  Piraun- 
garu  to  a  group  of  women  selected  from  amongst  those  to  whom 
they  are  Nupa.    In  other  words,  a  group  of  women  of  a  certain 
designation  are  actually  the  wives  of  a  group  of  men  of  another 
designation. 

A  curious  feature  in  the  social  organisation  of  the  Urabunna 
tribe  is  the  restriction  in  accordance  with  which  a  man's  wife 
must  belong  to  what  we  may  call  the  senior  side  of  the  tribe 
so  far  as  he  himself  is  concerned.  He  is  only  Nupa  to  the  female 
children  of  the  elder  brothers  of  his  mother,  or  what  is  exactly 
the  same  thing,  to  those  of  the  elder  sisters  of  his  father.  It 
follows  from  this  that  a  woman  is  only  Nupa  to  men  on  the 
junior  side  of  the  tribe  so  far  as  she  is  concerned.  This  marked 
distinction  between  elder  and  younger  brothers  and  sisters  is  a 
striking  feature,  not  only  in  tribes  such  as  the  Urabunna,  in  which 
descent  is  counted  in  the  female  line,  but  also  in  tribes  such  as 
the  Arunta  in  which  descent  is  counted  in  the  male  line 

....  In  connection  with  this,  it  may  be  worth  while  noting 
that  amongst  the  Australian  natives  with  whom  we  have  come  in 
contact,  the  feeling  of  sexual  jealousy  is  not  developed  to  any- 
thing like  the  extent  to  which  it  would  appear  to  be  in  many  other 
savage  tribes.  For  a  man  to  have  unlawful  intercourse  with 
any  woman  arouses  a  feeling  which  is  due  not  so  much  to  jealousy 
as  to  the  fact  that  the  delinquent  has  infringed  a  tribal  custom. 

Now  and  again  sexual  jealousy  as  between  a  man  and  woman 
will  come  into  play,  but  as  a  general  rule  this  is  a  feeling  which 
is  undoubtedly  subservient  to  that  of  the  influence  of  tribal 
custom,  so  far  as  the  latter  renders  it  obligatory  for  a  man  to 


472  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

allow  other  men,  at  certain  times,  to  have  free  access  to  his  wife, 
or  so  far  as  it  directs  him  to  lend  his  wife  to  some  other  indi- 
vidual as  a  mark  of  personal  favour  to  the  latter. 

Whilst  jealousy  is  not  unknown  amongst  these  tribes,  the 
point  of  importance  in  respect  to  the  matter  under  discussion 
is  that  it  is  not  strongly  enough  developed  to  prevent  the  occur- 
rence of  general  intercourse  on  certain  occasions,  or  the  lending 
of  wives  at  other  times ;  it  is,  indeed,  a  factor  which  need  not  be 
taken  into  serious  account  in  regard  to  the  question  of  sexual 
relations  amongst  the  Central  Australian  tribes.  A  man  in  these 
tribes  may  be  put  to  death  for  wrongful  intercourse,  but  at  the 
same  time  this  is  no  proof  of  the  fact  that  sexual  jealousy  exists; 
it  is  a  serious  offence  against  tribal  laws,  and  its  punishment  has 
no  relation  to  the  feelings  of  the  individual. 

We  may  now  pass  on  to  discuss  briefly  the  customs  relating 
to  marriage  which  have  already  been  enumerated,  and  in  so 
doing,  as  we  have  often  to  refer  to  the  lending  of  wives,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  we  use  this  term  only  as  applying  to  the 
private  lending  of  a  woman  to  some  other  individual  by  the  man 
to  whom  she  has  been  allotted,  and  do  not  refer  to  the  custom 
at  corrobborees  which  has  just  been  dealt  with,  and  which,  as  it 
is  in  reality  obligatory  and  not  optional,  cannot  be  regarded  as 
a  lending  in  the  same  sense  in  which  the  term  is  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  former  custom. 

In  his  well-known  work  dealing  with  human  marriage,  West- 
ermarck  has  brought  together,  from  various  sources,  facts  relating 
to  similar  customs,  and,  while  discussing  the  hypothesis  of 
promiscuity  from  an  adverse  point  of  view,  has  endeavoured  to 
explain  them  as  due  to  various  causes.  These  we  may  conven- 
iently discuss,  examining  each  briefly  in  the  endeavour  to 
ascertain  whether  it  will  or  will  not  serve  to  explain  the  marriage 
customs  as  we  find  them  in  Australian  tribes,  of  which  those 
quoted  above  may  be  taken  as  typical  examples.  It  must  be 
understood  that  we  are  here1  simply  dealing  with  this  question  so 
far  as  the  evidence  derived  from  these  Australian  tribes  is 
concerned. 

The  first  explanation  offered  is  that  in  certain  instances  the 
practice  is  evidently  associated  with  phallic  worship,  as,  for 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  473 

example,  when  in  the  valley  of  the  Ganges,  the  virgins  had  to 
offer  themselves  up  in  the  temples  of  Juggernaut.  This  implies 
a  state  of  social  development  very  different  from,  and  much 
more  advanced  than,  anything  met  with  amongst  the  Australian 
natives,  and  the  two  customs  are  evidently  quite  distinct  from 
one  another.  It  is  doubtful  how  far  phallic  worship  can  be  said 
to  exist  amongst  the  Australian  natives. 

In  other  cases  where  the  bride  is  for  a  night  considered  the 
common  property  of  the  guests  at  a  wedding  feast,  Wester- 
marck  suggests  that  "It  may  have  been  a  part  of  the  nuptial 
entertainment — a  horrible  kind  of  hospitality  no  doubt,  but 
quite  in  accordance  with  savage  ideas,  and  analogous  to  another 
custom  which  occurs  much  more  frequently — I  mean  the  practice 
of  lending  wives."  This  presupposes,  and  in  fact  is  co-existent 
with,  what  does  not  take  place  in  Australian  tribes,  and  that  is 
a  more  or  less  regular  marriage  ceremony  at  which  guests 
assemble,  and  such  an  organised  proceeding  cannot  be  said  to 
exist  amongst  the  tribes  with  which  we  are  dealing;  moreover, 
apart  from  this,  which  is  not  perhaps  a  very  serious  objection, 
though  it  seems  to  imply  a  state  of  development  considerably  in 
advance  of  that  of  the  Australian  natives,  there  still  remains 
what  appears  to  us  to  be  the  insuperable  difficulty  of  accounting, 
on  this  hypothesis,  for  the  fact  that  this  "hospitality"  amongst 
Australian  tribes  is  only  allowed  to  a  limited  number  of  indi- 
viduals, all  of  whom  must  stand  in  some  particular  relationship 
to  the  woman. 

Westermarck  further  suggests  that  it  is  analogous  to  the 
custom  of  lending  wives.  Now,  amongst  the  Australian  natives 
wives  are  certainly  lent,  but  only  under  strict  rules ;  in  the  Arunta 
tribe  for  example  no  man  will  lend  his  wife  to  any  one  who  does 
not  belong  to  the  particular  group  with  which  it  is  lawful  for 
her  to  have  marital  relations — she  is  in  fact,  only  lent  to  a  man 
whom  she  calls  Unawa,  just  as  she  calls  her  own  husband,  and 
though  this  may  undoubtedly  be  spoken  of  as  an  act  of  hospitality, 
it  may  with  equal  justice  be  regarded  as  evidence  of  the  very 
clear  recognition  of  group  relationship,  and  as  evidence  also  in 
favour  of  the  former  existence  of  group  marriage. 

It  is  quite  true,  on  the  other  hand,  that  a  native  will  some- 


474  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

times  offer  his  wife,  as  an  act  of  hospitality,  to  a  white  man; 
but  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  lending  of  wives  which  has 
just  been  dealt  with,  and  the  difference  between  the  two  acts  is 
of  a  radical  nature.  The  white  man  stands  outside  the  laws 
which  govern  the  native  tribe,  and  therefore  to  lend  him  a  wife 
of  any  designation  does  not  imply  the  infringement  of  any 
custom.  This  is  purely  and  simply,  as  Westermarck  points  out, 
an  act  of  hospitality,  but  the  very  fact  that  he  will  only  lend  his 
wife,  if  he  does  so  at  all,  to  another  native  of  a  particular  desig- 
nation, seems  to  at  once  imply  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  custom 
at  the  root  of  which  lies  something  much  more  than  merely  an 
idea  of  hospitality.  The  lending  of  women  to  men  outside  the 
tribe  who  are  not  amenable  to  its  laws  and  customs  is  one  thing, 
to  lend  them  to  men  who  are  members  of  the  tribe  is  quite  another 
thing,  and  the  respective  origins  of  the  customs  in  these  two 
radically  different  cases  are  probably  totally  distinct — one  is  no 
doubt  to  be  explained  on  the  hypothesis  of  hospitality,  the  other 
is  not.  The  hypothesis  of  hospitality  does  not,  in  short,  appear 
to  us  to  be  capable  of  explaining  the  fact  that  both  at  marriage 
and  at  certain  other  times,  it  is  only  particular  men  who  are 
allowed  access  to  particular  women.1 

A  third  hypothesis  suggested  to  account  for  certain  customs 
such  as  the  "jus  primae  noctis,"  accorded  to  chiefs  and  particular 
individuals,  is  that  "it  may  be  a  right  taken  forcibly  by  the 
stronger,  or  it  may  be  a  privilege  voluntarily  given  to  the  chief 
man  as  a  mark  of  esteem;  in  either  case  it  depends  upon  his 
authority."  It  will  be  generally  admitted  that  here  again  no  such 
explanation  will  account  for  the  customs  as  met  with  amongst 
Australian  tribes.  In  the  first  place,  while  the  elder  men  are 

1  It  may  perhaps  be  advisable  to  point  out  that  in  many  cases  in  which 
apparently  women  are  lent  (in  the  sense  in  which  we  use  the  word,  which 
is  the  sense  in  which  it  is  generally  used  in  this  connection)  indiscrimi- 
nately, a  knowledge  of  details  would  show  that  this  was  not  so.  In  regard 
to  Australian  tribes  it  is  very  difficult  in  most  cases,  to  find  out  anything 
like  exact  details  from  accounts  already  published,  and  general  statements 
such  as  that  a  party  of  men  have  the  privilege  of  access  to  a  woman  are 
valueless  unless  we  know  the  exact  conditions  or  relative  status  of  the 
individual  men  and  the  women.  In  the  nine  tribes  examined  by  us  we  have 
found  that  intercourse  of  this  nature  is  strictly  regulated  by  custom. 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  475 

undoubtedly  accorded  certain  privileges,  there  is  not  in  any 
Australian  tribe  any  one  individual  to  whom  the  term  chief 
can,  with  strict  propriety,  be  applied,  and  in  the  second  place  the 
privilege  with  which  we  are  dealing  is  by  no  means  enjoyed 
wholly  by  the  elder  men.  Unless  the  leading  man  in  any  group 
stands  in  a  particular  relationship  to  the  woman,  he  has  no  more 
right  of  access  to  her  than  the  most  insignificant  man  in  the 
group. 

A  fourth  hypothesis  is  suggested  in  connection  with  the  right 
of  access  granted  to  men  who  have  assisted  the  bridegroom  in 
the  capture  of  the  woman.  "In  such  cases  the  'jus  primae  noctis' 
is  a  reward  for  a  good  turn  done,  or  perhaps,  as  Mr.  McLennan 
suggests,  a  common  war  right,  exercised  by  the  captors  of  the 
woman."  There  is  undoubtedly  much  to  be  said  in  favour  of 
this,  but  there  are  objections  applying  to  it  as  to  the  second 
hypothesis  dealt  with.  In  the  first  place,  so  far  as  Australia  is 
concerned,  it  is  founded  upon  such  vague  statements  as  that 
quoted  by  Brough  Smyth  upon  the  authority  of  Mr.  J.  M.  Davis. 
Mr.  Davis  says,  "when  a  young  man  is  entitled  to  have  a  lubra, 
he  organises  a  party  of  his  friends,  and  they  make  a  journey 
into  the  territories  of  some  other  tribe,  and  there  lie  in  wait, 
generally  in  the  evening,  by  a  waterhole,  where  the  lubras  come 
for  water.  Such  of  the  lubras  as  may  be  required  are  then 
pounced  upon,  and,  if  they  attempt  to  make  any  resistance,  are 
struck  down  insensible  and  dragged  off.  There  is  also  this 
peculiarity,  that  in  any  instance  where  the  abduction  has  taken 
place  for  the  benefit  of  some  one  individual,  each  of  the  members 
of  the  party  claims,  as  a  right,  a  privilege  which  the  intended 
husband  has  no  power  to  refuse." 

Before  it  is  safe,  or  indeed  possible,  to  draw  any  conclusion 
from  this,  we  require  to  know  exactly  who  the  men  were,  that 
is  in  what  relationship  they  stood  to  the  man  whom  they  were 
assisting.  The  more  detailed  is  the  information  acquired  in 
respect  to  the  Australian  tribes,  the  more  clearly  is  it  made 
apparent  that  on  expeditions  such  as  this,  when  the  object  in 
view  is  the  obtaining  of  a  wife,  the  man  only  asks  the  assistance 
of  men  who  stand  in  certain  definite  relationships  to  himself.  It 
does  not  at  all  follow,  that,  because  a  man  forms  a  member  of 


476  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

a  party  which  captures  a  woman,  he  is  therefore  allowed  to  have 
access  to  her.  In  the  tribes  which  we  have  investigated,  marriage 
customs  regulate  the  whole  proceedings ;  the  equivalent  classes 
in  the  tribes  are  well  known  and,  supposing  for  example,  a  party 
consists  of  men  belonging  to  two  classes,  which  we  will  call  A 
and  B,  and  a  woman  is  captured  belonging,  say,  to  a  third  class 
C,  which  intermarries  with  Class  A,  but  not  with  Class  B,  then 
no  man  in  the  party,  if  there  be  any  such  present,  who  belongs  to 
Class  B  will  be  allowed,  or  will  attempt,  to  have  access  to  her. 
When  we  have  merely  such  general  statements  as  that  quoted 
above  from  the  report  of  Mr.  Davis,  it  may  look  very  much  as 
if  there  did  exist  such  a  thing  as  "a  common  war-right,  exercised 
by  the  captors  of  a  woman,"  but  the  more  detailed  our  informa- 
tion becomes,  the  less  evidence  of  any  such  "common  war-right" 
do  we  find,  and  in  the  Australian  tribes  generally  it  may  be 
regarded  as  very  doubtful  if  any  such  right  really  exists. 
Amongst  the  tribes  with  which  we  are  acquainted  it  certainly 
does  not. 

Marriage  by  capture  is  again,  at  the  present  day,  whatever 
it  may  have  been  in  the  past,  by  no  means  the  rule  in  Australian 
tribes,  and  too  much  stress  has  been  laid  upon  this  method.  It 
is  only  comparatively  rarely  that  a  native  goes  and  seizes  upon 
some  lubra  in  a  neighbouring  tribe;  by  far  the  most  common 
method  of  getting  a  wife  is  by  means  of  an  arrangement  made 
between  brothers  or  fathers  of  the  respective  men  and  women, 
whereby  a  particular  woman  is  assigned  to  a  particular  man. 
Marriage  by  capture  may  indeed  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
exceptional  methods  of  obtaining  a  wife  amongst  the  natives 
at  the  present  day.  We  are  not  of  course  referring  here  to 
customs  which  may,  in  many  tribes,  be  explained  as  indicative 
of  a  former  existence  of  the  practice ;  whether,  in  the  remote  past, 
capture  was  the  prevailing  method  can  only  be  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture, but  the  customs  at  marriage  in  the  tribes  here  dealt  with 
— and  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  these  occupy  a  very  large  area 
in  the  centre  of  the  continent,  so  that  we  are  by  no  means  deal- 
ing with  an  isolated  example — do  not  seem  to  indicate  that  they 
owe  their  origin  to  anything  like  the  recognition  of  the  right  of 
captor,  as  captor. 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  477 

The  fifth  hypothesis  is  that  of  promiscuity.  Certainly  at  the 
present  day,  so  far  as  we  can  tell,  there  is  some  definite  system 
of  marriage  in  all  Australian  tribes  and  promiscuity,  as  a  normal 
feature,  does  not  exist.  At  the  same  time  none  of  the  hypotheses 
put  forward  by  Westermarck  will  serve  to  explain  the  curious  and 
very  strongly  marked  features  of  the  marriage  customs,  the 
essential  points  in  which  are,  ( I )  that  men  have  access  to  women 
who  are  strictly  forbidden  to  them  at  ordinary  times,  and  (2)  that 
it  is  only  certain  definite  men  standing  in  certain  particular  rela- 
tionships to  the  woman  who  thus  have  access. 

To  make  use  of  the  same  analogy  again,  it  seems  that  in  the 
evolution  of  the  social  organisation  and  customs  of  a  savage 
tribe,  such  features  as  those  which  we  are  now  discussing  are 
clearly  comparable  to  the  well  known  rudimentary  organs,  which 
are  often  of  great  importance  in  understanding  the  phylogeny 
of  -the  animal  in  which  at  some  time  of  its  development  they  are 
present.  Such  rudimentary  structures  are  emblematic  of  parts 
which  are  perhaps  only  transient,  or,  at  most,  imperfectly  devel- 
oped in  the  animal,  but  their  presence  shows  that  they  were,  at 
some  past  time,  more  highly  developed  and  functional  in  ancestral 
stages. 

It  is  thus  perhaps  permissible  to  speak  of  "rudimentary  cus- 
toms," in  just  the  same  way,  and  with  just  the  same  significance 
attached  to  them,  in  which  we  speak  of  "rudimentary  organs'' 
and  we  may  recognise  in  them  an  abbreviated  record  of  a  stage 
passed  through  in  the  development  of  the  customs  of  the  tribe 
amongst  which  they  are  found.  Such  rudimentary  customs,  like 
those  which  are  associated  with  the  Maypole  for  example,  point 
back  to  a  time  when  they  were  more  highly  developed  than  they 
are  at  present,  and  when  the  customs  were  more  or  less  widely 
different  from  those  now  prevailing. 

The  origin  of  the  marriage  customs  of  the  tribes  now  dealt 
with  cannot  possibly,  so  it  seems  to  us,  be  explained  as  due  either 
to  a  feeling  of  hospitality,  or  to  the  right  of  captors;  nor  can 
they  be  explained,  as  in  certain  cases  the  "jus  primae  noctis" 
can,  as  a  right  forcibly  taken  by  the  stronger  from  the  weaker. 
There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  but  that  at  one  time  the  mar- 
riage arrangements  of  the  Australian  tribes  were  in  a  more  primi- 


478  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

live  state  than  they  are  at  the  present  day,  and  the  customs  with 
which  we  are  dealing  can  be  most  simply  explained  as  rudi- 
mentary ones  serving,  possibly  in  a  very  abbreviated  way,  to 
show  the  former  existence  of  conditions  which  are  no  longer 
prevalent. 

In  regard  to  the  marriage  customs  of  the  tribes  now  dealt 
with,  we  have  the  following  facts.  In  the  first  place  we  have  a 
group  of  women  who  are,  what  is  called  Unazva,  to  a  group  of 
men  and  vice  versa,  that  is,  all  of  these  men  and  women  are 
reciprocally  marriageable.  This,  it  may  be  observed,  is  not  a 
matter  of  assumption  but  of  actual  fact.  In  the  Arunta  tribe 
for  example  a  Panunga  man  will  call  the  Purula  whom  he 
actually  marries  Unawa,  but  he  has  no  name  to  distinguish  her 
from  all  the  other  Purula  women  whom  he  does  not  actually 
marry,  but  any  of  whom  he  might  lawfully  marry.  Further  than 
this,  while  he  has  no  actual  right  of  access  to  any  woman,  except 
his  own  special  Unawa  woman  or  women,  there  are  times,  as, 
for  example,  during  special  ceremonies,  or  when  he  is  visiting 
a  distant  group,  when  a  woman  is  lent  to  him,  but  that  woman 
must  be  one  who  is  Unawa  to  him.  In  other  words,  we  have 
individual  marriage  in  which  a  man  is  limited  in  his  choice  to 
women  of  a  particular  group,  each  one  of  whom  stands  to  him 
in  the  relationship  of  a  possible  wife,  and  with  whom  it  is 
lawful  for  him,  with  the  consent  of  her  special  Unawa  man,  to 
have  marital  relations.  However  hospitably  inclined  a  man 
may  feel,  he  will  never  lend  his  wife  to  a  man  who  does  not 
belong  to  a  group  of  men  to  each  of  whom  she  stands  in  the 
relationship  of  Unawa  or  possible  wife.  A  Panunga  man  may 
lend  his  wife  to  another  Panunga,  but  for  a  man  of  any  other 
class  to  have  marital  relations  with  her  would  be  a  gross 
offence. 

In  the  second  place,  we  have  certain  customs  concerned  with 
marriage  which  are  of  what  we  may  call  a  transient  nature. 
Taking  the  Kaitish  tribe  as  an  example,  we  find  that,  when  mar- 
riage actually  takes  place,  the  operation  of  Atna-ariltha-kuma  is 
performed  by  the  elder  sister  of  the  woman,  and  that  men  of  the 
following  relationship  have  access  to  her  in  the  order  named: 
Ipmunna,  that  is  individuals  of  the  same  moiety  of  the  tribe  as 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  479 

her  own;  mothers'  brothers'  sons;  tribal  elder"  and  younger 
brothers ;  and  lastly,  men  whom  she  might  lawfully  marry,  but 
who  have  no  right  to  her  when  once  she  becomes  the  property 
of  a  member  of  the  group  to  which  they  belong.  By  referring 
to  the  tables  already  given,  it  will  be  seen  that  these  men,  if  we 
take  a  particular  example,  say  a  Panunga  woman,  are  Ungalla, 
Uknaria,  Purula  and  Panunga.  In  other  words,  both  men  of 
her  own,  and  of  the  moiety  of  the  tribe  to  which  she  does  not 
belong,  have  access  to  her,  but  only  for  a  very  limited  time,  and 
the  same  holds  true  in  the  case  of  all  the  tribes  examined. 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  (i)  for  a  given  time  a  woman 
has  marital  relations  with  men  of  both  moieties  of  the  tribe,  and 
(2)  that  she  may  during  her  life,  when  once  she  has  become  the 
special  wife  of  some  individual  man,  have  lawfully,  but  depend- 
ent always  upon  the  consent  of  the  latter,  marital  relations  with 
any  of  the  group  of  men  to  each  and  all  of  whom  she  stands 
in  the  relationship  of  Unawa. 

These  are  the  actual  facts  with  which  we  have  to  deal,  and 
the  only  possible  explanation  of  them  appears  to  us  to  lie  along 
the  following  lines.  We  are  here  of  course  only  dealing  with 
those  tribes  in  which  descent  is  counted  in  the  male  line,  the 
remaining  tribe — the  Urabunna — in  which  descent  is  counted  in 
the  female  line,  will  be  referred  to  subsequently.  It  appears  to  us 
that,  in  the  present  customs  relating  to  marriage  amongst  this 
section  of  the  Australian  natives,  we  have  clear  evidence  of  three 
grades  of  development.  We  have  ( i )  the  present  normal  condi- 
tion of  individual  marriage  with  the  occasional  existence  of 
marital  relations  between  the  individual  wife  and  other  men  of 
the  same  group  as  that  to  which  her  husband  belongs,  and  the 
occasional  existence  also  of  still  wider  marital  relations;  (2)  we 
have  evidence  of  the  existence  at  a  prior  time  of  actual  group 
marriage;  and  (3)  we  have  evidence  of  the  existence  at  a  still 
earlier  time  of  still  wider  marital  relations. 

The  evidence  in  favour  of  the  hypothesis,  that  the  present 
marriage  system  of  such  a  tribe  as  the  Arunta  is  based  upon  the 
former  actual  existence  of  group  marriage,  seems  to  us  to  be 
incontestable.  The  one  most  striking  point  in  regard  to  marriage 
at  the  present  day  is  that  a  man  of  one  group  is  absolutely  con- 


480  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

fined  in  his  choice  of  a  wife  to  women  of  a  particular  group,  and 
that  it  is  lawful  for  him  to  marry  any  woman  of  that  group. 
When  once  he  has  secured  a  woman  she  is  his  private  property, 
but  he  may,  and  often  does,  lend  her  to  other  men,  but  only  if 
they  belong  to  his  own  group.  Further  still,  the  natives  have 
two  distinct  words  to  denote  on  the  one  hand  surreptitious  con- 
nection between  a  man  and  a  woman  who  is  not  his  own  wife, 
but  belongs  to  the  proper  group  from  which  his  wife  comes,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  connection  between  a  man  and  a  woman  belong- 
ing to  forbidden  groups.  The  first  is  called  Atna-nylkna,  the 
second  is  Iturka.  In  the  face  of  the  facts  which  have  been 
brought  forward,  we  see  no  possible  explanation  other  than  that 
the  present  system  is  derived  from  an  earlier  one  in  which  the 
essential  feature  was  actual  group  marriage. 

When  we  turn  to  the  Urabunna  tribe  we  find  the  evidence 
still  clearer.  Here  we  have  only  two  classes,  viz.,  Matthurie  and 
Kirarawa.  A  Matthurie  man  marries  a  Kirarawa  woman,  and 
vice  versa.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  individual  wife.  Every 
Matthurie  man  stands  in  the  relationship  of  Nupa  to  a  group  of 
Kirarawa  women,  and  they  are,  in  the  same  way,  Nupa  to  him. 
Every  man  has,  or  at  least  may  have,  one  or  more  of  these  Nupa 
women  allotted  to  him  as  wives,  and  to  whom  he  has  the  first  but 
not  the  exclusive  right  of  access.  To  certain  Nupa  women  other 
than  his  own  wives  he  stands  in  the  relationship  of  Piraungaru, 
and  they  to  him.  These  Piraungaru  are  the  wives  of  other  men 
of  his  own  group,  just  as  his  own  wives  are  Piraungaru  to 
some  of  the  latter  men,  and  we  thus  find  in  the  Urabunna  tribe 
that  a  group  of  women  actually  have  marital  relations  with  a 
group  of  men.  Westermarck  has  referred  in  his  work  to  what 
he  calls  "the  pretended  group-marriages"  of  the  Australians. 
In  the  case  of  the  Urabunna  there  is  no  pretence  of  any  kind, 
and  exactly  the  same  remark  holds  true  of  the  neighbouring 
Dieri  tribe 

It  must  be  remembered,  of  course,  that  any  one  woman  may  be 
Piraungaru  to  a  larger  number  of  men  than  the  two  who  are 
represented  in  the  diagram.  The  relation  of  Piraungaru  is 
established  between  any  woman  and  men  to  whom  she  is  Nupa — 
that  is,  to  whom  she  may  be  lawfully  married  by  her  Nuthie  or 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  481 

elder  brothers.  If  a  group  be  camped  together,  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact  groups  of  individuals  who  are  Piraungaru  to  one  another 
do  usually  camp  together,  then  in  the  case  of  Fi,  her  special 
Nupa  man  Mi  has  the  first  right  to  her,  but  if  he  be  absent  then 
M2  and  M3  have  the  right  to  her;  or,  if  Mi  be  present,  the  two 
have  the  right  to  her  subject  to  his  consent,  which  is  practically 
never  withheld.1 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  system  can  be  regarded  other- 
wise than  as  an  interesting  stage  in  the  transition  from  group  to 
individual  marriage.  Each  woman  has  one  special  individual 
who  has  the  first  right  of  access  to  her,  but  she  has  also  a  number 
of  individuals  of  the  same  group  who  have  a  right  to  her  either, 
if  the  first  man  be  present,  with  his  consent  or,  in  his  absence, 
without  any  restriction  whatever. 

In  this  tribe,  just  as  in  all  the  others,  connection  with  women 
of  the  wrong  group  is  a  most  serious  offence,  punishable  by  death 
or  very  severe  treatment. 

The  evidence  in  favour  of  the  third  grade,  that  is  the  exist- 
ence of  wider  marital  relations  than  those  indicated  by  the  form 
of  group  marriage  which  has  just  been  discussed,  is  naturally 
more  indefinite  and  difficult  to  deal  with.  Westermarck,  after 
having  discussed  at  length  the  hypothesis  of  promiscuity,  says : 
"Having  now  examined  all  the  groups  of  social  phenomena  ad- 
duced as  evidence  for  the  hypothesis  of  promiscuity,  we  have 
found  that,  in  point  of  fact,  they  are  no  evidence.  Not  one  of 
the  customs  alleged  as  relics  of  an  ancient  state  of  indiscriminate 
cohabitation  of  the  sexes  or  'communal  marriage'  presupposes 
the  former  existence  of  that  state,"  and  further  on  he  says: 
"It  is  not,  of  course,  impossible  that,  among  some  people,  inter- 
course between  the  sexes  may  have  been  almost  promiscuous. 
But  there  is  not  a  shred  of  genuine  evidence  for  the  notion  that 
promiscuity  ever  formed  a  general  stage  in  the  social  history 
of  mankind." 

It  need  scarcely  be  pointed  out  how  totally  opposed  this  con- 
clusion of  Mr.  Westermarck's  is  to  that  arrived  at  by  other 
workers,  and  we  think  there  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  Mr. 

1 A  diagram  is  here  omitted.     M^^male,   F.=female 


482  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

• 

Westermarck  is  in  error  with  regard  to  the  question  of  group 
marriage  amongst  the  Australian  natives. 

We  are  here  simply  concerned  with  the  question  as  to  whether 
there  is  any  evidence  in  favour  of  the  supposition  that  in  former 
times  there  existed  wider  marital  relations  amongst  the  Australian 
natives  than  is  indicated  in  the  system  of  group  marriage,  the 
evidence  in  favour  of  which  has  been  dealt  with.  If  any  were 
forthcoming,  there  can  be  little  doubt  but  that,  a  priori,  we  should 
expect  to  find  it  in  the  nature  of  what  we  have  called  a  rudi- 
mentary custom,  such  as  might  be  met  with  at  the  actual  time  of 
marriage,  that  is,  when  a  woman  is  handed  over  to  become  the 
possession  of  one  man.  None  of  the  hypotheses  brought  forward 
by  Westermarck  to  explain  the  customs  on  this  occasion  can,  we 
think,  be  considered  as  at  all  satisfactory  in  regard  to  those  of 
the  tribes  with  which  we  are  dealing.  The  one  striking  feature 
of  the  marriage  customs  is  that  particular  men  representative  of 
the  woman's  own  moiety,  and  of  the  half  of  the  tribe  to  which 
she  does  not  belong,  have  access  to  her,  and  always  in  a  particu- 
lar order,  according  to  which  those  who,  in  the  present  state  of 
the  tribe,  have  lawfully  the  right  to  her  come  last. 

These  customs,  together  with  the  one  already  dealt  with, 
referring  to  a  general  intercourse  during  the  performance  of 
certain  corrobborees  are,  it  appears  to  us,  only  capable  of  any 
satisfactory  explanation  on  the  hypothesis  that  they  indicate  the 
temporary  recognition  of  certain  general  rights  which  existed 
in  the  time  prior  to  that  of  the  form  of  group  marriage  of  which 
we  have  such  clear  traces  yet  lingering  amongst  the  tribes.  We 
do  not  mean  that  they  afford  direct  evidence  of  the  former 
existence  of  actual  promiscuity,  but  they  do  afford  evidence 
leading  in  that  direction,  and  they  certainly  point  back  to  a  time 
when  there  existed  wider  marital  relations  than  obtain  at  the 
present  day — wider,  in  fact,  than  those  which  are  shown  in  the 
form  of  group  marriage  from  which  the  present  system  is  derived. 
On  no  other  hypothesis  yet  advanced  do  the  customs  connected 
with  marriage,  which  are  so  consistent  in  their  general  nature 
and  leading  features  from  tribe  to  tribe,  appear  to  us  to  be 
capable  of  satisfactory  explanation. — SPENCER  AND  GILLEN, 
Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  61-65;  91-111. 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  483 

POLYANDRY  AMONG  THE  TODAS 

....  The  Todas  have  a  completely  organised  and  definite 
system  of  polyandry.  When  a  woman  marries  a  man,  it  is  under- 
stood that  she  becomes  the  wife  of  his  brothers  at  the  same  time. 
When  a  boy  is  married  to  a  girl,  not  only  are  his  brothers  usually 
regarded  as  also  the  husbands  of  the  girl,  but  any  brother  born 
later  will  similarly  be  regarded  as  sharing  his  older  brothers' 
rights. 

In  the  vast  majority  of  polyandrous  marriages  at  the  present 
time,  the  husbands  are  own  brothers.  A  glance  through  the 
genealogies  will  show  the  great  frequency  of  polyandry,  and  that 
in  nearly  every  case  the  husbands  are  own  brothers.  In  a  few 
cases  in  which  the  husbands  are  not  own  brothers,  they  are  clan 
brothers,  i.  e.,  they  belong  to  the  same  clan  and  are  of  the  same 
generation 

There  is  only  one  instance  recorded  in  the  genealogies  in 
which  a  woman  had  at  the  same  time  husbands  belonging  to 
different  clans,  ....  and  in  this  case  the  men  were  half- 
brothers  by  the  same  mother,  the  fathers  being  of  different  clans. 
While  I  was  on  the  hills,  there  was  a  project  on  foot  that  three 
unmarried  youths  belonging  to  three  different  clans  should  have 
a  wife  in  common,  but  the  project  was  frustrated  and  the  mar- 
riage did  not  take  place. 

It  is  possible  that  at  one  time  the  polyandry  of  the  Todas 
was  not  so  strictly  'fraternal'  as  it  is  at  present,  and  it  is  per- 
haps in  favour  of  this  possibility  that  in  the  instance  of  polyandry 
given  by  Harkness  the  husbands  were  obviously  not  own  brothers. 
It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  this  case  came  to  the 
notice  of  Captain  Harkness  because  the  polyandry  had  led  to 
disputes,  and,  as  we  shall  see  shortly  it  is  in  those  cases  of  poly- 
andry in  which  the  husbands  are  not  own  brothers  that  disputes 
arise. 

The  arrangement  of  family  life  in  the  case  of  a  polyandrous 
marriage  differs  according  as  the  husbands  are,  or  are  not,  own 
brothers. 

In  the  former  case  it  seemed  that  there  is  never  any  diffi- 
culty, and  that  disputes  never  arise.  The  brothers  live  together, 


484  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  my  informants  seemed  to  regard  it  as  a  ridiculous  idea  that 
there  should  ever  be  disputes  or  jealousies  of  the  kind  that  might 
be  expected  in  such  a  household.  When  the  wife  becomes  preg- 
nant, the  eldest  brother  performs  the  ceremony  of  giving  the  bow 
and  arrow,  but  the  brothers  are  all  equally  regarded  as  the 
fathers  of  the  child.  If  one  of  the  brothers  leaves  the  rest  and 
sets  up  an  establishment  of  his  own,  it  appeared,  however,  that 
he  might  lose  his  right  to  be  regarded  as  the  father  of  the 
children. 

If  a  man  is  asked  the  name  of  his  father,  he  usually  gives  the 
name  of  one  man  only,  even  when  he  is  the  offspring  of  a  poly- 
androus  marriage.  I  endeavoured  to  ascertain  why  the  name  of 
one  father  only  should  so  often  be  given,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that 
there  is  no  one  reason  for  the  preference.  Often  one  of  the 
fathers  is  more  prominent  and  influential  than  the  others,  and 
it  is  natural  in  such  cases  that  the  son  should  speak  of  himself 
as  the  son  of  the  more  important  member  of  the  community. 
Again,  if  only  one  of  the  fathers  of  a  man  is  alive,  the  man  will 
always  speak  of  the  living  person  as  his  father;  thus  Siriar  (20) 
always  spoke  of  Ircheidi  as  his  father,  and  even  after  Ircheidi  is 
dead,  it  seems  probable  that  he  will  so  have  fallen  into  the  cus- 
tom of  speaking  of  the  latter  as  his  father  that  he  will  continue 
to  do  so,  and  it  will  only  be  when  his  attention  is  especially 
directed  to  the  point  that  he  will  say  that  Madbeithi  was  also  his 
father. 

In  most  of  the  genealogies,  the  descent  is  traced  from  some 
one  man,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  this  man  was 
usually  only  one  of  several  brothers,  and  the  probable  reason 
why  one  name  only  is  remembered  is  that  this  name  was  that  of 
an  important  member  of  the  community,  or  of  the  last  survivor 
of  the  brother-husbands. 

When  the  husbands-  are  not  own  brothers,  the  arrangements 
become  more  complicated.  When  the  husbands  live  together  as 
if  they  were  own  brothers  there  is  rarely  any  difficulty.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  husbands  live  at  different  villages,  the  usual 
rule  is  that  the  wife  shall  life  with  each  husband  in  turn,  usually 
for  a  month  at  a  time,  but  there  is  very  considerable  elasticity  in 
the  arrangement. 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  485 

It  is  in  respect  of  the  'fatherhood'  of  the  children  in  these 
cases  of  non-fraternal  polyandry  that  we  meet  with  the  most 
interesting  feature  of  Toda  social  regulations.  When  the  wife 
of  two  or  more  husbands  (not  own  brothers)  becomes  pregnant, 
it  is  arranged  that  one  of  the  husbands  shall  perform  the  cere- 
mony of  giving  the  bow  and  arrow.  The  husband  who  carries 
out  this  ceremony  is  the  father  of  the  child  for  all  social  pur- 
poses ;  the  child  belongs  to  the  clan  of  this  husband  if  the  clans 
of  the  husbands  differ  and  to  the  family  of  this  husband  if  the 
families  only  differ.  When  the  wife  again  becomes  pregnant, 
another  husband  may  perform  the  pursiitpimi  ceremony,  and  if 
so,  this  husband  becomes  the  father  of  the  child ;  but  more  com- 
monly the  pursiitpimi  ceremony  is  not  performed  at  all  during 
the  second  pregnancy,  and  in  this  case  the  second  child  belongs 
to  the  first  husband,  i.  e.,  to  the  husband  who  has  already  given 
the  bow  and  arrow.  Usually  it  is  arranged  that  the  first  two 
or  three  children  shall  belong  to  the  first  husband,  and  that  at  a 
succeeding  pregnancy  (third  or  fourth),  another  husband  shall 
give  the  bow  and  arrow,  and,  in  consequence,  become  the  father 
not  only  of  that  child,  but  of  all  succeeding  children  till  some 
one  else  gives  the  bow  and  arrow. 

The  fatherhood  of  a  child  depends  entirely  on  the  pursiitpimi 
ceremony,  so  much  so  that  a  dead  man  is  regarded  as  the  father 
of  a  child  if  no  other  man  has  performed  the  essential  ceremony. 

In  the  only  case  in  the  genealogies  in  which  the  husbands  of 
a  woman  were  of  different  clans,  it  happened  there  were  only 
two  children,  and  that  one  father  gave  the  bow  and  arrow  for 
the  first  child  and  the  other  for  the  second. 

If  the  husbands  separate,  each  husband  takes  with  him  those 
children  who  are  his  by  virtue  of  the  pursiitpimi  ceremony. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  the  close  association  of  the 
polyandry  of  the  Todas  with  female  infanticide.  As  we  have 
seen,  the  Todas  now  profess  to  have  completely  given  up  the 
practice  of  killing  their  female  children,  but  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that  the  practice  is  still  in  vogue  to  some  extent.  It  has 
certainly,  however,  diminished  in  frequency,  and  the  consequent 
increase  in  the  proportion  of  women  is  leading  to  some  modifi- 
cation in  the  associated  polyandry. 


486  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

It  has  been  stated  by  most  of  those  who  have  written  about 
the  Todas  that  the  custom  of  polyandry  is  dying  out,  but  a 
glance  at  the  genealogies  will  show  that  the  institution  is  in  full 
working  order  even  in  the  case  of  the  infant  marriages  which 
are  being  contracted  at  the  present  time.  There  is,  however, 
some  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  now  less  frequent  for  all  the 
brothers  of  a  family  to  have  one  wife  only  in  common.  A  study 
of  the  genealogies  shows  that  often  each  brother  has  his  own 
wife,  or  that  several  brothers  have  more  than  one  wife  between 
them.  It  seemed  to  me,  however,  almost  certain  that  in  these 
cases  the  brothers  have  the  wives  in  common.  In  compiling  the 
genealogies,  one  informant  would  give  me  the  names  of  two  or 
more  brothers  each  with  one  wife,  while  another  would  give  me 
the  name  of  one  brother  with  two  or  three  wives,  and  would 
say  that  the  other  brothers  had  the  same  wives.  When  I  pointed 
out  the  discrepancy  and  asked  which  was  the  true  account,  they 
usually  said  it  made  no  difference  and  were  almost  contemptuous 
because  I  seemed  to  think  that  there  was  any  disagreement 
between  the  two  versions.  I  think  it  probable  that  it  has  become 
less  frequent  for  several  brothers  to  have  only  one  wife  in  com- 
mon, but  I  am  very  doubtful  whether  this  indicates  any  real 
decrease  in  the  prevalence  of  polyandry. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  correct  way  of  describing  the  present 
condition  of  Toda  society  is  to  say  that  polyandry  is  as  prevalent 
as  ever,  but  that,  owing  to  the  greater  number  of  women,  it  is 
becoming  associated  with  polygyny.  When  there  are  two  broth- 
ers it  does  not  seem  that  each  takes  a  wife  for  himself,  but  rather 
that  they  take  two  wives  in  common. 

....  From  the  foregoing  account  it  appears  that  a  woman 
may  have  one  or  more  recognised  lovers  as  well  as  several  hus- 
bands. From  the  account  given  of  the  dairy  ritual,  it  appears 
that  she  may  also  have  sexual  relations  with  dairymen  of  vari- 
ous grades — that,  for  instance,  the  wursol,  on  the  nights  when 
he  sleeps  in  the  hut,  may  be  the  lover  of  any  Tarthar  girl.  Fur- 
ther, there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  there  is  little  restriction  of 
any  kind  on  sexual  intercourse.  I  was  assured  by  several  Todas 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  487 

not  only  that  adultery  was  no  motive  for  divorce,  but  that  it  was 
in  no  way  regarded  as  wrong.  It  seemed  clear  that  there  is  no 
word  for  adultery  in  the  Toda  language.  My  interpreter,  Sam- 
uel, had  translated  the  Commandments  shortly  before  my  visit, 
and  only  discovered  while  working  with  me  that  the  expression 
he  had  used  in  translating  the  seventh  Commandment  really  bore 
a  very  different  meaning. 

When  a  word  for  a  concept  is  absent  in  any  language  it  by 
no  means  follows  that  the  concept  has  not  been  developed,  but 
in  this  case  I  have  little  doubt  that  there  is  no  definite  idea  in  the 
mind  of  the  Toda  corresponding  to  that  denoted  by  our  word 
'adultery.'  Instead  of  adultery  being  regarded  as  immoral,  I 
rather  suspected,  though  I  could  not  satisfy  myself  on  the  point, 
that,  according  to  the  Toda  idea,  immorality  attaches  rather  to 
the  man  who  grudges  his  wife  to  another.  One  group  of  those 
who  experience  difficulty  in  getting  to  the  next  world  after  death 
are  the  kashtvainol,  or  grudging  people,  and  I  believe  this  term 
includes  those  who  would  in  a  more  civilised  community  be 
plaintiffs  in  the  divorce  court. 

In  nearly  every  known  community,  whether  savage,  bar- 
barous or  civilised,  there  is  found  to  exist  a  deeply  rooted 
antipathy  to  sexual  intercourse  between  brother  and  sister.  In 
savage  communities  where  kinship  is  of  the  classificatory  kind, 
this  antipathy  extends  not  only  to  the  children  of  one  mother, 
but  to  all  those  who  are  regarded  as  brothers  and  sisters  because 
they  are  members  of  the  same  clan  or  other  social  unit.  In  some 
communities,  such  as  those  of  Torres  Straits,  this  antipathy  may 
extend  to  relatives  as  remote  as  those  we  call  second  and  third 
cousins,  so  long  as  descent  through  the  male  line  from  a  com- 
mon ancestor  and  membership  of  the  same  clan  lead  people  to 
regard  one  another  as  brother  and  sister. 

It  is  very  doubtful  whether  this  widespread,  almost  universal 
abhorrence  is  shared  by  the  Toclas.  I  was  told  that  members 
of  the  same  clan  might  have  intercourse  with  one  another,  and 
in  the  preliminary  ceremony  for  the  office  of  palol,  a  special  part 
was  taken  by  a  woman  who  possessed  the  qualification  that  she 
had  never  had  intercourse  with  a  man  of  her  own  clan,  and  it 
was  said  it  was  far  from  easv  to  find  such  a  woman.  When  I 


488  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

collected  this  information,  it  seemed  clear  that  this  meant  that 
a  woman  who,  before  marriage  had  belonged  to  a  given  clan, 
had  never  had  intercourse  with  a  man  of  that  clan.  But  since 
a  woman  joins  the  clan  of  her  husband,  and  since,  marriage 
taking  place  at  an  early  age,  the  woman  belongs  to  her  hus- 
band's clan  from  this  early  age,  it  has  since  occurred  to  me  that  an 
alternative  explanation  of  the  restriction  is  possible,  though  it 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  likely.  It  is  possible  that  what  is 
meant  is  that  the  woman  should  never  have  had  intercourse  with 
any  of  her  husband's  clan  except  those  who  are  properly  her 
husbands.  If  this  explanation  were  the  correct  one,  the  prohi- 
bition would  seem  to  be  directed  against  practices  resembling 
communal  marriage,  and  would  be  interesting  evidence  in  favour 
of  the  existence  of  this  type  of  marriage,  since  there  are  no 
prohibitions  against  what  does  not  exist  nor  has  ever  existed. 
As  I  have  said,  however,  I  think  it  very  unlikely  that  the  pro- 
hibition is  to  be  interpreted  in  this  way,  but  I  regret  very  greatly 
that  it  did  not  occur  to  me  to  inquire  carefully  into  this  point  on 
the  spot. 

So  far  as  I  could  tell,  the  laxity  in  sexual  matters  is  equally 
great  before  and  after  marriage.  If  a  girl  who  has  been  married 
in  infancy,  but  has  not  yet  joined  her  husband,  should  become 
pregnant,  the  husband  would  be  called  upon  to  give  the  bow  and 
arrow  at  the  pursiltpimi  ceremony  and  would  be  the  father  of  the 
child,  even  if  he  were  still  a  young  boy,  or  if  it  were  known 
that  he  was  not  the  father  of  the  child.  I  only  heard  of  one 
case  in  recent  times  in  which  an  unmarried  girl  had  become 
pregnant.  In  this  case  a  man  who  was  a  matchuni  of  the 
woman  was  called  in  to  give  the  bow  and  arrow,  but  he  did  not 
regard  himself  as  married  to  the  woman  and  did  not  live  with 
her.  That  some  stigma  was  attached  to  the  occurrence  may 
possibly  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  this  woman  remained  un- 
married for  some  years,  and  then  only  married  a  man  who  was 
certainly  below  the  general  standard  of  the  Todas  in  intelli- 
gence. The  child,  a  daughter,  of  the  woman  died  soon  after 
birth,  so  that  I  had  no  chance  of  ascertaining  whether  the  irregu- 
larity of  her  birth  would  have  had  any  influence  on  her  position 
in  Toda  society.  If,  however,  a  child  is  born  without  the  pur- 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  489 

siitpiyii  ceremony  having  been  performed,  it  is  called  padmokh 
and  an  indelible  disgrace  attaches  to  it  throughout  life. 

From  any  point  of  view,  and  certainly  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  savage,  the  sexual  morality  of  the  Todas  among  them- 
selves is  very  low.  It  is  an  interesting  subject  of  speculation 
how  far  this  laxity  is  the  result  of  the  practice  of  polyandry,  for 
since  low  sexual  morality  brings  in  its  train  various  factors 
which  tend  to  sterility,  we  may  have  here,  as  Mr.  Punnett  has 
suggested  elsewhere,  a  reason  why  polyandry  is  so  rare  a  form 
of  marriage.  The  practice  of  polyandry  must  almost  inevitably 
weaken  the  sentiment  of  possession  on  the  part  of  the  man  which 
does  so  much  to  maintain  the  more  ordinary  forms  of  marriage. 
— W.  H.  R.  RIVERS,  The  Todas,  515-32  (Macmillan,  1904). 

MARRIAGE  BY  PURCHASE  AND  LIBERTY  OF  CHOICE 

....  Among  most  existing  uncivilized  peoples  a  man  has, 
in  some  way  or  other,  to  give  compensation  for  his  bride.  Mar- 
riage by  capture  has  been  succeeded  by  marriage  by  purchase. 

The  simplest  way  of  purchasing  a  wife  is  no  doubt  to  give 
a  kinswoman  in  exchange  for  her.  "The  Australian  male," 
says  Mr.  Curr,  "almost  invariably  obtains  his  wife  or  wives, 
either  as  the  survivor  of  a  married  brother,  or  in  exchange  for 
his  sisters,  or  later  on  in  life  for  his  daughters."  A  similar  ex- 
change is  sometimes  effected  in  Sumatra. 

Much  more  common  is  the  custom  of  obtaining  a  wife  by 
services  rendered  to  her  father.  The  man  goes  to  live  with  the 
family  of  the  girl  for  a  certain  time,  during  which  he  works  as  a 
servant.  This  practice,  with  which  Hebrew  tradition  has  familiar- 
ized us,  is  widely  diffused  among  the  uncivilized  races  of  America, 
Africa,  Asia,  and  the  Indian  Archipelago.  Often  it  is  only  those 
men  who  are  too  poor  to  pay  cash  that  serve  in  the  father-in- 
law's  house  till  they  have  given  an  equivalent  in  labour;  but 
sometimes  not  even  money  can  save  the  bridegroom  from  this 
sort  of  servitude.  In  some  cases  he  has  to  serve  his  time  before 
he  is  allowed  to  marry  the  girl ;  in  others  he  gets  her  in  advance. 
Again,  among  several  peoples,  already  mentioned,  the  man  goes 
over  to  the  woman's  family  or  tribe  to  live  there  for  ever ;  but 
Dr.  Starcke  suggests  that  this  custom  has  a  different  origin 


490  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

from  the  other,  being  an  expression  of  the  strong  clan  sentiment, 
and  not  a  question  of  gain. 

According  to  Mr.  Spencer,  the  obtaining  of  wives  by  services 
rendered,  instead  of  by  property  paid,  constitutes  a  higher  form 
of  marriage  and  is  developed  along  with  the  industrial  type 
of  society.  "This  modification,"  he  says,  "practicable  with  diffi- 
culty among  rude  predatory  tribes,  becomes  more  practicable  as 
there  arise  established  industries  affording  spheres  in  which  serv- 
ices may  be  rendered."  But  it  should  be  noticed  that,  even  at 
a  very  low  stage  of  civilization,  a  man  may  help  his  father-in-law 
in  fishing  and  hunting,  whilst  industrial  work  promotes  accumu- 
lation of  property,  and  consequently  makes  it  easier  for  the  man 
to  acquire  his  wife  by  real  purchase.  We  find  also  the  practice 
of  serving  for  wives  prevalent  among  such  rude  races  as  the 
Fuegians  and  the  Bushmans ;  and,  in  the  'Eyrbyggja  Saga,'  Vig- 
styr  says  to  the  berserk  Halli,  who  asked  for  the  hand  of  his 
daughter  Asdi,  "As  you  are  a  poor  man,  I  shall  do  as  the  ancients 
did  and  let  you  deserve  your  marriage  by  hard  work."  It  seems, 
then,  almost  probable  that  marriage  by  services  is  a  more  archaic 
form  than  marriage  by  purchase ;  but  generally  they  occur  simul- 
taneously. 

The  most  common  compensation  for  a  bride  is  property  paid 
to  her  owner.  Her  price  varies  indefinitely.  A  pretty,  healthy, 
and  able-bodied  girl  commands  of  course  a  better  price  than  one 
who  is  ugly  and  weak ;  a  girl  of  rank,  a  better  price  than  one  who 
is  mean  and  poor ;  a  virgin,  generally  a  better  than  a  widow  or  a 
repudiated  wife.  Among  the  Calfornian  Karok,  for  instance,  a 
wife  is  seldom  purchased  for  less  than  half  a  string  of  dentalium 
shell,  but  "when  she  belongs  to  an  aristocratic  family,  is  pretty, 
and  skilful  in  making  acorn-bread  and  weaving  baskets,  she 
sometimes  costs  as  high  as  two  strings.  The  bride-price,  however, 
varies  most  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  parties,  and 
according  to  the  value  set  on  female  labour.  In  British  Colum- 
bia and  Vancouver  Island,  the  value  of  the  articles  given  for  the 
bride  ranges  from  £20  to  £40  sterling.  The  Indians  of  Oregon 
buy  their  wives  for  horses,  blankets,  or  buffalo  robes.  Among 
the  Shastika  in  California,  "a  wife  is  purchased  of  her  father  for 
shell-money  or  horses,  ten  or  twelve  cayuse  ponies  being  paid 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  491 

for  a  maid  of  great  attractions."  Again,  the  Navajos  of  New 
Mexico  consider  twelve  horses  so  exorbitant  a  price  for  a  wife, 
that  it  is  paid  only  for  "one  possessing  unusual  qualifications, 
such  as  beauty,  industry,  and  skill  in  their  necessary  employ- 
ments ;"  and  the  Patagonians  give  mares,  horses,  or  silver  orna- 
ments for  the  bride. 

In  Africa,  not  horses  but  cattle  are  considered  the  most  proper 
equivalent  for  a  good  wife.  Among  the  Kafirs,  three,  five,  or 
ten  cows  are  a  low  price,  twenty  or  thirty  a  rather  high ;  but, 
according  to  Barrow,  a  man  frequently  obtained  a  wife  for  an 
ox  or  a  couple  of  cows.  The  Demaras  are  so  poor  a  people  that 
they  are  often  glad  to  take  one  cow  for  a  daughter.  Among  the 
Banyai,  many  heads  of  cattle  or  goats  are  given  to  induce  the 
parents  of  the  girl  "to  give  her  up,"  as  it  is  termed,  i.  e.,  to 
forego  all  claim  on  her  offspring,  for  if  nothing  is  given,  the 
family  from  which  she  comes  can  claim  the  children  as  part  of 
itself.  In  Uganda,  the  ordinary  price  of  a  wife  is  either  three 
or  four  bullocks,  six  sewing  needles,  or  a  small  box  of  per- 
cussion caps,  but  Mr.  Wilson  was  often  offered  one  in  exchange 
for  a  coat  or  a  pair  of  shoes.  In  the  Mangoni  country,  two 
skins  of  a  buck  are  considered  a  fair  price,  and  among  the 
Negroes  of  Bondo,  a  goat;  whereas,  among  the  Mandingoes,  as 
we  are  told  by  Caillie,  no  wife  is  to  be  had  otherwise  than  by  the 
presentation  of  slaves  to  the  parents  of  the  mistress. 

The  Chulims  paid  from  five  to  fifty  roubles  for  a  wife,  the 
Turalinzes  usually  from  five  to  ten.  Rich  Bashkirs  pay  some- 
times even  3,000  roubles,  but  the  poorest  may  buy  a  wife  for  a 
cart-load  of  wood  or  hay.  In  Tartary,  parents  sell  a  daughter 
for  some  horses,  oxen,  sheep,  or  pounds  of  butter ;  among  the 
Samoyedes  and  Ostyaks,  for  a  certain  number  of  reindeer. 
Among  the  Indian  Kisans,  "two  baskets  of  rice  and  a  rupee  in 
cash  constitute  the  compensatory  offering  given  to  the  parents 
of  the  girl."  Among  the  Mishmis,  a  rich  man  gives  for  a  wife 
twenty  mithuns  (a  kind  of  oxen),  but  a  poor  man  can  get  a  wife 
for  a  pig.  In  Timor-laut,  according  to  Mr.  Forbes,  "no  wife  can 
be  purchased  without  elephants'  tusks."  In  the  Caroline  Islands, 
"the  man  makes  a  present  to  the  father  of  the  girl  whom  he 
marries,  consisting  of  fruits,  fish,  and  similar  things ;"  in  Samoa, 


492  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  bride-price  included  canoes,  pigs,  and  foreign  property  of  any 
kind  which  might  fall  into  their  hands;  and,  among  the  Fijians, 
"the  usual  price  is  a  whale's  tooth,  or  a  musket." 

Among  some  peoples  marriage  may  take  place  on  credit, 
though,  generally,  the  wife  and  her  children  cannot  leave  the 
parental  home  until  the  price  is  paid  in  full.  In  Unyoro,  accord- 
ing to  Emin  Pasha,  when  a  poor  man  is  unable  to  procure  the 
cattle  required  for  his  marriage  at  once,  he  may,  by  agreement 
with  the  bride's  father,  pay  them  by  instalments;  the  children, 
however,  born  in  the  meantime  belong  to  the  wife's  father,  and 
each  of  them  must  be  redeemed  with  a  cow. 

Marriage  by  exchange  or  purchase  is  not  only  generally  prev- 
alent among  existing  lower  races ;  it  occurs,  or  formerly  occurred, 
among  civilized  nations  as  well.  In  Central  America  and  Peru, 
a  man  had  to  serve  for  his  bride.  In  China,  a  present  is  given 
by  the  father  of  the  suitor,  the  amount  of  which  is  not  left  to  the 
goodwill  of  the  parties,  as  the  term  "present"  would  suggest, 
but  is  exactly  stipulated  for  by  the  negotiators  of  the  marriage ; 
hence,  as  Mr.  Jamieson  remarks,  it  is  no  doubt  a  survival  of  the 
time  when  the  transaction  was  one  of  ordinary  bargain.  In  Japan, 
the  proposed  husband  sends  certain  prescribed  presents  to  his 
future  bride,  and  this  sending  of  presents  forms,  one  of  the  most 
important  parts  of  the  marriage  ceremony.  In  fact,  when  once 
the  presents  have  been  sent  and  accepted,  the  contract  is  com- 
pleted, and  neither  party  can  retract.  Mr.  Kiichler  says  he  has 
been  unable  to  find  out  the  exact  meaning  of  these  presents :  the 
native  books  on  marriage  are  silent  on  the  subject,  and  the 
Japanese  themselves  have  no  other  explanation  to  give  than 
that  the  custom  has  been  handed  down  from  ancient  times.  But 
from  the  facts  recorded  in  the  next  chapter  it  is  evident  that  the 
sending  of  presents  is  a  relic  of  a  previous  custom  of  marrying 
by  purchase.  . 

In  all  branches  of  the  Semitic  race  men  had  to  buy  or  serve 
for  their  wives,  the  "mohar"  or  "mahr"  being  originally  the 
same  as  a  purchase  sum.  In  the  Books  of  Ruth  and  Hosea,  the 
bridegroom  actually  says  that  he  has  bought  the  bride;  and  the 
modern  Jews,  according  to  Michaelis,  have  a  sham  purchase 
among  their  marriage  ceremonies,  which  is  called  "marrying  by 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  493 

the  penny."  In  Mohammedan  countries  marriage  differs  but 
little  from  a  real  purchase.  The  same  custom  prevailed  among 
the  Chaldeans,  Babylonians,  and  Assyrians. 

Speaking  of  the  ancient  Finns,  the  Finnish  philologist  and 
traveller,  Castren,  remarks,  "There  are  many  reasons  for  believ- 
ing that  a  cap  full  of  silver  and  gold  was  one  of  the  best  proxies 
in  wooing  among  our  ancestors."  Evident  traces  of  marriage  by 
purchase  are,  indeed,  found  in  the  'Kalevala'  and  the  'Kantele- 
tar;'  and,  in  parts  of  Finland,  symbols  of  it  are  still  left  in  the 
marriage  ceremony.  Among  the  East  Finnish  peoples,  mar- 
riage by  purchase  exists  even  now,  or  did  so  till  quite  lately. 

Among  the  Aryan  nations,  too,  marriage  was  based  on  the 
purchase  of  the  wife.  The  Hindu  bride,  in  Vedic  times,  had  to 
be  won  by  rich  presents  to  the  future  father-in-law ;  and  one  of 
the  eight  forms  of  marriage  mentioned,  though  disapproved  of, 
by  Manu — the  Asura  form — was  marriage  by  purchase.  Accord- 
ing to  Dubois,  to  marry  and  to  buy  a  wife  are  in  India  synony- 
mous terms,  as  almost  every  parent  makes  his  daughter  an 
article  of  traffic.  Aristotle  tells  us  that  the  ancient  Greeks  were 
in  the  habit  of  purchasing  wives,  and  in  the  Homeric  age  a  maid 
was  called  eU.<£«n73oia,  i.  e.,  one  "who  yields  her  parents  many 
oxen  as  presents  from  her  suitor."  Among  the  Thracians,  ac- 
cording to  Herodotus,  marriage  was  contracted  by  purchase.  So 
also  throughout  Teutonic  antiquity.  The  ancient  Scandinavians 
believed  that  even  the  gods  had  bought  their  wives.  In  Germany, 
the  expression  "to  purchase  a  wife"  was  in  use  till  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  we  find  the  same  term  in  Christian  IV.'s  Nor- 
wegian Law  of  1604.  As  late  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  the  English  preserved  in  their  marriage  ritual  traces  of 
this  ancient  legal  procedure ;  whilst  in  Thuringia,  according  to 
Franz  Schmidt,  the  betrothal  ceremony  even  to  this  day  indicates 
its  former  occurrence. 

Purchase,  as  Dr.  Schrader  remarks,  cannot  with  equal  cer- 
tainty be  established  as  the  oldest  form  of  marriage  on  Roman 
soil.  But  the  symbolical  process  of  coemptio — the  form  of  mar- 
riage among,  the  plebeians — preserved  a  reminiscence  of  the 
original  custom  in  force,  if  not  at  Rome,  at  least  among  the 
ancestors  of  the  Romans.  In  Ireand  and  Wales,  in  ancient 


494  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

times,  the  bride-price  consisted  usually  of  articles  of  gold,  silver, 
and  bronze,  sometimes  even  land.  The  Slavs,  also,  used  to  buy 
their  wives;  and,  among  the  South  Slavonians,  the  custom  of 
purchasing  the  bride  still  partially  prevails,  or  recently  did  so. 
In  Servia,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  price  of 
girls  reached  such  a  height  that  Black  George  limited  it  to  one 
ducat. 

In  spite  of  this  general  prevalence  of  marriage  by  purchase, 
we  have  no  evidence  that  it  is  a  stage  through  which  every  race 
has  passed.  It  must  be  observed,  first,  that  in  sundry  tribes  the 
presents  given  by  the  bridegroom  are  intended  not  exactly  to  com- 
pensate the  parents  for  the  bride,  but  rather  to  dispose  them 
favourably  to  the  match.  Colonel  Dalton  says,  for  example, 
that,  among  the  Padams,  one  of  the  lowest  peoples  of  India,  it 
is  customary  for  a  lover  to  show  his  inclinations  whilst  courting 
by  presenting  his  sweetheart  and  her  parents  with  small  delica- 
cies, such  as  field  mice  and  squirrels,  though  the  parents  seldom 
interfere  with  the  young  couple's  designs,  and  it  would  be  re- 
garded as  an  indelible  disgrace  to  barter  a  child's  happiness  for 
money.  The  Ainos  of  Yesso,  says  Mr.  Bickmore,  "do  not  buy 
their  wives,  but  make  presents  to  the  parents  of  saki,  tobacco, 
and  fish;"  and  the  amount  of  these  gifts  is  never  settled  before- 
hand. The  game  and  fruits  given  by  the  bridegroom  immedi- 
ately before  marriage,  among  the  Puris,  Coroados,  and  Coropos, 
seem  to  v.  Martius  to  be  rather  a  proof  of  his  ability  to  keep  a 
wife  than  a  means  of  exchange ;  whereas  the  more  civilized  tribes 
of  the  Brazilian  aborigines  carry  on  an  actual  trade  in  women. 

Speaking  of  the  Yukonikhotana,  a  tribe  of  Alaska,  Petroff 
states  that  the  custom  of  purchasing  wives  does  not  exist  among 
them.  The  Californian  Wintun,  who  rank  among  the  lower  types 
of  the  race,  generally  pay  nothing  for  their  brides.  The  Niam- 
Niam  and  some  other  African  peoples,  most  of  the  Chittagong 
Hill  tribes,  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  Kola  and  Kobroor,  of 
the  Aru  Archipelago,  who  live  in  trees  or  caves,  and  apparently 
also  the  Andamanese  are  in  the  habit  of  marrying  without  mak- 
ing any  payment  for  the  bride.  Among  the  Veddahs,  according 
to  M.  Le  Mesurier,  no  marriage  presents  are  given  on  either 
side,  but  Mr.  Hartshorne  states  that  "a  marriage  is  attended  with 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  495 

no  ceremony  beyond  the  presentation  of  some  food  to  the  parents 
of  the  bride." 

In  Ponape,  says  Dr.  Finsch,  marriage  is  not  based  on  pur- 
chase ;  but  this  is  contrary  to  the  general  custom  in  the  Carolines, 
as  also  in  the  adjacent  Pelew  Islands,  where  women  are  bought 
as  wives  by  means  of  presents  to  the  father.  In  the  Kingsmill 
Group,  according  to  Wilkes,  "a  wife  is  never  bought,  but  it  is 
generally  supposed  that  each  party  will  contribute  something 
towards  the  household  stock."  With  regard  to  the  Hawaiians, 
Ellis  remarks,  "We  are  not  aware  that  the  parents  of  the  woman 
received  anything  from  the  husband,  or  gave  any  dowry  with  the 
wife."  And  Mr.  Aiigas  even  asserts  that  the  practice  of  pur- 
chasing wives  is  not  generally  adopted  in  Polynesia.  But  this 
statement  is  doubtful,  as,  at  least  in  Samoa,  Tahiti,  Naukahiva, 
the  bridegroom  gains  the  bride  by  presents  to  her  father.  And 
in  Melanesia  marriage  by  purchase  is  certainly  universal.  Among 
the  South  Australian  Kurnai,  according  to  Mr.  Howitt,  mar- 
riages were  brought  about  "most  frequently  by  elopement,  less 
frequently  by  capture,  and  least  frequently  by  exchange  or  by 
gift." 

Purchase  of  wives  may,  with  even  more  reason  than  marriage 
by  capture,  be  said  to  form  a  general  stage  in  the  social  history 
of  man.  Although  the  two  practices  often  occur  simultaneously, 
the  former  has,  as  a  rule,  succeeded  the  latter,  as  barter  in  gen- 
eral has  followed  upon  robbery.  The  more  recent  character  of 
marriage  by  purchase  appears  clearly  from  the  fact  that  mar- 
riage by  capture  frequently  occurs  as  a  symbol  where  marriage 
by  purchase  occurs  as  a  reality.  Moreover,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  barter  and  commerce  are  comparatively  late  inven- 
tions of  man. 

Dr.  Peschel,  indeed,  contends  that  barter  existed  in  those 
ages  in  which  we  find  the  earliest  signs  of  our  race.  But  we 
have  no  evidence  that  it  was  in  this  way  that  the  cave-dwellers 
of  Perigord,  of  the  rein-deer  period,  obtained  the  rock  crystals, 
the  Atlantic  shells,  and  the  horns  of  the  Polish  Saiga  antelope, 
which  have  been  found  in  their  settlements ;  and  we  may  not,  in 
any  case,  conclude  that  "commerce  has  existed  in  all  ages,  and 
among  all  inhabitants  of  the  world."  There  are  even  in  modern 


496  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

times  instances  of  savage  peoples  who  seem  to  have  a  very  vague 
idea  of  barter,  or  perhaps  none  at  all.  Concerning  certain  Solo- 
mon Islanders,  Labillardiere  states,  "We  could  not  learn  whether 
these  people  are  in  the  habit  of  making  exchanges;  but  it  is  very 
certain  that  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  obtain  anything  from 
them  in  this  way ;  .  .  .  .  yet  they  were  very  eager  to  receive 
everything  we  gave  them."  For  some  time  after  Captain  Wed- 
dell  began  to  associate  with  the  Fuegians,  they  gave  him  any 
small  article  he  expressed  a  wish  for,  without  asking  any  return ; 
but  afterwards  they  "acquired  an  idea  of  barter."  Nor  did  the 
Australians  whom  Cook  saw,  and  the  Patagonians  visited  by 
Captain  Wallis  in  1766,  understand  traffic,  though  they  now 
understand  it.  Again,  with  regard  to  the  Andamanese  Mr.  Man 
remarks,  "They  set  no  fixed  value  on  their  various  properties, 
and  rarely  make  or  procure  anything  with  the  express  object  of 
disposing  of  it  in  barter.  Apparently  they  prefer  to  regard  their 
transactions  as  presentations,  for  their  mode  of  negotiating  is  to 
gvue  such  objects  as  are  desired  by  another  in  the  hope  of  receiv- 
ing in  return  something  for  which  they  have  expressed  a  wish,  it 
being  tacitly  understood  that,  unless  otherwise  mentioned  before- 
hand, no  'present'  is  to  be  accepted  without  an  equivalent  being 
rendered.  The  natural  consequence  of  this  system  is  that  most 
of  the  quarrels  which  so  frequently  occur  among  them  originate 
in  failure  on  the  part  of  the  recipient  in  making  such  a  return  as 
had  been  confidently  expected."  It  must  also  be  noted  that  those 
uncivilized  peoples  among  whom  marriage  by  purchase  does  not 
occur  are,  for  the  most  part,  exceedingly  rude  races. 

As  M.  Koenigswarter  and  Mr.  Spencer  have  suggested,  the 
transition  from  marriage  by  capture  to  marriage  by  purchase  was 
probably  brought  about  in  the  following  way:  abduction,  in  spite 
of  parents,  was  the  primary  form  ;  then  there  came  the  offering  of 
compensation  to  escape  vengeance,  and  this  grew  eventually  into 
the  making  of  presents  beforehand.  Thus,  among  the  Ahts, 
according  to  Mr.  Sproat,  when  a  man  steals  a  wife,  a  purchase 
follows,  "as  the  friends  of  the  woman  must  be  pacified  with 
presents."  In  New  Guinea,  and  Bali,  as  also  among  the  Chuk- 
mas  and  Araucanians,  it  often  happens  that  the  bridegroom 
carries  off,  or  elopes  with,  his  bride,  and  afterwards  pays  a  com- 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  497 

pensation-price  to  her  parents.  Among  the  Bodo  and  Mech, 
who  still  preserve  the  form  of  forcible  abduction  in  their  mar- 
riage ceremony,  the  successful  lover,  after  having  captured  the 
girl,  gives  a  feast  to  the  bride's  friends  and  with  a  present  con- 
ciliates the  father,  who  is  supposed  to  be  incensed.  The  same  is 
reported  of  the  Maoris,  whilst  among  the  Tangutans,  according 
to  Prejevalsky,  the  ravisher  who  has  stolen  his  neighbour's 
wife  pays  the  husband  a  good  sum  as  compensation,  but  keeps 
the  wife. 

It  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  in  this  connection  that,  among 
certain  peoples,  the  price  of  the  bride  is  paid  not  to  the  father, 
but  to  some  other  nearly  related  person,  especially  an  uncle,  or  to 
some  other  relatives  as  well  as  to  the  father.  In  any  case  the 
price  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  compensation  for  the  loss  sustained 
in  the  giving  up  of  the  girl,  and  as  a  remuneration  for  the 
expenses  incurred  in  her  maintenance  till  the  time  of  her  mar- 
riage. Sometimes,  as  among  several  negro  peoples,  daughters 
are  trained  for  the  purpose  of  being  disposed  of  at  a  profit ;  but 
this  is  a  modern  invention,  irreconcilable  with  savage  ideas. 
Thus,  among  the  Kafirs,  the  practice  of  making  an  express  bar- 
gain about  women  hardly  prevailed  in  the  first  quarter  of  this  cen- 
tury, and  the  verb  applied  to  the  act  of  giving  cattle  for  a  girl, 
according  to  Mr.  Shooter,  involves  not  the  idea  of  an  actual 
trade,  but  rather  that  of  reward  for  her  birth  and  nurture. 

To  most  savages  there  seems  nothing  objectionable  in  mar- 
riage by  purchase.  On  the  contrary,  Mr.  Bancroft  states  that 
the  Indians  in  Columbia  consider  it  in  the  highest  degree  dis- 
graceful to  the  girl's  family,  if  she  is  given  away  without  a  price ; 
and,  in  certain  tribes  of  California,  "the  children  of  a  woman  for 
whom  no  money  was  paid  are  accounted  no  better  than  bas- 
tards, and  the  whole  family  are  contemned."  It  was  left  for  a 
higher  civilization  to  raise  women  from  this  state  of  debasement. 
In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  consider  the  process  by  which  mar- 
riage ceased  to  be  a  purchase  contract,  and  woman  an  object  of 
trade. 

It  would  be  easy  to  adduce  numerous  instances  of  savage  and 
barbarous  tribes  among  whom  a  girl  is  far  from  having  the  entire 


498  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

disposal  of  her  own  hand.  Being  regarded  as  an  object  of  prop- 
erty, she  is  treated  accordingly. 

Among  many  peoples  the  female  children  are  usually  "en- 
gaged" in  their  earliest  youth.  Concerning  the  Eskimo  to  the 
north  of  Churchill,  Franklin  states  that,  "as  soon  as  a  girl  is  born, 
the  young  lad  who  wishes  to  have  her  for  a  wife  goes  to  her 
father's  tent  and  proffers  himself.  If  accepted,  a  promise  is 
given  which  is  considered  binding,  and  the  girl  is  delivered  to 
her  betrothed  at  the  proper  age."  Early  betrothals  are  among  the 
established  customs  of  the  Chippeways,  Columbians,  Botocudos, 
Patagonians,  and  other  American  peoples.  Among  the  African 
Marutse,  the  children  "are  often  affianced  at  an  early  age,  and 
the  marriage  is  consummated  as  soon  as  the  girl  arrives  at  matur- 
ity." The  Negroes  of  the  Gold  Coast,  according  to  Bosman, 
often  arranged  for  the  marriage  of  infants  directly  after  birth ; 
whilst,  among  the  Bushmans,  Bechuanas,  and  Ashantees,  chil- 
dren are  engaged  when  they  are  still  in  the  womb,  in  the  event  of 
their  proving  to  be  girls. 

In  Australia,  too,  girls  are  frequently  promised  in  early  youth,, 
and  sometimes  before  they  are  born.  The  same  is  the  case  in 
New  Guinea,  New  Zealand,  Tahiti,  and  many  other  islands  of 
the  South  Sea,  as  also  among  several  of  the  tribes  inhabiting  the 
Malay  Archipelago.  Mariner  supposed  that,  in  Tonga,  about 
one-third  of  the  married  women  had  been  thus  betrothed.  In 
British  India  infant-marriage  has  hitherto  been  a  common  cus- 
tom ;  and  all  peoples  of  the  Turkish  stock,  according  to  Professor 
Vambery,  are  in  the  habit  of  betrothing  babies.  So  also  are  the 
Samoyedes  and  Tuski ;  and,  among  the  Jews  of  Western  Russia, 
parents  betroth  the  children  whom  they  hope  to  have. 

Among  some  peoples,  it  is  the  mother,  brother,  or  maternal 
uncle,  who  has  the  chief  power  of  giving  a  girl  in  marriage. 
In  Timor-laut,  Mr.  Forbes  says,  "nothing  can  be  done  of  such 
import  as  the  disposal  of  a  daughter  without  the  advice,  assist- 
ance, and  witness  of  all  the  villagers,  women  and  youths  being 
admitted  as  freely  to  speak  as  the  elder  males ;"  and  in  West 
Australia,  according  to  Mr.  Oldfield,  the  consent  of  the  whole 
tribe  is  necessary  for  a  girl's  marriage.  Yet  such  cases  are  no 
doubt  rare  exceptions,  and  give  us  no  right  to  conclude  that  there 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  499 

ever  was  a  time  when  children  were  generally  considered  the 
property  of  the  tribe,  or  of  their  maternal  kinsfolk. 

It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that,  among  the 
lower  races,  women  are,  as  a  rule,  married  without  having  any 
voice  of  their  own  in  the  matter.  Their  liberty  of  selection,  on 
the  contrary,  is  very  considerable,  and,  however  down-trodden, 
they  well  know  how  to  make  their  influence  felt.  Thus,  among 
the  Indians  of  North  America,  numberless  instances  are  given 
of  woman's  liberty  to  choose  her  husband.  Schoolcraft  asserts 
that  their  marriages  are  brought  about  "sometimes  with,  and 
sometimes  against,  the  wishes  of  the  graver  and  more  prudent 
relatives  of  the  parties,"  the  marital  rite  consisting  chiefly  in 
the  consent  of  the  parties.  Heckewelder  quotes  instances  of  In- 
dians who  committed  suicide  because  they  had  been  disappointed 
in  love,  the  girls  on  whom  they  had  fixed  their  choice,  and  to 
whom  they  were  engaged,  having  changed  their  minds,  and  mar- 
ried other  lovers.  Among  the  Kaniagmuts,  Thlinkets,  and  Nut- 
kas,  the  suitor  has  to  consult  the  wishes  of  the  young  lady. 
Among  the  Chippewas,  according  to  Mr.  Keating,  the  mothers 
generally  settle  the  preliminaries  to  marriage  without  consulting 
the  children;  but  the  parties  are  not  considered  husband  and 
wife  till  they  have  given  their  consent.  The  Atkha  Aleuts  occa- 
sionally betrothed  their  children  to  each  other,  but  the  marriage 
was  held  to  be  binding  only  after  the  birth  of  a.  child.  Among 
the  Creeks,  if  a  man  desires  to  make  a  woman  his  wife  "con- 
formably to  the  more  ancient  and  serious  custom  of  the  country," 
he  endeavours  to  gain  her  own  consent  by  regular  courtship. 
Among  the  Pueblos,  &c.,  "no  girl  is  forced  to  marry  against  her 
will,  however  eligible  her  parents  may  consider  the  match." 

As  to  the  South  American  Guanas,  Azara  states,  "Aucune 
femme  ne  consent  a  se  marier,  sans  avoir  fait  ses  stipulations 
preliminaires  tres-detaillees  avec  son  pretendu,  et  avec  son 
pere  et  ses  parents,  a  1'egard  de  leur  genre  de  vie  reciproque." 
In  Tierra  del  Fuego,  according  to  Lieutenant  Bove,  the  eager- 
ness with  which  the  women  seek  for  young  husbands  is  surpris- 
ing, but  even  more  surprising  is  the  fact  that  they  nearly  always 
attain  their  ends.  Speaking  of  the  same  people,  Mr.  Bridges 
says,  "It  frequently  happens  that  there  is  insuperable  aversion  on 


500  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  girl's  part  to  her  husband,  and  she  leaves  him,  and  if  she 
persists  in  hating  him  she  is  then  given  to  one  she  likes."  It  is, 
indeed  common  in  America  for  a  girl  to  run  away  from  a  bride- 
groom forced  upon  her  by  the  parents ;  whilst,  if  they  refuse  to 
give  their  daughter  to  a  suitor  whom  she  loves,  the  couple  elope. 
Thus,  among  the  Dacotahs,  as  we  are  told  by  Mr.  Prescott,  "there 
are  many  matches  made  by  elopement,  much  to  the  chagrin  of 
the  parents." 

In  Australia  it  is  the  rule  that  a  father  alone  can  give  away 
his  daughter,  and,  according  to  Mr.  Curr,  the  woman  herself 
has  no  voice  in  the  selection  of  her  husband.  But,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Narrinyeri,  Mr.  Taplin  states  that,  "although  the  con- 
sent of  a  female  is  not  considered  a  matter  of  the  first  importance, 
as,  indeed  is  the  case  in  many  uncivilized  nations,  yet  it  is 
always  regarded  as  desirable."  Among  the  Kurnai,  according 
to  Mr.  Howitt,  she  decidedly  enjoys  the  freedom  of  choice. 
Should  the  parents  refuse  their  consent,  she  goes  away  with  her 
lover,  and  if  they  can  remain  away  till  the  girl  is  with  child 
she  may,  it  is  said,  expect  to  be  forgiven.  Otherwise  it  may 
become  necessary  for  them  to  elope  two  or  three  times  before 
they  are  pardoned,  the  family  at  length  becoming  tired  of  object- 
ing. Mr.  Mathews  asserts  that,  with  varying  details,  marriage 
by  mutual  consent  will  be  found  among  other  tribes  also,  though 
it  is  not  completed  except  by  means  of  a  runaway  match.  Elope- 
ment undertaken  with  the  consent  of  the  woman  is,  indeed,  and 
has  been,  a  recognized  institution  among  at  least  some  of  the 
aboriginal  tribes  in  Australia.  Among  the  Kurnai  it  is  the  rule. 

The  Maoris  have  a  proverb,  "As  a  kahawai  (a  fish  which  is 
very  particular  in  selecting  the  hook  that  most  resembles  its  food) 
selects  the  hook  which  pleases  it  best  out  of  a  great  number,  so 
also  a  woman  chooses  one  man  out  of  many."  Mariner  supposed 
that,  in  Tonga,  perhaps  two-thirds  of  the  girls  had  married  with 
their  own  free  consent.  Concerning  the  natives  of  Arorae,  Mr. 
Turner  says,  -"In  choosing  a  husband  the  lady  sat  in  the  lower 
room  of  the  house,  and  over  her  head  were  let  down  through  the 
chinks  of  the  floor  of  the  upper  room  two  or  three  cocoa-nut 
leaflets,  the  ends  of  which  were  held  by  her  lovers.  She  pulled 
at  one,  and  asked  whose  it  was.  If  the  reply  was  not  in  the  voice 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  501 

of  the  young  man  she  wished  to  have,  she  left  it  and  pulled  at 
another  leaf,  and  another,  until  she  found  him,  and  then  pulled 
it  right  down.  The  happy  man  whose  leaf  she  pulled  down  sat 
still,  while  the  others  slunk  away."  In  the  Society  Islands,  the 
women  of  the  middle  and  lower  ranks  had  the  power  to  choose 
husbands  according  to  their  own  wishes ;  and  that  the  women 
of  the  highest  class  sometimes  asserted  the  same  right  appears 
from  the  addresses  a  chief  of  Eimeo  had  to  pay  to  the  object  of 
his  attachment  before  she  could  be  induced  to  accept  his  offer. 
In  Radack,  "marriages  depend  on  a  free  convention,"  as  seems  to 
be  generally  the  case  in  Micronesia.  In  the  New  Britain  Group, 
according  to  Mr.  Romilly,  after  the  man  has  worked  for  years  to 
pay  for  his  wife,  and  is  finally  in  a  position  to  take  her  to  his 
house,  she  may  refuse  to  go,  and  he  cannot  claim  back  from  the 
parents  the  large  sums  he  has  paid  them  in  yams,  cocoa-nuts,  and 
sugar-canes.  With  reference  to  the  New  Caledonian  girl,  M. 
Moncelon  remarks,  "Elle  est  consultee  quelquefois,  mais  souvent 
est  forcee  1'obeir.  Alors  elle  fuit  a  chaque  instant  pour  rejoindre 
1'homme  qu'elle  prefere." 

In  the  Indian  Archipelago,  according  to  Professor  Wilken, 
most  marriages  are  contracted  by  the  mutual  consent  of  the 
parties.  Among  the  Dyaks,  "the  unmarried  girls  are  at  perfect 
liberty  to  choose  their  mates."  In  some  parts  of  Java,  much 
deference  is  paid  to  the  bride's  inclinations,  and,  among  the  Mina- 
hassers  of  Celebes,  courtship  or  love-making  "is  always  strictly  an 
affair  of  the  heart  and  not  in  any  way  dependent  upon  the  con- 
sent or  even  wish  of  the  parents."  Similar  statements  are  made 
by  Riedel  with  reference  to  several  of  the  smaller  islands.  Among 
the  Rejangs  of  Sumatra,  if  a  young  man  runs  away  with  a  virgin 
without  the  consent  of  her  father,  he  does  not  act  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  the  country ;  and,  if  he  is  willing  to  make  the  usual  pay- 
ments afterwards,  the  woman  cannot  be  reclaimed  by  her  father 
or  other  kinsfolk. 

In  Burma,  "the  choice  of  marriageable  girls  is  perfectly  free," 
and  marriages  are  occasionally  contracted  even  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  the  parents.  Among  the  Shans,  mutual  consent  is  re- 
quired to  constitute  a  valid  union,  and,  regarding  the  Chittagong 
Hill  tribes,  Captain  Lewin  says  that  the  women's  "power  of 


502  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

selecting  their  own  husband  is  to  the  full  as  free  as  that  enjoyed 
by  our  own  English  maidens."  The  same  is  the  case  with 
many,  perhaps  most,  of  the  uncivilized  tribes  of  India.  The 
young  couple  often  settle  the  affair  entirely  between  themselves, 
even  though  marriages  are  ostensibly  arranged  by  the  parents,  or 
the  parents,  before  they  give  their  children  in  marriage,  consult 
them,  and,  as  a  rule,  follow  their  likings.  In  case  of  parental 
objection,  elopements  frequently  take  place.  Among  the  Kukis, 
a  girl  who  runs  away  from  a  husband  she  does  not  like  is  not 
thought  to  act  wrongly  in  doing  so.  Among  the  aboriginal  tribes 
of  China,  the  Ainos,  Kamchadales,  Jakuts,  Ossetes,  &c.,  the 
daughter's  inclinations  are  nearly  always  consulted.  And,  in 
Corea,  mutual  choice  was  the  ancient  custom  of  the  country. 

Turning  to  Africa,  we  find  that,  among  the  Touaregs,  a  girl 
may  select  out  of  her  suitors  the  one  whom  she  herself  prefers. 
As  to  the  West  African  negroes,  Mr.  Reade  informed  Mr.  Darwin 
that  "the  women,  at  least  among  the  more  intelligent  Pagan 
tribes,  have  no  difficulty  in  getting  the  husbands  whom  they  may 
desire,  although  it  is  considered  unwomanly  to  ask  a  man  to  marry 
them."  The  accuracy  of  this  statement  is  confirmed  by  several 
travellers,  and  it  seems  to  hold  good  for  other  parts  of  Africa. 
Among  the  Shulis,  according  to  Dr.  Felkin,  the  women  have  a 
voice  in  the  selection  of  their  husbands.  The  Madi  girls,  says 
Emio  Pasha,  enjoy  great  freedom,  and  are  able  to  choose  com- 
panions to  their  liking.  Among  the  Marutse,  "free  women  who 
have  not  been  given  away  or  sold  as  slaves  are  allowed  to  choose 
what  husbands  they  please."  The  young  Kafirs  endeavour  gener- 
ally at  first  to  gain  the  consent  of  the  girls,  for  it  is,  as  Mr.  Leslie 
remarks,  "a  mistake  to  imagine  that  a  girl  is  sold  by  her  father 
in  the  same  manner,  and  with  the  same  authority,  with  which  he 
would  dispose  of  a  cow."  And,  among  the  Hottentots  and  Bush- 
mans,  when  a  girl  has  grown  up  to  womanhood  without  having 
previously  been  betrothed,  her  lover  must  gain  her  approbation, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  parents. 

In  works  by  ancient  writers  we  find  statements  of  the  same 
kind.  Among  the  Cathsei,  according  to  Strabo,  the  girls  chose 
their  husbands,  and  the  young  men  their  wives ;  and  the  same  is 
said  by  Herodotus  of  the  women  of  Lydia.  In  Indian  and  old 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  503 

Scandinavian  tales  virgins  are  represented  as  having  the  power 
to  dispose  of  themselves  freely.  Thus  it  was  agreed  that  Skade 
should  choose  for  herself  a  husband  among  the  Asas,  but  she  was 
to  make  her  choice  by  the  feet,  the  only  part  of  their  persons  she 
was  allowed  to  see. 

In  view  of  such  facts  it  is  impossible  to  agree  with.M.  Letour- 
neau  that,  during  a  very  long  period,  woman  was  married  with- 
out her  wishes  being  at  all  consulted.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that,  under  more  primitive  conditions,  she  was  even  more  free  in 
that  respect  than  she  is  now  among  most  of  the  lower  races.  At 
present  a  daughter  is  very  commonly  an  object  of  trade,  and  the 
more  exclusively  she  is  regarded  from  this  point  of  view,  the 
less,  of  course,  are  her  own  likings  taken  into  account.  Among 
the  Bedouins  of  Mount  Sinai,  who  have  marriage  by  purchase, 
no  father  thinks  it  necessary  to  consult  his  daughter  before  sell- 
ing her,  whereas,  among  the  Arabs  of  the  eastern  plain,  the 
Aenezes,  &c.,  according  to  Burckhardt,  "the  father  never  receives 
the  price  of  the  girl,  and  therefore  some  regard  is  paid  to  her 
inclinations."  But  it  will  be  shown  that  marriage  by  purchase 
forms  a  comparatively  late  stage  in  the  history  of  the  family 
relations  of  mankind,  owing  its  origin  to  the  fact  that  daughters 
are  valuable  as  labourers,  and  therefore  not  given  away  for  noth- 
ing. Speaking  of  the  Gippsland  natives,  Mr.  Fison  says,  "The 
assertion  that  women  'eat  and  do  not  hunt,'  cannot  apply  to  the 
lower  savages.  On  the  contrary,  whether  among  the  ruder  agri- 
cultural tribes  or  those  who  are  dependent  on  supplies  gathered 
from  'the  forest  and  the  flood/  the  women  are  food-providers, 
who  supply  to  the  full  as  much  as  they  consume,  and  render 
valuable  service  into  the  bargain.  In  times  of  peace,  as  a  general 
rule  they  are  the  hardest  workers  and  the  most  useful  members 
of  the  community."  Now,  the  Australians,  although  a  very  rude 
race,  have  advanced  far  beyond  the  original  state  of  man.  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  among  our  earliest  human  ancestors, 
the  possession  of  a  woman  was  desired  only  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  man's  passions.  It  may  be  said  generally  that  in  a 
state  of  nature  every  grown-up  individual  earns  his  own  living. 
Hence  there  is  no  slavery,  as  there  is,  properly  speaking,  no 
labour.  A  man  in  the  earliest  times  had  no  reason,  then,  to  retain 


504  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

his  full-grown  daughter;  she  might  go  away,  and  marry  at  her 
pleasure.  That  she  was  not  necessarily  gained  by  the  very  first 
male,  we  may  conclude  from  what  we  know  about  the  lower 
animals.  As  Mr.  Darwin  remarks,  the  female  generally,  or  at 
least  often,  exerts  some  choice.  She  can  in  most  cases  escape,  if 
wooed  by  a  male  who  does  not  please  her,  and  when  pursued,  as 
commonly  occurs,  by  several  males,  she  seems  often  to  have  the 
opportunity,  whilst  they  are  fighting  with  one  another,  of  going 
away  with,  or  at  least  of  temporarily  pairing  with,  some  one  male. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  at  a  later  stage,  when  family  ties 
grew  stronger,  and  bride-stealing  became  a  common  way  of  con- 
cluding a  marriage,  the  consent  of  the  woman  in  the  event  of 
capture  would  be  quite  out  of  the  question.  Certainly  it  must 
generally  have  been  so  when  she  fell  as  a  booty  into  the  hands 
of  an  enemy.  But  women  thus  captured  may  in  many  cases  have 
been  able  to  escape  from  the  husbands  forced  on  them,  and  to 
return  to  their  own,  or  some  friendly  neighbouring,  tribe.  Very 
frequently,  however,  bride-stealing  seems  to  have  taken  place 
with  the  approval  of  the  girl,  there  being  no  other  way  in  which 
the  match  could  be  concluded  if  her  parents  were  unwilling  to 
agree  to  it.  It  is  a  common  mistake,  as  Mr.  Howitt  remarks,  to 
confound  marriage  by  capture  and  marriage  by  elopement.  They 
are  essentially  different,  the  one  being  effected  without,  the  other 
with,  the  woman's  consent.  Thus,  among  the  Australians,  many, 
perhaps  most,  cases  of  so-called  bride-stealing  come  under  the 
head  of  elopements. 

Something  remains  to  be  said  as  to  the  position  of  sons  among 
uncivilized  peoples.  When  young,  they  are  everywhere  as  much 
dependent  on  the  parents,  or  at  least  on  the  father,  as  are  their 
sisters.  A  boy  may  be  sold,  bartered  away,  or  even  killed,  if 
his  father  thinks  proper.  That  the  power  of  life  and  death,  under 
certain  circumstances,  rests  with  the  tribe  is  a  matter  of  little 
importance  in  this  connection.  But  as  soon  as  the  young  man 
grows  up,  the  father,  as  a  rule,  has  no  longer  any  authority  over 
him,  whereas  a  woman  is  always  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  depend- 
ence, marriage  implying  for  her  a  change  of  owner  only.  Among 
the  Australians,  says  Mr.  Curr,  "sons  become  independent  when 
they  have  gone  through  the  ceremonies  by  which  they  attain  to  the 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  505 

status  of  manhood."  The  full-grown  man  is  his  own  master; 
he  is  strong  enough  not  to  be  kept  in  check  by  his  father,  and, 
being  able  to  shift  for  himself,  he  may  marry  quite  independently 
of  the  old  man's  will. 

It  often  happens,  indeed,  as  we  have  seen,  that  parents  betroth 
their  children  when  they  are  young.  But,  if  such  an  engagement 
is  not  always  binding  even  for  the  woman,  it  is  of  course  all  the 
less  so  for  the  man.  "The  choice  among  the  Kalmucks,"  Liadov 
says,  "belongs  entirely  to  the  parents.  Still,  there  is  no  constraint 
upon  this  point,  and,  if  the  son  declares  that  the  selection  of  his 
parents  displeases  him,  there  is  no  further  question  about  the 
matter." 

Moreover,  marriage  contracts  are  concluded  among  certain 
peoples  by  the  parents  of  the  parties,  even  when  these  are  full- 
grown.  Among  the  Iroquois,  according  to  Mr.  Morgan,  the 
mother,  when  she  considered  her  son  of  a  suitable  age  for  mar- 
riage, looked  about  for  a  maiden  whom  she  thought  likely  to  ac- 
cord with  him  in  disposition  and  temperament,  and  remonstrance 
or  objection  on  the  part  of  the  children  was  never  attempted. 
Among  the  Basutos,  the  choice  of  "the  great  wife"  is  generally 
made  by  the  father.  And,  in  many  of  the  uncivilized  tribes  of  India, 
parents  are  in  the  habit  of  betrothing  their  sons.  In  certain  cases, 
the  parents  merely  go  through  a  form  of  selection,  the  matter 
having  already  been  really  settled  by  the  parties  concerned;  and 
usually  a  man  who  has  been  induced  to  marry  a  woman  he  does 
not  like,  may  divorce  her  and  choose  another  according  to  his 
taste.  Yet,  speaking  of  the  Kisans,  Colonel  Dalton  says  that 
"there  is  no  instance  on  record  of  a  youth  or  maiden  objecting 
to  the  arrangement  made  for  them."  The  paternal  authority 
among  these  tribes  of  India  implies,  indeed,  a  family  system  of 
higher  type  than  we  are  accustomed  to  find  among  wild  races ;  it 
approaches  the  patria  potestas  of  the  ancient  Aryan  nations. 
Thus,  among  the  Kandhs,  in  each  family  the  absolute  authority 
rests  with  the  house-father ;  the  sons  have  no  property  during  the 
father's  lifetime,  and  all  the  male  children,  with  their  wives  and 
descendants,  continue  to  share  the  father's  meal,  prepared  by  the 
common  mother.  The  father  chooses  a  full-grown  woman  as  a 
wife  for  his  young  son.  "In  the  superior  age  of  the  bride,"  says 


506  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Colonel  Macpherson,  "is  seen  a  proof  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
paternal  authority  amongst  this  singular  people.  The  parents 
obtain  the  wives  of  their  sons  during  their  boyhood,  as  very 
valuable  domestic  servants,  and  their  selections  are  avowedly 
made  with  a  view  to  utility  in  this  character." 

Among  savages  the  father's  power  depends  exclusively,  or 
chiefly,  upon  his  superior  strength.  At  a  later  stage,  in  connec- 
tion with  a  more  highly  developed  system  of  ancestor-worship,  it 
becomes  more  ideal,  and,  at  the  same  time,  more  extensive  and 
more  absolute.  Obedience  to  the  father  is  regarded  as  a  sacred 
duty,  the  transgression  of  which  will  be  punished  as  a  crime 
against  the  gods.  Indeed,  so  prevalent  has  this  strengthened 
authority  of  the  father  been  among  peoples  who  have  reached 
a  relatively  high  degree  of  civilization,  that  it  must  be  regarded 
as  marking  a  stage  in  all  human  history. 

The  family  system  of  the  savage  Indians  differs  widely,  in  this 
respect,  from  that  which  was  established  among  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  Concerning  the  Mexicans,  Clavi- 
gero  says  that  "their  children  were  bred  to  stand  so  much  in  awe 
of  their  parents,  that,  even  when  grown  up  and  married,  they 
hardly  durst  speak  before  them."  The  following  was  an  exhor- 
tation of  a  Mexican  to  his  son : — "Honour  all  persons,  particu- 
larly thy  parents,  to  whom  thou  owest  obedience,  respect,  and 
service.  Guard  against  imitating  the  example  of  those  wicked 
sons,  who,  like  brutes  that  are  deprived  of  reason,  neither  rever- 
ence their  parents,  listen  to  their  instruction,  nor  submit  to  their 
correction ;  because  whoever  follows  their  steps  will  have  an 
unhappy  end,  will  die  in  a  desperate  or  sudden  manner,  or  will 
be  killed  and  devoured  by  wild  beasts."  A  youth  was  seldom 
allowed  to  choose  a  wife  for  himself;  he  was  expected  to  abide 
by  the  selection  of  his  parents.  Hence  it  rarely  happened  that  a 
marriage  took  place  without  the  sanction  of  parents  or  other 
kinsfolk,  and  he  who  presumed  to  marry  without  such  sanction 
had  to  undergo  penance,  being  looked  upon  as  ungrateful,  ill- 
bred,  and  apostate.  The  belief  was,  according  to  Torquemada, 
that  an  act  of  that  kind  would  be  punished  by  some  misfortune. 
In  a  province  of  the  Mexican  empire,  it  was  even  required  that 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  507 

a  bridegroom  should  be  carried,  that  he  might  be  supposed  to 
marry  against  his  inclinations.  Touching  the  Guatemalans,  Mr. 
Bancroft  says,  "It  seems  incredible  that  the  young  men  should 
have  quietly  submitted  to  having  their  wives  picked  out  for  them 
without  being  allowed  any  voice  or  choice  in  the  matter.  Yet 
we  are  told  that  so  great  was  their  obedience  and  submission 
to  their  parents,  that  there  never  was  any  scandal  in  these 
things."  In  the  greater  part  of  Nicaragua,  matches  were  arranged 
by  the  parents ;  though  there  were  certain  independent  towns  in 
which  the  girls  chose  their  husbands  from  among  the  young 
men,  while  the  latter  sat  at  a  feast.  Again,  in  Peru,  Inca  Pacha- 
cutec  confirmed  the  law  that  sons  should  obey  and  serve  their 
fathers  until  they  reached  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  that  none 
should  marry  without  the  consent  of  the  parents,  and  of  the 
parents  of  the  girl,  a  marriage  without  this  consent  being  invalid 
and  the  children  illegitimate. 

Similar  ideas  formerly  prevailed,  and  to  some  extent  are  still 
found,  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  Old  World.  The  Chinese 
have  a  maxim  that,  as  the  Emperor  should  have  a  father's  love  for 
his  people,  so  a  father  should  have  a  sovereign's  power  over  his 
family.  From  earliest  youth  the  Chinese  lad  is  imbued  with  such 
respect  for  his  parents  that  it  becomes  at  last  a  religious  senti- 
ment, and  forms,  as  he  gets  older,  the  basis  of  his  only  creed — 
the  worship  of  ancestors.  Disobedience  to  parents  is  looked  upon 
as  a  sin  to  be  punished  with  death,  whether  the  offender  be  an 
infant  or  a  full-grown  son  or  daughter.  And  in  everything 
referring  to  the  marriage  of  the  children  parents  are  omnipotent. 
"From  all  antiquity  in  China,"  Navarette  says,  "no  son  ever  did, 
or  hereafter  will,  marry  without  the  consent  of  his  parents."  In- 
deed, according  to  Mr.  Medhurst,  it  is  a  universally  acknowledged 
principle  in  China  that  no  person,  of  whatever  age,  can  act  for 
himself  in  matrimonial  matters  during  the  lifetime  or  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  his  parents  or  near  senior  kinsfolk.  The  power 
of  these  guardians  is  so  great  that  they  may  contract  a  marriage 
for  a  junior  who  is  absent  from  home,  and  he  is  bound  to  abide  by 
such  engagement  even  though  already  affianced  elsewhere  with- 
out their  privity  or  consent.  The  consequence  of  this  system  is 
that,  in  many  cases,  the  betrothed  couple  scarcely  know  each 


508  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

other  before  marriage,  the  wedding  being  the  first  occasion  on 
which  the  man  catches  a  glimpse  of  his  wife's  face.  In  some 
parts  of  the  Empire  children  are  affianced  in  infancy. 

In  Japan,  according  to  Professor  Rein,  a  house-father  enjoyed 
the  same  extensive  rights  as  the  Roman  paterfamilias — an  un- 
limited power  over  the  person  and  property  of  his  children. 
Filial  piety  is  considered  the  highest  duty  of  man,  and  not  even 
death  or  the  marriage  relation  weakens,  to  any  great  extent,  the 
hold  of  a  father  on  a  child.  "With  affection  on  the  one  hand, 
and  cunning  on  the  other,"  says  Mr.  Griffis,  "an  unscrupulous 
father  may  do  what  he  will.  ....  The  Japanese  maiden,  as 
pure  as  the  purest  Christian  virgin,  will,  at  the  command  of  her 
father,  enter  the  brothel  to-morrow,  and  prostitute  herself  for 
life.  Not  a  murmur  escapes  her  lips  as  she  thus  filially  obeys." 
Marriages  are  almost  invariably  arranged  by  the  parents  or  near- 
est kinsfolk  of  the  parties,  or  by  the  parties  themselves  with  the 
aid  of  an  agent  or  middleman  known  as  the  "nakodo,"  it  being 
considered  highly  improper  for  them  to  arrange  it  on  their  own 
account.  Among  the  lower  classes,  such  direct  unions  are  not 
unfrequent ;  but  they  are  held  in  contempt,  and  are  known  as 
"yago,"  i.e.,  "meeting  on  a  moor," — a  term  of  disrespect  show- 
ing the  low  opinion  entertained  of  them.  The  middleman's  duty 
consists  in  acquainting  each  of  the  parties  with  the  nature,  habits, 
good  and  bad  qualities,  and  bodily  infirmities  of  the  other,  and 
in  doing  his  utmost  to  bring  the  affair  to  a  successful  conclusion. 
It  seldom  happens  that  the  parties  immediately  interested  com- 
municate directly  with  the  middleman ;  if  they  have  parents  or 
guardians,  it  is  done  by  these,  and,  if  not,  by  the  nearest  rela- 
tion. The  middleman  has  to  arrange  for  a  meeting  between  the 
parties,  which  meeting  is  known  as  the  "mi  ai,"  literally  "see 
meeting,"  and,  if  either  party  is  dissatisfied  with  the  other  after 
this  introduction,  the  matter  proceeds  no  further.  But  formerly, 
says  Mr.  Kiichler,  "this  ante-nuptial  meeting  was  dispensed  with 
in  the  case  of  people  of  very  exalted  rank,  who  consequently 
never  saw  each  other  until  the  bride  removed  her  veil  on  the 
marriage  day." 

Among  the  ancient  Arabs  and  Hebrews,  fathers  exercised 
very  great  rights  over  their  families.  According  to  the  old  law 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  509 

of  Jahveism,  a  father  might  sell  his  child  to  relieve  his  own  dis- 
tress, or  offer  it  to  a  creditor  as  a  pledge.  Death  was  the  penalty 
for  a  child  who  struck  a  parent,  or  even  cursed  one ;  though  the 
father  himself  could  not  inflict  this  penalty  on  his  children,  but 
had  to  appeal  to  the  whole  community.  How  important  were  the 
duties  of  the  child  to  the  parents,  is  shown  in  the  primitive  typi- 
cal relation  of  Isaac  to  Abraham,  and  may,  as  Ewald  remarks,  be 
at  once  learned  from  the  placing  of  the  law  on  the  subject  among 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and  from  its  position  there  in  immedi- 
ate proximity  to  the  commands  relating  to  the  duties  of  man 
towards  God.  According  to  Michaelis,  there  is  nowhere  the 
slightest  trace  of  its  having  been  the  will  of  Moses  that  paternal 
authority  and  the  subjection  of  sons  should  cease  after  a  cer- 
tain age.  A  Hebrew  father  not  only  disposed  of  his  daughter's 
hand,  but  chose  wives  for  his  sons, — the  selection,  however,  being 
sometimes  made  by  the  mother. 

Herodotus  tells  us  that,  in  Egypt,  if  a  son  was  unwilling  to 
maintain  his  parents,  he  was  at  liberty  to  refuse,  whereas  a 
daughter  was  compelled  to  assist  them,  and,  on  refusal,  was 
amenable  to  law.  But,  according  to  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson,  the 
truth  of  this  statement  may  be  questioned.  Judging  from  the 
marked  severity  of  filial  duties  among  the  Egyptians,  some  of 
which  are  distinctly  alluded  to  in  the  inscriptions  at  Thebes,  we 
may  conclude  that,  in  Egypt,  much  more  was  expected  from  a 
son  than  in  any  civilized  nation  of  the  present  day.  Among  the 
modern  Egyptians  it  is  considered  highly  indecorous  for  a  son 
to  sit  down  in  the  presence  of  his  father  without  permission. 
.  .  .  . — E.  WESTERMARCK,  History  of  Human  Marriage,  290- 
402;  213-29  (Macmillan,  1891). 

* 

MONOGAMY 

Evidently,  as  tested  by  the  definiteness  and  strength  of  the 
links  among  its  members,  the  monogamic  family  is  the  most 
evolved.  In  polyandry  the  maternal  connexion  is  alone  dis- 
tinct, and  the  children  are  but  partially  related  to  one  another. 
In  polygyny  both  the  maternal  and  paternal  connexions  are  dis- 
tinct; but  while  some  of  the  children  arc  fully  related,  others 
are  related  on  the  paternal  side  only.  In  monogamy  not  only 


510  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

are  the  maternal  and  paternal  connexions  both  distinct,  but  all 
the  children  are  related  on  both  sides.  The  family  cluster  is  thus 
held  together  by  more  numerous  ties;  and  beyond  the  greater 
cohesion  so  caused,  there  is  an  absence  of  those  repulsions  caused 
by  the  jealousies  inevitable  in  the  polygynic  family. 

This  greater  integration  characterizes  the  family  as  it  rami- 
fies through  successive  generations.  Definiteness  of  descent  from 
the  same  father,  grand-father,  great  grand-father,  etc.,  it  has  in 
common  with  polygyny;  but  it  has  also  definiteness  of  descent 
from  the  same  mother,  grand-mother,  great  grand-mother,  etc. 
Hence  its  diverging  branches  are  joined  by  additional  bonds. 
Where,  as  with  the  Romans,  there  is  a  legally-recognized  descent 
in  the  male  line  only,  so  that  out  of  the  cognates  constituting  the 
whole  body  of  descendants,  only  the  agnates  are  held  to  be 
definitely  related,  the  ramifying  family-stock  is  incompletely 
held  together;  but  where,  as  with  ourselves,  descendants  of 
female  members  of  the  family  are  included,  it  is  completely  held 
together. 

How  the  interests  of  the  society,  of  the  offspring,  and  of  the 
parents,  are  severally  better  subserved  by  monogamy  during 
those  later  stages  of  social  evolution  characterized  by  it,  needs 
pointing  out  only  for  form's  sake. 

Though,  while  habitual  war  and  mortality  of  males  leaves 
constantly  a  large  surplus  of  females,  polygyny  favours  main- 
tenance of  population;  yet,  when  the  surplus  of  females  ceases 
to  be  large,  monogamy  becomes  superior  in  productiveness.  For, 
taking  the  number  of  females  as  measuring  the  possible  number 
of  children  to  be  born  in  each  generation,  more  children  are 
likely  to  be  born  if  each  man  has  a  wife,  than  if  some  men  have 
many  wives  while  others  have  none.  So  that  after  passing  a 
certain  point  in  the  decrease  of  male  mortality,  the  monogamic 
society  begins  to  have  an  advantage  over  the  polygynic  in  respect 
of  fertility;  and  social  survival,  in  so  far  as  it  depends  on  mul- 
tiplication, is  aided  by  monogamy.  The  stronger  and  more  widely 
ramified  family-bonds  indicated  above,  aid  in  binding  the  mono- 
gamic society  together  more  firmly  than  any  other.  The  multi- 
plied relationships  traced  along  both  lines  of  descent  in  all 
families,  which,  intermarrying,  are  ever  initiating  other  double 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  511 

sets  of  relationships,  produce  a  close  net-work  of  connexions  in- 
creasing the  social  cohesion  otherwise  caused.  Political  stability 
is  also  furthered  in  a  greater  degree.  Polygyny  shares  with 
monogamy  the  advantage  that  inheritance  of  power  in  the  male 
line  becomes  possible ;  but  under  polygyny  the  advantage  is  par- 
tially destroyed  by  the  competition  for  power  liable  to  arise  be- 
tween the  children  of  different  mothers.  In  monogamy  this  ele- 
ment of  dissension  disappears,  and  settled  rule  is  less  frequently 
endangered.  For  kindred  reasons  ancestor-worship  has  its  de- 
velopment aided.  Whatever  favours  stability  in  the  dynasties  of 
early  rulers,  tends  to  establish  permanent  dynasties  of  deities, 
with  the  resulting  sacred  sanctions  for  codes  of  conduct. 

Decreased  mortality  of  offspring  is  a  manifest  result  of 
monogamy  in  societies  that  have  outgrown  barbarism.  It  is  true 
that  in  a  barren  region  like  the  snow-lands  of  Asia,  the  children  of 
a  polyandric  household,  fed  and  protected  by  several  men,  may  be 
better  off  than  those  of  a  monogamic  household.  Probably,  too, 
among  savages  whose  slave-wives,  brutally  treated,  have  their 
strength  overtaxed,  as  well  as  among  such  more  advanced  peo- 
ples as  those  of  Africa,  where  the  women  do  the  field-work  as 
well  as  the  domestic  drudgeries,  a  wife  who  is  one  of  several, 
is  better  able  to  rear  her  children  than  a  wife  who  has  no  one 
to  share  the  multifarious  labors  with  her;  But  as  fast  as  we 
rise  to  social  stages  in  which  the  men,  no  longer  often  away  in 
war  and  idle  during  peace,  are  more  and  more  of  them  occupied 
in  industry — as  fast  as  the  women,  less  taxed  by  work,  are  able 
to  pay  greater  attention  to  their  families,  while  the  men  become 
the  bread-winners ;  the  monogamic  union  subserves  better  in  two 
ways  the  rearing  of  children.  Beyond  the  benefit  of  constant 
maternal  care,  the  children  get  the  benefit  of  concentrated  pa- 
ternal interest. 

Still  greater  are  the  advantageous  effects  on  the  lives  of 
adults,  physical  and  moral.  Though  in  early  societies  monogamic 
unions  do  not  beget  any  higher  feelings  towards  women,  or  any 
ameliorations  of  their  lot;  yet  in  later  societies  they  are  the 
necessary  concomitants  of  such  higher  feelings  and  such  ame- 
liorations. Especially  as  the  system  of  purchase  declines  and 
choice  by  women  becomes  a  factor,  there  evolve  the  sentiments 


512  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

which  characterize  the  relations  of  the  sexes  among  civilized 
peoples.  These  sentiments  have  far  wider  effects  than  at  first 
appear.  How  by  their  influence  on  the  domestic  relations  they 
tend  to  raise  the  quality  of  adult  life,  materially  and  mentally,  is 
obvious.  But  they  tend  in  no  small  degree  otherwise  to  raise  the 
quality  of  adult  life:  they  create  a  permanent  and  deep  source 
of  aesthetic  interest.  On  recalling  the  many  and  keen  pleasures 
derived  from  music,  poetry,  fiction,  the  drama,  etc.,  all  of  them 
having  for  their  predominant  theme  the  passion  of  love,  we  shall 
see  that  to  monogamy,  which  has  developed  this  passion,  we 
owe  a  large  part  of  the  gratifications  which  fill  our  leisure  hours. 
Nor  must  we  forget,  as  a  further  result  of  the  monogamic 
relation,  that  in  a  high  degree  it  favours  preservation  of  life  after 
the  reproductive  period  is  passed.  Both  by  the  prolonged  marital 
affection  which  it  fosters,  and  by  the  greater  filial  affection 
evoked  under  it,  declining  years  are  lengthened  and  their  evils 

mitigated — HERBERT    SPENCER,   Principles   of   Sociology, 

i :  669-72. 

[SEXUAL  ANTAGONISM  AND  TABOO] 

"In  the  beginning,  when  Twashtri  came  to  the  creation  of 
woman,  he  found  that  he  had  exhausted  his  materials  in  the 
making  of  man,  and  that  no  solid  elements  were  left.  In  this  di- 
lemma, after  profound  meditation,  he  did  as  follows.  He  took  the 
rotundity  of  the  moon,  and  the  curves  of  creepers,  and  the  cling- 
ing of  tendrils,  and  the  trembling  of  grass,  and  the  slenderness 
of  the  reed,  and  the  bloom  of  flowers,  and  the  lightness  of  leaves, 
and  the  timidity  of  the  hare,  and  the  vanity  of  the  peacock,  and 
and  the  clustering  of  rows  of  bees,  and  the  joyous  gaiety  of  sun- 
beams, and  the  weeping  of  clouds,  and  the  fickleness  of  the  winds, 
and  the  timidity  of  the  hare,  and  the  vanity  of  the  peacock,  and 
the  softness  of  the  parrot's  bosom,  and  the  hardness  of  adamant, 
and  the  sweetness-  of  honey;  and  the  cruelty  of  the  tiger,  and  the 
warm  glow  of  fire,  and  the  coldness  of  snow,  and  the  chattering 
of  jays,  and  the  cooing  of  the  kokila,  and  the  hypocrisy  of  the 
crane,  and  the  fidelity  of  the  chakra-waka,  and  compounding  all 
these  together,  he  made  woman  and  gave  her  to  man.  But  after 
one  week,  man  came  to  him  and  said:  Lord,  this  creature  that 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  513 

you  have  given  me  makes  my  life  miserable.  She  chatters  in- 
cessantly and  teases  me  beyond  endurance,  never  leaving  me 
alone;  and  she  requires  incessant  attention,  and  takes  all  my 
time  up,  and  cries  about  nothing,  and  is  always  idle;  and  so  I 
have  come  to  give  her  back  again,  as  I  cannot  live  with  her.  So 
Twashtri  said:  Very  well;  and  he  took  her  back.  Then  after 
another  week,  man  came  again  to  him  and  said:  Lord,  I  find 
that  my  life  is  very  lonely,  since  I  gave  you  back  that  creature. 
I  remember  how  she  used  to  dance  and  sing  to  me,  and  look 
at  me  out  of  the  corner  of  her  eye,  and  play  with  me,  and  cling  to 
me;  and  her  laughter  was  music,  and  she  was  beautiful  to  look 
at,  and  soft  to  touch ;  so  give  her  back  to  me  again.  So  Twashtri 
said :  Very  well ;  and  gave  her  back  again.  Then  after  only 
three  days,  man  came  back  to  him  again  and  said :  Lord,  I  know 
not  how  it  is;  but  after  all  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
she  is  more  of  a  trouble  than  a  pleasure  to  me ;  so  please  take 
her  back  again.  But  Twashtri  said :  Out  on  you !  Be  off !  I  will 
have  no  more  of  -this.  You  must  manage  how  you  can.  Then 
man  said:  But  I  cannot  live  with  her.  And  Twashtri  replied: 
Neither  could  you  live  without  her.  And  he  turned  his  back 
on  man,  and  went  on  with  his  work.  Then  man  said:  What  is 
to  be  done?  for  I  cannot  live  either  with  her  or  without  her." 

This  extract  from  a  beautiful  Sanscrit  story  illustrates  a  con- 
ception of  the  relations  of  man  and  woman,  which  often  recurs 
in  literature.  The  same  conception,  due  ultimately  to  that  differ- 
ence of  sex  and  of  sexual  characters  which  renders  mutual  sym- 
pathy and  understanding  more  or  less  difficult,  is  characteristic 
of  mankind  in  all  periods  and  stages  of  culture.  Woman  is  one 
of  the  last  things  to  be  understood  by  man;  though  the  comple- 
ment of  man  and  his  partner  in  health  and  sickness,  poverty  and 
wealth,  woman  is  different  from  man,  and  this  difference  has  had 
the  same  religious  results  as  have  attended  other  things  which 
man  does  not  understand.  The  same  is  true  of  woman's  attitude 
to  man.  In  the  history  of  the  sexes  there  have  been  always  at 
work  the  two  complementary  physical  forces  of  attraction  and 
repulsion ;  man  and  woman  may  be  regarded,  and  not  fancifully, 
as  the  highest  sphere  in  which  this  law  of  physics  operates ;  in 
love  the  two  sexes  are  drawn  to  each  other  by  an  irresistible 


514  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

sympathy,  while  in  other  circumstances  there  is  more  or  less 
of  segregation,  due  to  and  enforced  by  human  ideas  of  human 
relations. 

The  remarkable  facts  which  follow  show  the  primitive  theory 
and  practice  of  this  separation  of  the  sexes.  Both  in  origin  and 
results  the  phenomena  are  those  of  Taboo,  and  hence  I  have 
applied  to  these  facts  the  specific  term  of  Sexual  Taboo.  At 
first  sight  this  early  stage  of  the  relations  of  men  and  women 
may  cause  surprise,  but  when  one  realises  the  continuity  of 
human  ideas,  and  analyses  one's  own  consciousness,  one  may  find 
there  in  potentiality,  if  not  actualised  by  prejudice,  the  same 
conception,  though  perhaps  emptied  of  its  religious  content. 

In  Nukahiva  if  a  woman  happens  to  sit  upon  or  even  pass 
near  an  object  which  has  become  tabu  by  contact  with  a  man,  it 
can  never  be  used  again,  and  she  is  put  to  death.  In  Tahiti  a 
woman  had  to  respect  those  places  frequented  by  men,  their 
weapons  and  fishing  implements ;  the  head  of  a  husband  or  father 
was  sacred  from  the  touch  of  woman,  nor  might  a  wife  or 
daughter  touch  any  object  that  had  been  in  contact  with  these 
tabued  heads,  or  step  over  "them  when  their  owners  were  asleep. 
In  the  Solomon  Islands  a  man  will  never  pass  under  a  tree  fallen 
across  the  path,  because  a  woman  may  have  stepped  over  it  before 
him.  In  Siam  it  is  considered  unlucky  to  pass  under  women's 
clothes  hung  out  to  dry.  It  is  degrading  to  a  Melanesian  chief  to 
go  where  women  may  be  above  his  head ;  boys  also  are  forbidden 
to  go  underneath  the  women's  bed-place.  Amongst  the  Karens 
of  Burmah  going  under  a  house  when  there  are  females  within 
is  avoided;  and  in  Burmah  generally  it  is  thought  an  indignity 
to  have  a  woman  above  the  head;  to  prevent  which  the  houses 
are  never  built  with  more  than  one  storey.  This  explanation  of 
an  architectural  peculiarity  is  doubtless  ex  post  facto.  Amongst 
the  people  of  Rajmahal,  if  a  man  be  detected  by  a  woman  sitting 
on  her  cot  and  she  complains  of  the  impropriety,  he  pays  her  a 
fowl  as  fine,  which  she  returns ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  a  man 
detects  a  woman  sitting  on  his  cot,  he  kills  the  fowl  which  she 
produces  in  answer  to  his  complaint,  and  sprinkles  the  blood  on 
the  cot  to  purify  it,  after  which  she  is  pardoned.  In  Cambodia 
a  wife  may  never  use  the  pillow  or  mattress  of  her  husband, 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  515 

because  "she  would  hurt  his  happiness  thereby."  In  Siam  the 
wife  has  a  lower  pillow  "to  remind  her  of  her  inferiority."  This 
reason  is  possibly  late.  Amongst  the  Barea  man  and  wife  seldom 
share  the  same  bed,  the  reason  they  give  is,  that  if  they  sleep 
together  the  breath  of  the  wife  will  render  her  husband  weak. 
Amongst  the  Lapps  no  grown  woman  may  touch  the  hinder  part 
of  the  house,  which  is  sacred  to  the  sun.  No  woman  may  enter 
the  house  of  a  Maori  chief.  Amongst  the  Kaffas  of  East  Africa 
husband  and  wife  see  each  other  only  at  night,  never  meeting 
during  the  day.  She  is  secluded  in  the  interior  portion  of  the 
house  while  he  occupies  the  remainder.  "A  public  resort  is  also 
set  apart  for  the  husband,  where  no  woman  is  permitted  to  appear. 
A  penalty  of  three  years'  imprisonment  attaches  to  an  infringe- 
ment of  this  rule."  Observers  have  noted  "the  haughty  con- 
tempt" shown  by  Zulus  for  their  wives.  Men  and  women  rarely 
are  seen  together;  if  a  man  and  his  wife  are  going  to  the  same 
place,  they  do  not  walk  together.  In  some  Redskin  tribes  and 
amongst  the  Indians  of  California  a  man  never  enters  his  wife's 
wigwam  except  under  cover  of  the  darkness;  and  the  men's 
club-house  may  never  be  entered  by  women.  The  Bedouin  tent 
is  divided  into  two  compartments  for  the  men  and  women  respec- 
tively. No  man  of  good  reputation  will  enter  the  women's  part 
of  the  tent  or  even  be  seen  in  its  shadow.  In  Nukahiva  the  houses 
of  important  men  are  not  accessible  to  their  own  wives,  who  live 
in  separate  huts.  Amongst  the  Samoyeds  and  Ostyaks  a  wife 
may  not  tread  in  any  part  of  the  tent  except  her  own  corner ;  after 
pitching  the  tent  she  must  fumigate  it  before  the  men  enter.  In 
Fiji  husbands  are  as  frequently  away  from  their  wives  as  with 
them;  it  is  not,  in  Fijian  society,  thought  well  for  a  man  to 
sleep  regularly  at  home.  Another  account  states  that  "it  is  quite 
against  Fijian  ideas  of  delicacy  that  a  man  ever  remains  under 
the  same  roof  with  his  wife  or  wives  at  night."  He  may  not 
take  his  night's  repose  anywhere  except  at  one  of  the  public  bures 
of  his  town  or  village.  The  women  and  girls  sleep  at  home. 
"Rendezvous  between  husband  and  wife  are  arranged  in  the 
depths  of  the  forest,  unknown  to  any  but  the  two."  All  the  male 
population,  married  or  unmarried,  sleep  at  the  bures,  or  club- 
houses, of  which  there  are  generally  two  in  each  village.  Boys 


516  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

till  of  age  have  a  special  one.  From  another  account  we  learn 
that  women  are  not  allowed  to  enter  a  bure,  which  is  also  used 
as  a  lounge  by  the  chiefs.  In  New  Caledonia  a  peculiarity  of 
conjugal  life  is  that  men  and  women  do  not  sleep  under  the  same 
roof.  The  wife  lives  and  sleeps  by  herself  in  a  shed  near  the 
house.  "You  rarely  see  the  men  and  women  talking  or  sitting 
together.  The  women  seem  perfectly  content  with  the  companion- 
ship of  their  own  sex.  The  men,  who  loiter  about  with 
spears  in  a  most  lazy  fashion,  are  seldom  seen  in  the  society  of 
the  opposite  sex."  No  Hindu  female  may  enter  the  men's 
apartments.  In  New  Guinea  the  women  sleep  in  houses  apart, 
near  those  of  their  male  relatives.  The  men  assemble  for  con- 
versation and  meals  in  the  marea,  a  large  reception-house,  which 
women  may  not  enter.  Amongst  the  Nubians  each  family  has 
two  dwelling-houses,  one  for  the  males,  the  other  for  the  females. 
In  the  Sandwich  Islands  there  were  six  houses  connected  with 
every  great  establishment;  one  for  worship,  one  for  the  men  to 
eat  in,  another  for  the  women,  a  dormitory,  a  house  for  kapa- 
beating,  and  one  where  at  certain  intervals  the  women  might 
live  in  seclusion.  In  the  Caroline  Islands  a  chief's  establishment 
has  one  house  for  the  women,  a  second  for  eating,  and  a  third  for 
sleeping.  In  the  Admiralty  Islands  there  is  a  house  reserved  in 
each  village  for  the  use  of  women,  both  married  and  single,  while 
the  single  men  live  together  in  a  separate  building.  The  Shastika 
Indians  of  California  have  a  town-lodge  for  men  and  another  for 
women.  Other  Californian  tribes  possess  the  first  institution ;  the 
women  may  not  enter  the  men's  lodges.  The  centre  of  Bororo 
life  is  the  Baito,  the  men's  house,  where  all  the  men  really  live; 
the  family  huts  are  nothing  more  than  a  residence  for  the  women 
and  children.  Amongst  the  Bakairi  and  the  Schingu  tribes 
generally,  women  may  never  enter  the  men's  club-house,  where 
the  men  spend  most  of  their  time.  In  the  Solomon  Islands  women 
may  not  enter  the  men's  tambu  house,  nor  even  cross  the  beach 
in  front  of  it.  In  Ceram  women  are  forbidden  to  enter  the  men's 
club-house.  In  New  Britain  there  are  two  large  houses  in  each  vil- 
lage, one  for  men,  the  other  for  women :  neither  sex  may  enter  the 
house  of  the  other.  In  the  Marquesas  Islands  the  ti  where  the  men 
congregate  and  spend  most  of  their  time  is  taboo  to  women,  and 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  517 

protected  by  the  penalty  of  death  from  the  imaginary  pollution  of 
a  woman's  presence ;  the  chiefs  never  trouble  about  any  domestic 
affairs.  In  the  Pelew  Islands  there  is  "a  remarkable  separation 
of  the  sexes."  Men  and  women  hardly  live  together,  and  family 
life  is  impossible.  The  segregation  is  political  as  well  as  social. 
In  the  Society  and  Sandwich  Islands  the  female  sex  was  isolated 
and  humiliated  by  tabu,  and  in  their  domestic  life  the  women 
lived  almost  entirely  by  themselves.  In  Uripiv  (New  Hebrides) 
there  is  a  curious  segregation  of  the  sexes,  beginning,  at  least  in 
one  respect,  soon  after  a  boy  is  born.  In  Rapa  (Tubuai  Islands) 
all  men  are  tabu  to  women.  In  Seoul,  the  capital  of  Corea,  "they 
have  a  curious  curfew  law  called  pem-ya.  A  large  bell  is  tolled 
at  about  8  P.  M.  and  3  A.  M.  daily,  and  between  these  hours  only 
are  women  supposed  to  appear  in  the  streets.  In  the  old  days 
men  found  in  the  streets  during  the  hours  allotted  to  women  were 
severely  punished,  but  the  rule  has  been  greatly  relaxed  of  late 
years."  "Family  life,  as  we  have  it,  is  utterly  unknown  in  Corea." 
The  Ojebway,  Peter  Jones,  thus  writes  of  his  own  people:  "I 
have  scarcely  ever  seen  anything  like  social  intercourse  between 
husband  and  wife,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  women  say  little 
in  the  presence  of  the  men."  In  Senegambia  the  negro  women 
live  by  themselves,  rarely  with  their  husbands,  and  their  sex  is 
virtually  a  clique.  In  Bali  to  speak  tete-a-tete  with  a  woman  is 
absolutely  forbidden.  In  Egypt  a  man  never  converses  with  his 
wife,  and  in  the  tomb  they  are  separated  by  a  wall,  though  males 
and  females  are  not  usually  buried  in  the  same  vault. 

Some  cases  of  this  complementary  result,  solidarity  of  sex, 
have  been  noticed,  and  others  will  occur  in  various  connections. 
It  is  practically  universal  in  all  stages  of  culture,  even  the  highest. 
Amongst  the  Bedouins  of  Libya  women  associate  for  the  most 
part  with  their  own  sex  only.  In  Morocco  women  are  by  no 
means  reserved  when  by  themselves,  nor  do  they  seek  to  cover 
their  faces.  Amongst  the  Gauchos  of  Uruguay  women  show  a 
marked  tendency  to  huddle  together.  Sexual  solidarity  is  well 
brought  out  in  the  following.  Amongst  the  extinct  Tasmanians, 
if  a  wife  was  struck  by  her  husband,  the  whole  female  population 
would  come  out  and  bring  the  "rattle  of  their  tongues  to  bear 
upon  the  brute."  When  ill-treated,  the  Kaffir  wife  can  claim  an 


518  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

asylum  with  her  father,  till  her  husband  has  made  atonement. 
"Nor  would  many  European  husbands  like  to  be  subjected  to  the 
usual  discipline  on  such  occasions.  The  offending  husband  must 
go  in  person  to  ask  for  his  wife.  He  is  instantly  surrounded 
by  the  women  of  the  place,  who  cover  him  at  once  with  reproaches 
and  blows.  Their  nails  and  fists  may  be  used  with  impunity,  for, 
it  is  the  day  of  female  vengeance,  and  the  belaboured  delinquent 
is  not  allowed  to  resist.  He  is  not  permitted  to  see  his  wife,  but 
is  sent  home,  with  an  intimation  of  what  cattle  are  expected  from 
him,  which  he  must  send  before  he  can  demand  his  wife  again." 
Amongst  the  Kunama  the  wife  has  an  agent  who  protects  her 
against  her  husband,  and  fines  him  for  ill-treatment.  She  pos- 
sesses considerable  authority  in  the  house,  and  is  on  equal  terms 
with  her  husband.  Amongst  the  Beni-Amer  women  enjoy  con- 
siderable independence.  To  obtain  marital  privileges,  the  husband 
has  to  make  his  wife  a  present  of  value.  He  must  do  the  same 
for  every  harsh  word  he  uses,  and  is  often  kept  a  whole  night 
out  of  doors  in  the  rain,  until  he  pays.  The  women  have  a  strong 
esprit  de  corps;  when  a  wife  is  ill-treated  the  other  women  come 
in  to  help  her ;  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  husband  is  always 
in  the  wrong.  The  women  express  much  contempt  for  the  men, 
and  it  is  considered  disgraceful  in  a  woman  to  show  love  for  her 
husband. 

The  first  of  these  examples  shows  the  length  to  which  re- 
ligious ideas  may  carry  this  segregation,  the  last  is  one  of  many 
cases  in  which  the  solidarity  of  sex  is  seen.  This  is  well  brought 
out  in  examples  of  club-life,  and  there  is  here  a  close  parallel  to 
be  found,  not  merely  humorous,  in  the  institution  and  etiquette 
of  the  modern  club.  The  same  biological  tendency  is  behind  both 
the  modern  and  the  primitive  institution,  though  the  later  one  is 
no  longer  supported  by  religious  ideas.  Again,  sexual  differen- 
tiation often  develops  into  real  antagonism.  The  attempts  of 
the  Indians  of  California  to  keep  their  women  in  check  show  how 
the  latter  were  struggling  up  to  equality.  An  account  of  the 
Hottentots  represents  that  the  women,  though  ill-treated  and 
forced  to  do  harder  work,  can  defend  themselves  and  avenge 
their  wrongs.  A  Poul  (Fulah)  governs  his  wives  by  force,  but 
they  recoup  themselves  when  they  get  the  chance.  The  Indian 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  519 

of  Brazil  has  a  wholesome  dread  of  his  wives,  and  "follows  the 
maxim  of  laissez  faire  with  regard  to  their  intrigues."  Amongst 
the  Wataveita  fire-making  is  not  revealed  to  women,  "because," 
say  the  men,  "they  would  then  become  our  masters."  The  Miris 
will  not  allow  their  women  to  eat  tiger's  flesh,  lest  it  should  make 
them  too  strong-minded.  The  Fuegians  celebrate  a  festival,  Kina, 
in  commemoration  of  their  revolt  against  the  women,  "who  form- 
erly had  the  authority,  and  possessed  the  secrets  of  sorcery." 
In  the  Dieri  tribe  of  South  Australia  men  threaten  their  wives, 
should  they  do  anything  wrong,  with  the  "bone,"  the  instrument 
of  sorcery,  which,  when  pointed  at  the  victim,  causes  death ;  "this 
produces  such  dread  among  the  women,  that  mostly  instead  of 
having  a  salutary  effect,  it  causes  them  to  hate  their  husbands." 
The  Pomo  Indians  of  California  "find  it  very  difficult  to  main- 
tain authority  over  their  women."  A  husband  often  terrifies  his 
wife  into  submission  by  personating  an  ogre;  after  this  she  is 
usually  tractable  for  some  days.  Amongst  the  Tatu  Indians  of 
California,  the  men  have  a  secret  society,  which  gives  periodic 
dramatic  performances,  with  the  object  of  keeping  the  women  in 
order.  The  chief  actor,  disguised  as  a  devil,  charges  about  among 
the  assembled  squaws.  The  Gualala  and  Patwin  Indians  have 
similar  dances,  performed  by  the  assembled  men,  to  show  the 
women  the  necessity  of  obedience.  In  Africa  the  anxious 
attempts  of  the  men  to  keep  the  women  down  have  been  noted. 
The  adult  males  in  South  Guinea  have  a  secret  association,  Nda, 
whose  object  is  to  keep  the  women,  children,  and  slaves  in  order. 
The  Mumbo-Jumbo  of  the  Mandingos  is  well  known.  The  same 
performer,  who  represents  Mumbo-Jumbo,  has  also  the  duty  of 
keeping  the  sexes  apart  for  the  forty  days  after  circumcision. 
Other  instances  of  associations  to  keep  the  women  in  subjection 
are  the  Egbo  in  in  Calabar,  Oro  in  Yoruba,  the  Purro,  Semo,  and 
varieties  of  Egbo  on  the  west  coast,  the  Bundu  amongst  the 
Bullamers.  Women  in  their  turn  form  similar  associations 
amongst  themselves,  in  which  they  discuss  their  wrongs  and 
form  plans  of  revenge.  Mpongwe  women  have  an  institution 
of  this  kind,  which  is  really  feared  by  the  men.  Similarly 
amongst  the  Bakalais  and  other  African  tribes. 

The  way  in  which  each  sex  is  self-centred  is  also  illustrated 


520  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

by  the  natural  practice  that  women  worship  female,  and  men 
male  deities.  This  needs  no  illustration,  but  a  very  instructive 
case  may  be  quoted,  which  comes  from  ancient  Roman  life. 
When  husband  and  wife  quarrelled,  they  visited  the  shrine  of 
the  goddess  Viriplaca  on  the  Palatine.  After  opening  their  hearts 
in  confession,  they  would  return  in  harmony.  This  "appeaser  of 
the  male  sex"  was  regarded  as  domestic^  pads  custos.  Similarly, 
Bakalai  women  have  a  tutelar  spirit,  which  protects  them  against 
their  male  enemies  and  avenges  their  wrongs.  According  to  the 
Greenlanders,  the  moon  is  a  male  and  the  sun  a  female  spirit; 
the  former  rejoices  in  the  death  of  women,  while  the  latter  has 
her  revenge  in  the  death  of  men.  All  males,  therefore,  keep 
within  doors  during  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  and  all  females  during 
an  eclipse  of  theimoon.  In  the  Pelew  Islands  the  kalids  of  men 
are  quiet  and  gentlemanly;  it  is  those  of  women  that  make  dis- 
turbances, and  inflict  disease  and  death  on  members  of  the  family. 
The  same  hostility  makes  use  of  the  system  of  sex-totems.  In 
the  Port  Lincoln  tribe  a  small  kind  of  lizard,  the  male  of  which 
is  called  Ibirri,  and  the  female  Waka,  is  said  to  have  divided  the 
sexes  in  the  human  species,  "an  event  which  would  appear  not  to 
be  much  approved  of  by  the  natives,  since  either  sex  has  a  mortal 
hatred  against  the  opposite  sex  of  these  little  animals,  the  men 
always  destroying  the  Waka  and  the  women  the  Ibirri."  In  the 
Wotjobaluk  tribe  it  is  believed  that  the  "life  of  Ngunungunut 
(the  bat)  is  the  life  of  a  man,  and  the  life  of  Yartatgurk  (the 
nightjar)  is  the  life  of  a  woman;"  when  either  is  killed,  a  man  or 
woman  dies.  Should  one  of  these  animals  be  killed,  every  man 
or  every  woman  fears  that  he  or  she  may  be  the  victim ;  and  this 
gives  rise  to  numerous  fights.  "In  these  fights,  men  on  one  side, 
and  women  on  the  other,  it  was  not  at  all  certain  who  would  be 
victorious,  for  at  times  the  women  gave  the  men  a  severe 
drubbing  with  their  yam-sticks,  while  often  the  women  were 
injured  or  killed  by  spears."  In  some  Victorian  tribes  the 
bat  is  the  man's  animal,  and  they  "protect  it  against  injury, 
even  to  the  half-killing  of  their  wives  for  its  sake."  The 
goatsucker  belongs  to  the  women,  who  protect  it  jealously. 
"If  a  man  kills  one,  they  are  as  much  enraged  as  if  it  was 
one  of  their  children,  and  will  strike  him  with  their  long 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  521 

poles."     The  mantis  also  belongs  to  the  men  and  no  woman 
dares  kill  it. 

Such  segregation  of  the  sexes  has  influenced  language.  In 
Madagascar  there  are  terms  proper  for  a  woman  to  use  to  her 
own  sex,  others  for  women  to  men,  and  for  men  to  women. 
Amongst  the  Guaycurus  the  women  have  many  words  and  phrases 
peculiar  to  themselves,  and  never  employed  by  men ;  the  reason 
being  that  the  women  are  "barred"  by  the  men.  So  in  Surinam. 
The  proper  Fijian  term  for  a  newly  circumcised  boy  is  teve,  which 
may  not  be  uttered  when  women  are  present,  in  which  case  the 
word  kula  is  used;  and  there  are  many  words  in  the  language 
which  it  is  tambu  to  utter  in  female  society.  In  Micronesia  many 
words  are  tabooed  for  men  when  conversing  with  women.  In 
Japan  female  writing  has  quite  a  different  syntax  and  many 
peculiar  idioms;  the  Japanese  alphabet  possesses  two  sets  of 
characters,  katakana  for  the  use  of  men,  and  hiragana  for  women. 
In  Fiji,  again,  women  make  their  salutations  in  different  words 
from  those  of  men.  In  the  language  of  the  Abipones  some  words 
vary  according  to  sex.  The  island  Caribs  have  two  distinct 
vocabularies,  one  used  by  men  and  by  women  when  speaking  to 
men,  the  other  used  by  women  when  speaking  to  each  other,  and 
by  men  when  repeating  in  oratio  obliqua  some  saying  of  the 
women.  Their  councils  of  war  are  held  in  a  secret  dialect  or 
jargon,  in  which  the  women  are  never  initiated.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  this  inconvenient  custom,  according  to  which  a 
Carib  needs  to  know,  like  Ennius,  three  languages,  is  due  to 
exogamy,  husband  and  wife  retaining  the  languages  of  their 
original  tribes  respectively.  This  explanation,  however,  does  not 
account  for  the  martial  dialect,  and  has  been  refuted  by  Mr. 
Im  Thurn  on  other  grounds.  Even  in  cases  where  this  explanation 
may  hold,  this  cause  is  not  the  ultimate  origin  of  the  custom,  but 
merely  carries  on  an  existing  practice.  Thus  in  some  tribes  of 
Victoria,  the  marriage-system  is  organised  exogamy,  but  the 
inconvenience  of  sexual  taboos  has  led  to  the  use  of  an  artificial 
language  or  "turn-tongue."  Similar  phenomena  occur  in  all 
stages  of  culture,  and  in  modern  Europe  sexual  separation  to 
some  extent  still  influences  popular  language,  women  and  men 
respectively  using  certain  terms  peculiar  to  each  sex. 


522  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

In  connection  with  names,  sexual  taboo  has  developed  a  pro- 
hibition which  has  had  a  peculiar  influence  upon  many  languages. 
A  Hindu  wife  is  never  allowed  to  mention  the  name  of  her  hus- 
band. She  generally  speaks  of  him,  therefore,  as  "the  master"  or 
"man  of  the  house."  Amongst  the  Barea  the  wife  may  not  utter 
her  husband's  name.  Amongst  the  Kirgiz  the  women  may  not 
utter  the  names  of  the  male  members  of  the  household,  to  do 
so  being  "indecent."  A  Zulu  woman  may  not  call  her  husband  by 
his  name,  either  when  addressing  him  or  when  speaking  of  him  to 
others;  she  must  use  the  phrase  "father  of  so-and-so."  This 
particularly  applies  to  the  i-gama  (real  name).  Further,  the 
women  may  not  use  the  interdicted  words  in  their  ordinary  sense. 
Consequently  they  are  obliged  to  alter  words  and  phrases  which 
contain  the  prohibited  sounds.  This  has  had  considerable  influ- 
ence upon  the  language,  and  the  women  have  a  large  vocabulary 
of  their  own.  Any  woman  transgressing  the  rule  is  accused  of 
witchcraft  by  the  "doctor,"  and  punished  with  death.  This  pro- 
hibition on  names  belongs  to  the  hlonipa  system,  and  the  altered 
vocabulary  of  the  women,  which  is  unintelligible  to  the  men,  is 
called  ukuteta  kzvabapzi,  "women's  language."  In  the  Solomon 
Islands  men  show  considerable  reluctance  to  give  the  names  of 
women,  and  when  prevailed  upon  to  do  so,  pronounce  them  in  a 
low  tone,  as  if  it  were  not  proper  to  speak  of  them  to  others.  In 
the  Pelew  Islands  men  are  not  allowed  to  speak  openly  of  married 
women,  nor  to  mention  their  names.  Amongst  the  Todas  there 
is  some  delicacy  in  mentioning  the  names  of  women  at  all;  they 
prefer  to  use  the  phrase  "wife  of  so-and-so."  A  Servian  never 
speaks  of  his  wife  or  daughter  before  men.  Amongst  the  Nishi- 
nams  of  California  a  husband  never  calls  his  wife  by  name  on 
any  account ;  should  he  do  so  she  has  the  right  to  get  a  divorce. 
In  this  tribe  no  one  can  be  induced  to  divulge  his  own  name. 
Dr.  Frazer  has  explained  this  widespread  reluctance;  the  name 
is  a  vital  part  of  a  man,  and  often  regarded  as  a  sort  of  soul. 
Sexual  taboo  has  used  this  idea  to  form  a  special  duty  as  between 
men  and  women,  especially  husbands  and  wives.  In  one  or  two 
cases  feelings  of  proprietary  jealousy  have  doubtless  had  some 
influence,  but  as  a  rule  the  religious  fears  as  to  sexual  relations 
have  played  the  chief  part  in  the  prohibition. 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  523 

Evidence  drawn  from  the  respective  occupations  of  the  two 
sexes  throws  further  light  upon  sexual  taboo.  Sexual  differentia- 
tion in  primary  and  secondary  sexual  characters  necessitates  some 
difference  of  occupation,  and  the  religious  ideas  of  primitive  man 
have  emphasised  the  biological  separation. 

Amongst  the  Dacotas  custom  and  superstition  ordain  that  the 
wife  must  carefully  keep  away  from  all  that  belongs  to  her 
husband's  sphere  of  action.  The  Bechuanas  never  allow  women 
to  touch  their  cattle,  accordingly  the  men  have  to  plough  them- 
selves. So  amongst  the  Kaffirs,  "because  of  some  superstition." 
Amongst  the  Todas  women  may  not  approach  the  tirieri,  where 
the  sacred  cattle  are  kept,  nor  the  sacred  palals.  In  Guiana  no 
woman  may  go  near  the  hut  where  ourali  is  made.  In  the 
Marquesas  Islands  the  use  of  canoes  is  prohibited  to  the  female 
sex  by  tabu;  the  breaking  of  the  rule  is  punished  with  death. 
Conversely,  amongst  the  same  people,  to/>a-making  belongs  ex- 
clusively to  women ;  when  they  are  making  it  for  their  own  head- 
dresses it  is  tabu  for  men  to  touch  it.  In  Nicaragua  all  the 
marketing  was  done  by  women.  A  man  might  not  enter  the 
market  or  even  see  the  proceedings,  at  the  risk  of  a  beating.  In 
New  Caledonia  it  is  considered  infra  dig.  for  the  men  to  perform 
manual  labour,  at  any  rate  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  settle- 
ment; such  work  is  done  by  women  only.  In  Samoa,  where  the 
manufacture  of  cloth  is  allotted  solely  to  the  women,  it  is  a  degra- 
dation for  a  man  to  engage  in  any  detail  of  the  process.  In  the 
Andaman  Islands  the  performance  by  men  of  duties  supposed  to 
belong  to  women  only,  is  regarded  as  infra  dig.  An  Eskimo 
thinks  it  an  indignity  to  row  in  an  umiak,  the  large  boat  used  by 
women.  The  different  offices  of  husband  and  wife  are  also  very 
clearly  distinguished ;  for  example,  when  he  has  brought  his 
booty  to  land,  it  would  be  a  stigma  on  his  character  if  he  so 
much  as  drew  a  seal  ashore,  and,  generally,  it  is  regarded  as 
scandalous  for  a  man  to  interfere  with  what  is  the  work  of 
women.  In  British  Guiana  cooking  is  the  province  of  the 
women ;  on  one  occasion  when  the  men  were  perforce  compelled 
to  bake,  they  were  only  persuaded  to  do  so  with  the  utmost 
difficulty,  and  were  ever  after  pointed  at  as  old  women.  Exactly 
the  same  feelings  subsist  in  the  highest  civilisations. 


524  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  chief  occupations  of  the  male  sex  in  those  stages  of  cul- 
ture with  which  we  have  principally  to  deal  are  hunting  and  war. 
The  supreme  importance  of  these  occasions  has  been  referred 
to  above,  and  is  expressed  by  such  terms  as  the  Polynesian  tabu. 
These  terms  generally  imply  rules  and  precautions  intended  to 
secure  the  safety  and  success  of  the  warrior  or  hunter,  which 
form  sometimes  a  sort  of  system  of  "training."  Among  these 
regulations  the  most  constant  is  that  which  prohibits  every  kind 
of  intercourse  with  the  female  sex.  Thus  in  New  Zealand  a  man 
who  has  any  important  business  on  hand,  either  in  peace  or  war, 
is  tapu  and  must  keep  from  women.  On  a  war  party  men  are 
tapu  to  women,  and  may  not  go  near  their  wives  until  the  fighting 
is  over.  In  South  Africa  before  and  during  an  expedition  men 
may  have  no  connection  with  women.  Nootka  Indians  before 
war  abstain  from  women.  In  South-East  New  Guinea  for  some 
days  before  fighting  the  men  are  "sacred,"  helega,  and  are  not 
allowed  to  see  or  approach  any  woman.  A  Samoyed  woman  is 
credited  with  the  power  of  spoiling  the  success  of  a  hunt. 
Amongst  the  Ostyaks  harm  befalls  the  hunter  either  from  the  ill- 
wishes  of  an  enemy  or  the  vicinity  of  a  woman.  Amongst  the 
Ahts  whale-fishers  must  abstain  from  women.  A  Motu  man 
before  hunting  or  fishing  is  helega;  he  may  not  see  his  wives, 
else  he  will  have  no  success.  North  American  Indians  both  before 
and  after  war  refrain  "on  religious  grounds"  from  women. 
"Contact  with  females  makes  a  warrior  laughable,  and  injures,  as 
they  believe,  his  bravery  for  the  future."  Accordingly  the  chiefs 
of  the  Iroquois,  for  instance,  remain  as  a  rule  unmarried  until 
they  have  retired  from  active  warfare.  The  Damaras  may  not 
look  upon  a  lying-in  woman,  else  they  will  become  weak  and  con- 
sequently be  killed  in  battle.  In  the  Booandik  tribe  if  men  see 
women's  blood  they  will  not  be  able  to  fight.  In  some  South 
American  tribes  the  presence  of  a  woman  lately  confined  makes 
the  weapons  of  the  men  weak,  and  the  same  belief  extends 
amongst  the  Tschutsches  to  hunting  and  fishing  implements. 
Amongst  the  Zulus  women  may  not  go  near  the  army  when 
about  to  set  out.  Old  women,  however,  who  are  past  child-bear- 
ing may  do  so;  for  such  "have  become  men"  and  "no  longer 
observe  the  customs  of  hlonipa  in  relation  to  the  men." 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  525 

Woman  has  generally  been  debarred  more  or  less  from  the 
public  life  and  civil  rights  of  men.  This  is  an  extension  of  the 
biological  difference  of  occupation,  sometimes  exaggerated  into 
seclusion  amongst  polygamous  races,  and  into  somewhat  of  in- 
feriority in  martial  and  feudal  societies.  We  may  instance,  to 
go  no  further,  the  Australian  natives,  the  Fijians,  who  have 
religious  grounds  for  the  exclusion,  the  Sumatrans,  the  Hindus 
and  Muhammadans,  and  most  civilised  nations. 

Again,  women  are  more  often  than  not,  excluded  from  the 
religious  worship  of  the  community.  The  Arabs  of  Mecca  will 
not  allow  women  religious  instruction,  because  "it  would  bring 
them  too  near  their  masters."  According  to  some  theologians  of 
Islam,  they  have  no  place  in  Paradise.  The  Ansayrees  consider 
woman  to  be  an  inferior  being  without  a  soul,  and  "therefore 
compel  her  to  do  all  the  drudgery  and  exclude  her  from  religious 
services."  In  the  Sandwich  Islands  women  were  not  allowed  to 
share  in  worship  or  festivals,  and  their  touch  "polluted"  offerings 
to  the  gods.  If  a  Hindu  woman  touches  an  image,  its  divinity  is 
thereby  destroyed  and  it  must  be  thrown  away.  The  Australians 
are  very  jealous  lest  women  or  strangers  should  intrude  upon 
their  sacred  mysteries :  it  is  death  for  a  woman  to  look  into  a  bora. 
In  Fiji  women  are  kept  away  from  all  worship;  dogs  are  excluded 
from  some  temples,  women  from  all.  In  the  Gilbert  and  Marshall 
Islands  and  in  Tonga,  women  are  excluded  from  worship.  The 
women  of  the  hill  tribes  near  Rajmahal  may  not  sacrifice  nor 
appear  at  shrines,  nor  take  part  in  religious  festivals.  Amongst 
the  Tschuwashes  women  dare  not  assist  at  sacrifices.  Bayeye 
women  may  not  enter  the  place  of  sacrifice,  which  is  the  centre 
of  tribal  life.  Amongst  the  Gallas  women  may  not  go  near  the 
sacred  woda-tree  where  worship  is  celebrated.  On  the  east  of 
the  Gulf  of  Papua  women  are  not  allowed  to  approach  the  temple. 
In  New  Ireland  women  may  not  enter  the  temples.  In  the  Mar- 
quesas Islands  the  hoolah-hoolah  ground,  where  festivals  are 
held,  is  tabu  to  women,  who  are  killed  if  they  enter  or  even  touch 
with  their  feet  the  shadow  of  the  trees. 

Festivals  and  feasts,  dances  and  entertainments  of  various 
character,  are  similarly  often  prohibited  to  women.  In  the 
Schingu  tribes  of  Brazil  women  may  not  be  present  at  the  dances 


526  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  feasts.  In  New  Britain  women  are  not  allowed  to  be  present 
at  the  festivals,  and  when  men  are  talking  of  things  which  women 
may  not  hear,  the  latter  must  leave  the  hut.  Amongst  the  Ahts 
women  are  never  invited  to  the  great  feasts.  Amongst  the  Aleuts 
the  women  have  dances  from  which  the  men  are  excluded;  the 
men  have  their  dances  and  exclude  women.  It  is  regarded  as  a 
fatal  mischance  to  see  on  these  occasions  one  of  the  opposite  sex. 
Similar  exclusion  of  women  from  what  is  regarded  as  not  being 
their  sphere  is  indeed  very  widely  spread,  and  is  of  course  found 
in  the  highest  civilizations 

In  the  next  place  we  have  to  consider  the  very  widely  spread 
rule  which  insists  upon  the  separation  of  the  sexes,  so  far  as  is 
possible,  at  those  functional  crises  with  which  sex  is  con- 
cerned. It  is  a  special  result  of  the  ideas  of  sexual  taboo 
applied  to  the  most  obvious  sexual  differences,  primary  sexual 
characters. 

During  pregnancy  there  is  sometimes  avoidance  between  the 
wife  and  the  husband,  as  in  the  Caroline  Islands,  where  men 
may  not  eat  with  their  wives  during  pregnancy,  and  in  Fiji 
where  a  pregnant  woman  may  not  wait  upon  her  husband. 

At  birth,  though  there  are  a  few  cases  where  the  husband 
attends  or  assists  his  wife,  the  general  rule  throughout  the  peoples 
of  the  world  is  that  only  the  female  sex  may  be  present.  Thus  in 
Buru  only  old  women  may  be  in  the  room.  In  South  Africa  the 
husband  may  not  see  his  wife  while  she  is  lying-in.  Amongst 
the  Basutos  the  father  is  separated  from  mother  and  child  for 
four  days,  and  may  not  see  them  until  the  medicine  man  has 
performed  the  religious  ceremony  of  "absolution  of  the  man  and 
wife."  If  this  were  neglected,  it  is  believed  that  he  would  die 
when  he  saw  his  wife. 

At  puberty  it  is  a  widespread  rule  that  neither  sex  may  see 
the  other.  Amongst  the  Narrinyeri  boys  during  initiation  are 
called  narumbe,  i.  e,  sacred  from  the  touch  of  women,  and  every- 
thing that  they  possess  or  obtain  becomes  narumbe  also.  Amongst 
the  Basutos  no  woman  may  come  near  the  boys  during  initiation. 
In  New  Ireland  girls  may  not  be  seen  by  any  males  except  rela- 
tives from  puberty  to  marriage,  during  which  time  they  are 
kept  in  cages 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  527 

Even  at  marriage  there  is  a  good  deal  of  separation  of  the 
sexes,  and  actually  of  the  bride  and  bridegroom  for  as  long  as 
possible.  Thus  in  Amboina  none  but  women  may  enter  the  room 
where  the  bride  sits  in  state.  In  the  Watubella  Islands  the  men 
stand  on  one  side  with  the  groom  and  the  women  on  the  other 
with  the  bride.  The  feast  is  in  two  parts;  the  groom  and  the 
men  eat  their  "breakfast"  separately,  and  then  the  bride  and  the 
women  fall  to.  At  marriage- feasts  amongst  the  Jews  of  Jeru- 
salem the  men  sit  on  one  side  with  the  bridegroom,  while  the 
bride  and  the  women  occupy  the  opposite  side  of  the  room.  And 
generally,  at  marriage,  the  bride  is  escorted  by  women,  and  the 
bridegroom  by  men. 

In  these  cases  there  is  avoidance  between  the  sexes  at  sexual 
crises,  as  a  rule  more  emphasised  than  that  during  ordinary  life. 
The  question  may  be  asked — is  the  latter  prohibition  merely  an 
extension  of  the  former?  When  we  penetrate  to  the  ideas  lying 
behind  both,  we  shall  -find  these  to  be  identical,  and  of  such  a 
specific  character  and  universal  extension  that  we  must  suppose 
the  sex-taboos  imposed  at  sexual  crises  to  be  simply  emphasised 
results  of  these  ideas,  though,  as  always,  such  results  become 
through  the  very  continuance  of  the  phenomena  to  which  they 
apply,  further  causes  for  the  support  of  these  ideas.  Not  to 
anticipate  what  will  be  treated  of  later,  it  may  be  pointed  out  first 
that  perhaps  the  most  widely  spread  and  the  most  stringent  of  all 
sex-taboos  has  nothing  to  do  with  sexual  functions — this  is  the 
prohibition  against  eating  together.  In  the  second  place,  in  order 
rightly  to  estimate  the  whole  of  the  evidence,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  these  sexual  functions  are  parallel  to  the  various 
occupations  of  the  respective  sexes :  in  biology  and  in  primitive 
thought  child-bearing  is  as  much  a  feminine  occupation  as  is  the 
preparation  of  meals,  and  the  confirmation  of  a  boy  as  much  of 
a  male  occupation  as  is  warfare  or  the  chase.  Also,  it  is  clear 
from  a  survey  of  the  various  cases  of  sexual  taboo,  first,  that  the 
avoidance  is  of  the  religious  and  taboo  character;  secondly,  that 
men  and  women  are  afraid  of  dangerous  results  from  each  other 
— the  fact  that  we  see  more  of  the  man's  side  of  the  question  is 
an  instance  of  the  way  in  which  the  male  sex  has  practically 
monopolised  the  expression  of  thought;  and  thirdly,  that  where 


528  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

one  sex  or  the  other  is  particularly  liable  to  danger,  as  men  at 
war,  or  women  at  child-birth,  more  care  is  naturally  taken  to 
prevent  injury  from  the  other  sex. 

In  the  taboos  against  eating  together,  we  shall  see  an  expres- 
sion of  that  almost  universal  preference  for  solitude,  while 
important  physiological  functions  are  proceeding,  due  ultimately 
to  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  in  the  form  of  subconscious 
physiological  thought  arising  from  those  functions ;  and  in  the 
taboos  against  one  or  the  other  sex  in  sexual  crises  the  same 
preference  is  seen,  commuted  by  sexual  solidarity  to  a  preference 
for  the  presence  of  the  same  sex;  and  in  all  forms  of  the  taboo 
it  is  evident  that  to  a  religious  regard  for  personal  security,  there 
has  been  applied  a  religious  diffidence  concerning  persons  who 
are  more  or  less  unknown,  different  from  what  is  normal,  differ- 
ent from  one's  self. 

So  far,  then,  we  may  take  it  that  the  complementary  difference 
of  sex,  producing  by  physiological  laws  a  certain  difference  of 
life  no  less  than  of  function,  came  in  an  early  stage  of  mental 
development  to  be  accentuated  by  religious  ideas,  which  thus 
enforced  more  strongly  such  separation  as  is  due  to  nature.  The 
separation  thus  accentuated  by  religious  conceptions  as  to  sexual 
difference,  is  assisted  by  the  natural  solidarity  of  each  sex,  until 
there  is,  as  we  find  so  very  generally,  a  prohibition  or  sex-taboo 
more  or  less  regularly  imposed  throughout  life 

....  If  we  compare  the  facts  of  social  taboo  generally  or  of 
its  subdivision,  sexual  taboo,  we  find  that  the  ultimate  test  of 

human  relations,  in  both  genus  and  species,  is  contact 

Throughout  the  world,  the  greeting  of  a  friend  is  expressed  by 
contact,  whether  it  be  nose-rubbing,  or  the  kiss,  the  embrace, 
or  the  clasp  of  hands ;  so  the  ordinary  expression  of  friendship 
by  a  boy,  that  eternal  savage,  is  contact  of  arm  and  shoulder. 
More  interesting  still,  for  our  purpose,  is  the  universal  expression 
by  contact,  of  the  emotion  of  love 

On  the  other  hand,  the  avoidance  of  contact,  whether  con- 
sciously or  subconsciously  presented,  is  no  less  the  universal  char- 
acteristic of  human  relations,  where  similarity,  harmony,  friend- 
ship, or  love  is  absent.  This  appears  in  the  attitude  of  men  to  the 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  529 

sick,  to  strangers,  distant  acquaintances,  enemies,  and  in  cases  of 
difference  of  age,  position,  sympathies  or  aims,  and  even  of  sex. 
Popular  language  is  full  of  phrases  which  illustrate  this  feeling. 

Again,  the  pathology  of  the  emotions  supplies  many  curious 
cases,  where  the  whole  being  seems  concentrated  upon  the  sense 
of  touch,  with  abnormal  desire  or  disgust  for  contact ;  and  in  the 
evolution  of  the  emotions  from  physiological  pleasure  and  pain, 
contact  plays  an  important  part  in  connection  with  functional 
satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction  with  the  environment. 

In  the  next  place  there  are  the  facts,  first,  that  an  element  of 
thought  inheres  in  all  sensation,  while  sensation  conditions 
thought ;  and  secondly,  that  there  is  a  close  connection  of  all  the 
senses,  both  in  origin,  each  of  them  being  a  modification  of  the 
one  primary  sense  of  touch,  and  in  subsequent  development, 
where  the  specialised  organs  are  still  co-ordinated  through  tactile 
sensation,  in  the  sensitive  surface  of  organism.  Again,  and  here 
we  can  see  the  genesis  of  ideas  of  contact,  it  is  by  means  of  the 
tactile  sensibility  of  the  skin  and  membranes  of  sense-organs, 
forming  a  sensitised  as  well  as  a  protecting  surface,  that  the 
nervous  system  conveys  to  the  brain  information  about  the  ex- 
ternal world,  and  this  information  is  in  its  original  aspect  the 
response  to  impact.  Primitive  physics,  no  less  than  modern, 
recognises  that  contact  is  a  modified  form  of  a  blow.  These 
considerations  show  that  contact  not  only  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  life  of  the  soul,  but  must  have  had  a  profound  influence  on 
the  development  of  ideas,  and  it  may  now  be  assumed  that  ideas 
of  contact  have  been  a  universal  and  original  constant  factor  in 
human  relations,  and  that  they  are  so  still.  The  latter  assumption 
is  to  be  stressed,  because  we  find  that  the  ideas  which  lie  beneath 
primitive  taboo  are  still  a  vital  part  of  human  nature,  though 
mostly  emptied  of  their  religious  content;  and  also  because,  as  I 
hold,  ceremonies  and  etiquette  such  as  still  obtain,  could  not 
possess  such  vitality  as  they  do,  unless  there  were  a  living  psycho- 
logical force  behind  them,  such  as  we  find  in  elementary  ideas 

which     come     straight     from     functional     processes — E. 

CRAWLEY,  The  Mystic  Rose,  33-58;  76-78  (Macmillan,  1902). 


Westermarck's  volume  on  marriage  is  among  the 
works  which  should  be  read  entire.  I  have  made  several 
selections  from  this  work,  but  they  may  be  taken  as 
indicating  its  importance  without  adequately  repre- 
senting it. 

For  some  years  following  the  appearance  of  Wester- 
marck's views  it  was  rather  generally  admitted  by  stu- 
dents of  early  marriage  that  he  had  finally  disposed  of 
the  older  theory  of  Lubbock  that  the  original  form  of 
marriage  was  communistic.  Lubbock  held  that  exog- 
amy, or  the  practice  of  marrying  outside  the  clan, 
originated  in  the  fact  that  no  man  had  any  particular 
claim  on  any  woman  in  his  group,  she  being  a  common 
possession,  and  that  in  order  to  get  a  particular  wife  a 
man  was  obliged  to  capture  her  outside  the  clan.  But 
more  recently  Spencer  and  Gillen  have  found  in  central 
Australia  something  which  looks  very  much  like  what 
Lubbock  assumed,  and  their  argument  for  an  early  state 
of  promiscuity  is  quoted  in  part  above. 

This  whole  question  is  still  very  obscure.  Wester- 
marck's view  that  "marriage  was  transmitted  to  man 
from  some  ape-like  ancestor  and  there  never  was  a  time 
when  it  did  not  occur  in  the  human  race,"  and  that 
"there  is  not  a  shred  of  evidence  that  promiscuity  ever 
formed  a  general  stage  in  the  social  history  of  man- 
kind," is  probably  substantially  sound.  Man  is  funda- 
mentally a  jealous  animal.  The  strange  lack  of  sexual 
jealousy  among  the  Australians  and  Todas  is  not  a 
natural  trait  but  a  socially  induced  condition,  similar  in 

53° 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  531 

its  psychology  to  the  food  inhibitions  of  the  Australians 
and  the  buffalo  ceremonial  of  the  Todas,  so  minutely 
described  by  Rivers.  We  may,  therefore,  agree  with 
Westermarck  that  man  had  already  a  monogamous,  or 
at  least  a  polygynous,  tendency  when  emerging  from 
the  instinctive  and  brute  condition.  But  as  he  came  into 
possession  of  a  characteristic  human  mind,  with  reflec- 
tion and  imagination,  as  modesty,  clothing,  and  social 
inhibitions  were  developed,  he  began  to  make  the  sexual 
interest  a  play  interest,  and  this  the  animals  have  never 
done.  They  have  a  pairing  season,  and  man  has  not. 
And  as  the  regulation  of  sexual  life  became  less  instinc- 
tive and  more  reflective  and  social  very  contradictory 
practices  arose;  and  by  the  operation  of  the  law  of 
habit,  these  became  very  rigid  in  particular  groups. 
Among  these  conditions  is  the  one  of  approximate  com- 
munism in  marriage  described  by  Spencer  and  Gillen, 
but  I  think  they  are  wrong  in  regarding  this  as  vestigial 
— a  remnant  of  an  antecedent  condition  of  promis- 
cuity. The  best  comment,  indeed,  which  can  be  made 
on  their  position  is  the  passage  on  food  regulations 
among  the  Australians,  printed  in  Part  II  above.  These 
food  practices  represent  a  highly  and  particularly  elabo- 
rated code,  worked  out  in  a  particular  environment,  in 
connection  with  the  particular  experiences  and  acts  of 
attention  of  a  particular  people.  They  do  indicate  that 
communistic  rather  than  individualistic  food  practices 
are  more  favorable  to  life  in  an  early  stage  of  society, 
but  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  peculiar  adaptations,  not 
as  vestiges. 

The  passage  from  Rivers  on  the  Todas  is  also  sig- 
nificant in  this  connection.  If  Rivers  had  been  inclined 
to  do  so  he  could  have  made  out  a  very  good  case  for 


532  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

polyandry  as  the  original  and  once  universal  form  of 
marriage.  Woman  is  more  stationary  than  man,  more 
confined  to  one  spot  by  the  child,  and  less  actively  inter- 
ested than  man  in  marriage.  It  is  also  well  known  that 
in  early  times  she  refused  to  follow  the  man  to  his  home, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  settle  in  hers.  In  ancient  Arabia 
and  elsewhere  the  woman  sometimes  remained  at  home 
and  entertained  a  succession  of  husbands;  and  the 
women  of  the  Jahiliya  Arabs  had  the  habit  of  dismiss- 
ing their  husbands  by  turning  the  tent  around,  "so  that 
if  it  had  faced  east  it  now  faced  west,  and  when  the 
man  saw  this  he  knew  that  he  was  dismissed,  and  did 
not  enter."  But  to  argue  from  this  and  similar  evi- 
dence that  polyandry  was  at  one  time  universal  and 
that  its  present  forms  are  vestigial,  would  be  quite 
wrong.  The  group-marriage  of  the  Arunta  and  the 
even  stranger  polyandry  of  the  Todas  are  particular 
expressions  of  the  "mores,"  not  signs  of  universal 
stages.  In  this  respect  they  resemble  our  "table  man- 
ners." 

With  regard  to  the  singular  practice  on  which  Spen- 
cer and  Gillen  have  put  so  much  stress — the  accessi- 
bility at  certain  times  of  women  to  men  whom  they  are 
not  permitted  by  the  tribal  rules  to  marry,  I  have  else- 
where expressed  a  view  ("Der  Ursprung  der  Exoga- 
mie,"  Zeits.  fur  Sociahvissenschaft,  5:1-18)  that  this 
is  connected  with  a  transition  to  exogamy,  and  with  the 
interest  of  man  in  the  unfamiliar.  An  abridged  trans- 
lation of  this  paper,  entitled  "The  Psychology  of 
Exogamy,"  is  indicated  in  the  bibliography  below. 

Since  I  have  drawn  particular  attention  to  the  merit 
of  Westermarck's  work  I  may  add  that  the  reader  will 
f  nd  his  great  defect  in  his  method  of  regarding  certain 


SEX  AND  MARRIAGE  533 

practices  as  vestiges  of  assumed  antecedent  conditions 
of  whose  existence  these  so-called  vestiges  are  the 
guarantee.  This  is,  in  fact,  the  same  defect  as  that  to 
which  I  have  alluded  in  the  argument  of  Spencer  and 
Gillen.  To  note  only  a  single  instance,  Westermarck 
has  collected  many  pages  of  what  he  calls  survivals 
from  a  period  of  marriage  by  capture.  But  there  is 
good  reason  to  think  that  marriage  by  capture  was  never 
a  general  practice.  See  the  remarks  on  this  point  by 
Spencer  and  Gillen  above.  And  the  alleged  survivals 
of  capture  in  historical  times,  of  which  Westermarck 
makes  so  much,  are  probably  to  be  regarded  merely  as 
systematized  expressions  of  the  coyness  of  the  female, 
differing  in  no  essential  respect  from  the  coyness  of  the 
female  bird  at  the  pairing  season.  It  became  "good 
form"  and  a  trait  of  modesty  in  a  girl  not  to  yield  with- 
out a  show  of  avoidance,  and  under  these  conditions 
ceremonial  avoidance  became  elaborate.  But  it  does 
not  lead  us  back  to  a  condition  of  actual  capture.  The 
theory  of  Koenigswarter  and  Spencer,  adopted  by 
Westermarck,  that  marriage  by  purchase  was  developed 
from  marriage  by  capture  (the  purchase  price  being 
originally  a  fine  paid  by  the  captor  to  the  outraged 
father)  is  far-fetched.  If  the  lowest  savages  have  not 
the  idea  of  regular  barter,  they  have,  as  shown  in  Part 
I  by  Biicher  and  by  Westermarck  here,  the  idea  of 
giving  and  receiving  presents.  Now  one  of  the  earliest 
means  of  securing  a  wife  was  by  exchange.  Curr  (The 
Australian  Race,  1:107)  says:  "The  Australian  male 
almost  invariably  obtains  his  wife  or  wives  either  as 
the  survivor  of  a  married  brother,  or  in  exchange  for 
his  sisters,  or  later  in  life  for  his  daughters."  Gifts  in 
general  develop  into  barter,  and  exchange  of  women  de- 


534  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

velops  into  purchase,  without  any  assumption  of  capture. 
But  I  do  not  even  think  that  exchange  of  wives  always 
preceded  purchase.  Food  and  service  were  other  origi- 
nal means  of  compensation. 

In  Crawley's  Mystic  Rose  and  also  in  van  Gennep's 
Rites  de  passage  (listed  in  the  bibliography  of  Part  VI) 
there  is  also  evidence  that  this  natural  tendency  to 
avoidance  was  complicated  by  the  idea  that  ill-luck  con- 
nected with  crises,  especially  with  contact  of  the  sexes, 
could  be  transferred  or  avoided  by  magical  practice,  and 
rites  originating  in  this  connection  resemble  capture. 

The  selection  from  Crawley  printed  here  elaborates 
one  of  the  fundamental  causes  of  the  present  great  dis- 
parity in  the  interests  of  men  and  women.  His  whole 
book  is  instructive,  but  he  is  possessed  with  the  idea 
that  magic  is  at  the  root  of  many  if  not  the  most  of  mar- 
riage practices,  and  he  often  slips  in  the  magical,  second- 
ary, and  particularistic  explanation  where  it  does  not 
belong. 

In  the  passage  from  Spencer  there  are  several  fanci- 
ful inferences.  There  is  no  reason  to  conclude  that  the 
fertility  of  wromen  is  more  closely  connected  with 
monogamy  than  with  polygyny.  That  primitive  women 
received  such  brutal  treatment  from  men  as  to  interfere 
with  child-bearing  is  more  than  doubtful.  Primitive 
women  were  not  greatly  abused,  and  they  were  more 
prolific  than  the  more  artificially  protected  woman  of 
the  present.  The  statement  also  that  "the  monogamic 
relation  in  a  high  degree  favors  preservation  of  life 
after  the  reproductive  period  is  passed,"  has  nothing  in 
its  favor.  Nowhere  in  the  white  world  are  aged  par- 
ents in  general  treated  with  so  great  consideration  as  in 
China,  and  China  is  not  distinguished  for  its  monogamy. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY    4 

1  ANGUS,  H.  C.     "The  'Chensamwali,'  or  Initiation  Ceremony  of  Girls, 
as  Performed  in  Azimba  Land,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  30:479-82. 

2  BEAUCHAMP,  W.  M.     "Iroquois  Women,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  13: 
81-91. 

3  BEI,  MUSTAFA.     "Die  mohammedanische  Frau,"  Globus,  66 : 140-43. 

4  BOSANQUET,  H.     The  Family.    New  York,  1906. 

5  CAMPBELL,  H.    Differences  in  the  Nervous  Organisation  of  Man  and 
Woman.     London,  1891. 

6  CHAMBERLAIN,  A.  F.    ''Primitive  Woman  as  Poet,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk- 
Lore,  16:205-21. 

*7  CRAWLEY,  A.  E.     The  Mystic  Rose:  A  Study  of  Primitive  Marriage. 

London,  1902. 
*8  CRAWLEY,  A.  E.     "Sexual  Taboo :  A  Study  in  the  Relations  of  the 

Sexes,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  24:116-25;  219-35;  430-46. 
9  BANKS,  B.     "Marriage  Customs  of  the  North  Britain  Group,"  Jour. 

Anth.  Inst.,  18:281-94. 

*ga  DARGUN,  L.    Mutterrecht  und  Vatcrrecht.    Leipzig,  1892. 
*io  DORSEY,  J.   O.     "Omaha   Sociology,"   Bur.  Amer.   Ethn.,  Ann  Rep., 
3:252-75.     [Marriage  and  domestic  life,] 

11  DURKHEIM,  E.    "La  prohibition  de  1'inceste  et  ses  origines,"  L'Annce 
sociologique,  1 :  1-70. 

12  DYER,  T.  F.    Folk- Lore  of  Women.    London,  1905. 

*i3  ELLIS,   H.   H.     Man  and   Woman:   A   Study  of  Human  Secondary 

Characters.    London,  1904. 
14  ENJOY,    P.    D'.     "La   femme,"    Soc.   d'anth.   de   Paris,   Bui.,   4   ser., 

8:59-63. 
140  FRAZIER,  J.  G.     Totemism  and  Exogamy.    New  York. 

[Announced.] 
*I5  GALTON,  F.    "Eugenics:  Its  Definition,  Scope,  and  Aims,"  Am.  Jour. 

Social.,  10:1-25. 
*i6  GALTON,  F.    "Studies  in  Eugenics,"  Am.  Jour.  Social.,  11:11-25. 

[The  papers  of  the  Laboratory  of  Eugenics,  founded  by  Galton,  are  published 
by  Dulau  &  Co.,  37  Soho  Sq.,  London.] 

17  GARNETT,  L.  M.  J.    The  Women  of  Turkey.    London,  1893.    2  v.  in  r. 

535 


536  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*i8  GEDDES,  P.,  AND  THOMPSON,  J.  A.  The  Evolution  of  Sex.  London, 
1889. 

19  GENNEP,  A.  VAN.    Les  rites  de  passage.    Paris,  1909. 

[Pp.  57-92,  on  the  ritualism  of  child-birth,  puberty,  etc.] 

20  GRINNELL,  G.  B.     "Cheyenne  Woman  Customs,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.   S., 
4:03-16. 

21  GRINNELL,  G.   B.     "Marriage  among  the   Pawnees,"  Am.  Anth.,  4: 
275-81- 

22  HADDON,  A.  C.    "Courtship  and  Marriage,"  Cambridge  Anth.  Expedi- 
tion to  Torres  Straits,  Reports,  5:222-32;  6:112-19. 

23  HAMILTON,  A.  G.    "Customs  of  the  New  Caledonian  Women,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  7^206,  207. 

24  HARTMANN,  M.     "Die  Frau  in  Islam,"  Zeits.  des  Vereins  f.   Volks- 
kunde,  ii :  237-52. 

*25  HOBHOUSE,  L.  T.  Morals  in  Evolution,  "Marriage  and  the  Position 
of  Women,"  1:134-77;  "Women  in  the  Civilized  World,"  1:178-239. 

*26  HOWARD,  G.  E.  A  History  of  Matrimonial  Institutions,  Chiefly  in 
England  and  the  United  States,  With  an  Introductory  Analysis  of 
the  Literature  and  Theories  of  Primitive  Marriage  and  the  Family. 
Chicago,  1904.  3  v. 

[A  monumental  work  of  unique  value  for  historical  and  modern  times.] 
27v  HOWITT,  A.  W.     The  Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Australia,  "Mar- 
riage Rules,"  173-204. 

28  IGUCHI.     "Wenig  bekannte  japanische  Hochzeitbrauche,"  Globus,  68: 
270-72. 

29  JACOBOWSKI,  L.    "Das  Weib  in  der  Poesie  der  Hottentotten,"  Globus, 
70:173-76. 

30  KLUGMANN,  N.    Die  Frau  im  Talmud.    Wien,  1898. 

300  KOHLER,  J.  Zur  Urgeschichte  der  Ehe,  Totemismus,  Gruppenehe, 

Mutterrecht.  Stuttgart,  1897. 

31  KOVALEVSKY,  M.     La    famille    matriarcale    au    Caucase,"    L'Anth., 
4:259-78. 

32  KOVALEVSKY,  M.    Tableau  des  origines  et  de  revolution  de  la  famille 
et  de  la  propriete.     Stockholm,  1890. 

33  KUCHLER,  L.  W.    "Marriage  in  Japan,"  Trans.  Asiatic  Soc.  of  Japan, 
13:114-38. 

330  LASCH,  R.     "Der  Selbstmord  aus  erotischen  Motiven  bei  den  pri- 
mitiven   Volkern,"   Zeits.  fitr  Socialzvissenschaft,   2:578-85. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  537 

34  LEJEUNE,  M.  C.     "La  representation  sexuelle  en  art  et  pedagogic," 
Sdc.  d'anth.,  Bui.,  5  series,  2: 465-81. 

35  LETOURNEAU,   C.     The  Evolution   of  Marriage  and  of  the  Family. 
(Translation.)     New  York,   1891. 

36  LETOURNEAU,  C.     "La  femme  a  travers  ks  ages,"  Rev.  mensuelle  de 
I'ecole  d'anth.,  10:273-90. 

37  MCLENNAN,  J.  F.    Studies  in  Ancient  History.    London,  1896. 

38  MANOUVRIER,    L.      "Conclusions    generates    sur    1'anthropologie    des 
sexes    et    applications    sociales,"   Rev.   mensuelle   de   I'ecole   d'anth., 
13:405-23;   16:249-60. 

39  MARION,  H.    Psychologic  de  la  femme.    Paris,  1900. 

*39a  MASON,  O.  T.     Woman's  Share  in  Primitive  Culture.     New  York, 
1905. 

40  MATTHEWS,  R.   H.     Marriage   and   Descent   in  the   Arranda   Tribe, 
Central  Australia,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  10:88-102. 

41  MAYER,  A.    "Zur  Frauenfrage,"  Zeits.  f.  Socialwissenschaft,  12 : 1-19. 

42  MONTGOMERY,  TH.  H.     "The  Morphological  Superiority  of  the  Fe- 
male Sex,"  Amer.  Philos.  Soc.,  Proc.,  43:365-80. 

*43  MORGAN,  L.  H.     Ancient  Society,  "Growth  of  the  Idea  of  Family," 
383-449. 

44  NIEBOER,  H.  J.     "Der  'Malthusianismus'  der  Naturvolkef,"  Zeits.  f. 
Socialwissenschaft,  6:715-18. 

45  PARSONS,  E.  C.     The  Family.    New  York,  1906. 

46  PEAL,  S.  E.    "On  the  'Morong'  as  Possibly  a  Relic  of  Pre-Marriage 
Communism,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  22:244-61. 

*47  PLOSS,  H.    Das  Weib  in  der  Natur-  und  Volkerkunde.    Leipzig,  1902. 

2  V. 

[The   greatest   collection   of   ethnological   materials   apart   from    theory.] 
470  POMMMEROL,  J.    Among  the  Women  of  the  Sahara.     (Translation.) 
London,  1900. 

48  POST,  A.  H.    "Ueber  die  Sitte,  nach  welcher  Verlobte  und  Ehegatten 
ihre  gegenseitigen  Verwandten  meiden,"  Globus,  67:174-77. 

49  RAMABAI,  PUNDITA.     The  High-Caste  Hindu   Woman.     Philadelphia, 
1888. 

*5O  RATZEL,  F.     History  of  Mankind,  "Family  and  Social  Customs,"  i : 

114-28. 
51  RHAMM,  K.     "Der  Verkehr  der  Geschlechter  unter  den   Slaven   in 

seinen    gegensatzlichen    Erscheinungen,"    Globus,   82:103-8;    186-93; 

271-79;  320-25. 
*52  RIVERS,  W.  H.  R.     "The  Regulation  of  Marriage,"  "Kinship,"  Cam- 


538  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

bridge  Anth.  Expedition  to  Torres  Straits,  Rep.,  5:129-42;  233-47; 
6:  92-101 ;  120-25. 
*53  RIVERS,  W.  H.  R.     The  Todas,  "Marriage,"  502-39. 

54  ROTH,  H.  L.     "On  the  Signification  of  Couvade,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst., 
22:204-41. 

55  SABATIER,  C.    "Etude  sur  la  femme  Kabyle,"  Rev.  d'anth.,  12 : 56-69. 

56  SCHLEGEL,  G.    La  femme  chinoisc.    Leiden,  1896. 

57  SCHMIDT,  R.    Liebe  und  Ehe  im  alien  und  moderncn  Indien.    Berlin, 
1904. 

58  SCHREIBER,  M.    Buddha  und  die  Frauen.    Leipzig,  1903. 

59  SCHWEIGER-LERCHENFELD,  A.   VON.     Die  Frauen  des   Orients  in  der 
Geschichte,  in  der  Dichtung  und  im  Leben.    Wien,  1903. 

*6o  SELIGMAN,  C.  G.  "Birth  and  Childhood  Customs,"  "Women  and 
Puberty  Customs,"  Cambridge  Anth.  Expedition  to  Torres  Straits, 
Rep.,  5 : 194-207. 

61  SIM  MEL,  G.     "Zur  Psychologic  der  Frauen,"  Zeits.  f.   Volker psycho- 
logic und  Sprachzvissenschaft,  20:  6-46. 

*62  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.  Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "Birth- 
Customs  and  Beliefs,"  2 : 1-27 ;  "Marriage  Customs  and  Beliefs," 
2:55-88- 

*63  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.  The  Native  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  "Certain  Ceremonies  Concerned  with  Marriage,"  92-111; 
"Methods  of  Obtaining  Wives,"  554-60. 

*64  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.  The  Northern  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  "Marriage  Ceremonies  and  Other  Customs,"  133-42. 

65  SPENCER,  H.     The  Principles  of  Sociology,  "Domestic   Institutions," 
i : 603-76. 

66  STARCKE,  C.  N.     The  Primitive  Family  in  Its  Origin  and  Develop- 
ment.    New  York,  1889. 

67  STEVENS,   H.   V.     "Mittheilungen    aus    dem   Frauenleben    der    Orang 
Bfilendas,  ....,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  28:163-202. 

*68  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.  "Die  neuern  Forschungen  zur  Geschichte  der 
menschlichen  Familie,"  Zcits.  f.  Sodahvissenschaft,  2:685-95;  809-26. 

*69  STOLL,  O.  Das  Geschlechtsleben  in  der  Volkerpsychologie.  Leipzig, 
1908. 

70  TAKAISHI,  SH.     Japans  Frauen  und  Frauenmoral.     Rostock,  1905. 

71  TANNER,  A.    "The  Community  of  Ideas  of  Men  and  Women,"  Psych. 
Rev.,  3 : 548-50. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  539 

72  THOMAS,   N.    W.     Kinship    Organisations   and   Group   Marriage   in 
Australia.    Cambridge,  1906. 

73  THOMAS,  W.  I.    Sex  and  Society.    Chicago,  1907. 

[Contains  paper  on  exogamy.] 

75  TUFTS,  J.  H.     "On  the  Psychology  of  the  Family,"  Psych.  Bui.,  4: 
371-74- 

76  TYLOR,  E.  B.    "The  Matriarchal  Family  System,"  Nineteenth  Century, 
40 : 81-96. 

77  VEBLEN,  T.     "The  Barbarian  Status  of  Women,"  Am.  Jour.  Social., 
4:503-14. 

78  VOTH,   H.   R.     "Oraibi   Marriage   Customs,"   Am.   Anth.,   N.   S.,   2: 
238-46. 

79  WALHOUSE,   M.   J.     "A   Hindu   Prophetess,"   Jour.   Anth.   Inst.,   14: 
187-92. 

*79a  WESTERMARCK,  E.  The  History  of  Human  Marriage.  London,  1891. 
*8o  WESTERMARCK,  E.  "Die  Pflichten  des  Mannes  gegen  Frau  und 

Kinder  bei  den  Naturvolkern,"  Zeits.  f.  Sociahvissenschaft,  9:555-60. 
*8r  WESTERMARCK,  E.  The  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Moral  Ideas, 

"The  Subjection  of  Wives,"  1:629-69. 

82  WILSER,  L.    "Die  Frauenfrage  im  Lichte  der  Anthropologie,"  Globus, 
72:331-36. 

83  WILUTSKY,  P.    Mann  und  Wcib.    Breslau,  1903. 


PART  V 
ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION 

[POINT  OF  VIEW  FOR  STUDY  OF  PRIMITIVE  ART] 

....  When  difficult  problems  have  to  be  investigated  the 
most  satisfactory  method  of  procedure  is  to  reduce  them  to  their 
simplest  elements,  and  to  deal  with  the  latter  before  studying 
their  more  complex  aspects.  The  physiology  of  the  highest 
animals  is  being  elucidated  largely  by  investigations  upon  the 
physiology  of  lower  forms,  and  that  of  the  latter  in  their  turn 
by  a  knowledge  of  the  activities  of  the  lowest  organisms.  It 
is  among  these  that  the  phenomena  of  life  are  displayed  in  their 
least  complex  manifestations;  and  they,  so  to  speak,  give  the 
key  to  a  right  apprehension  of  the  others. 

So,  too,  in  studying  the  arts  of  design.  The  artistic  expres- 
sion of  a  highly  civilised  community  is  a  very  complex  matter, 
and  its  complete  unravelment  would  be  an  exceedingly  difficult 
and  perhaps  impossible  task.  In  order  to  gain  some  insight 
into  the  principles  which  underlie  the  evolution  of  decorative  art, 
it  is  necessary  to  confine  one's  attention  to  less  specialised  condi- 
tions ;  the  less  the  complication,  the  greater  the  facility  for  a 
comprehensive  survey.  In  order,  therefore,  to  understand  civi- 
lised art  we  must  study  barbaric  art,  and  to  elucidate  this  savage 
art  must  be  investigated.  Of  course  it  must  be  understood  that 
no  hard  and  fast  line  can  be  drawn  between  any  two  of  these 
stages  of  culture;  I  employ  them  merely  as  convenient  general 
terms.  These  are  the  reasons  why  I  shall  confine  myself  very 
largely  to  the  decorative  art  of  savage  peoples. 

There  are  two  methods  of  studying  the  art  of  savages ;  the 
one  is  to  take  a  comparative  view  of  the  art  of  diverse  back- 
ward peoples ;  the  other  is  to  limit  the  attention  to  a  particular 
district  or  people.  The  former  is  extremely  suggestive ;  but  one 
is  very  liable  at  times  to  be  led  astray  by  resemblances,  as  I 
shall  have  frequent  occasion  to  point  out  in  the  following  pages. 
The  latter  is  in  some  respects  much  more  certain  in  its  conclu- 
sions, and  is  the  only  way  by  which  certain  problems  can 

543 


544  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

be  solved.  In  the  first  part  of  this  book  I  shall  adopt  the  latter 
plan  in  order  to  indicate  its  particular  value,  and  to  afford  data 
for  subsequent  discussion.  In  the  remaining  parts  of  the  book 
I  shall  draw  my  illustrations  from  the  most  convenient  sources, 
irrespective  of  race  or  locality. 

In  my  first  section  the  decorative  art  of  a  particular  region 
has  been  studied  much  in  the  same  way  as  a  zoologist  would 
study  a  group  of  its  fauna,  say  the  birds  or  butterflies.  Naturally, 
the  methods  of  the  purely  systematic  zoologist  neither  can  nor 
should  be  entirely  followed,  for  the  aim  in  life  of  the  analytical 
zoologist  is  to  record  the  fauna  of  a  district  and  to  classify  the 
specimens  in  an  orderly  manner.  To  the  more  synthetically- 
minded  zoologist  the  problems  of  the  geographical  distribution 
of  animals  have  a  peculiar  fascination,  and  he  takes  pleasure  in 
mapping  out  the  geographical  variations  of  a  particular  species 
and  in  endeavouring  to  account  for  the  diversity  of  form  and 
colour  which  obtains,  as  well  as  to  ascertain  the  place  of  its 
evolution  and  the  migrations  which  have  subsequently  taken 
place.  The  philosophical  student  also  studies  the  development  of 
animals  and  so  learns  something  of  the  way  in  which  they  have 
come  to  be  what  they  are,  and  at  the  same  time  light  is  shed 
upon  genealogies  and  relationships. 

The  beautifying  of  any  object  is  due  to  impulses  which  are 
common  to  all  men,  and  have  existed  as  far  back  as  the  period 
when  men  inhabited  caves  and  hunted  the  reindeer  and  mammoth 
in  Western  Europe.  The  craving  for  decorative  art  having  been 
common  to  mankind  for  many  thousand  years,  it  would  be  a 
very  difficult  task  to  determine  its  actual  origin.  All  we  can 
do  is  to  study  the  art  of  the  most  backward  peoples,  in  the  hope 
of  gaining  sufficient  light  to  cast  a  glimmer  down  the  gloomy 
perspective  of  the  past. 

There  are  certain  needs  of  man  which  appear  to  have  con- 
strained him  to  artistic  effort ;  these  may  be  conveniently  grouped 
under  the  four  terms  of  Art,  Information,  Wealth,  and  Religion. 

Art. — Esthetics  is  the  study  or  practice  of  art  for  art's  sake, 
for  the  sensuous  pleasure  of  form,  line,  and  colour. 

Information. — It  is  not  easy  to  find  a  term  which  will  express 
all  that  should  be  dealt  with  in  this  section.  In  order  to  convey 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  545 

information  from  one  man  to  another,  when  oral  or  gesture  lan- 
guage is  impossible,  recourse  must  be  had  to  pictorial  signs  of 
one  form  or  another.  It  is  the  history  of  some  of  these  that  will 
be  dealt  with  under  this  term. 

Wealth. — It  is  difficult  to  distinguish  among  savages  between 
the  love  of  wealth  or  power.  In  more  organised  societies,  power, 
irrespective  of  wealth,  may  dominate  men's  minds;  and  it  is 
probable  that,  whereas  money  is  at  first  sought  after  in  order 
to  feel  the  power  which  wealth  can  command,  later  it  often 
degenerates  into  the  miser's  greed  for  gain. 

The  desire  for  personal  property,  and  later  for  enhancing  its 
value,  has  led  to  the  production  of  personal  ornaments  apart  from 
the  purely  aesthetic  tendency  in  the  same  direction.  There  are 
also  emblems  of  wealth,  and  besides  these,  others  of  power  or 
authority.  The  practice  of  barter  has  led  to  the  fixation  of  a  unit 
of  value,  and  this  in  time  became  represented  by  symbols — i.  e., 
money. 

Religion. — The  need  of  man  to  put  himself  into  sympathetic 
relation  with  unseen  powers  has  always  expressed  itself  in  visual 
form,  and  it  has  gathered  unto  it  the  foregoing  secular  triad. 

Representation  and  symbolism  convey  information  or  suggest 
ideas. 

^Esthetics  brings  her  trained  eye  and  skilled  hand. 

Fear,  custom,  or  devotion  have  caused  individual  or  secular 
wealth  to  be  directed  into  other  channels,  and  have  thereby  en- 
tirely altered  its  character.  The  spiritual  and  temporal  power 
and  authority  of  religion  has  also  had  immense  and  direct  influ- 
ence on  art. 

In  a  very  large  number  of  cases  what  I  have  termed  the  four 
needs  of  man  act  and  react  upon  one  another,  so  that  it  is  often 
difficult  or  impossible  to  distinguish  between  them,  nor  do  I 
profess  to  do  so  in  every  case.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose  to  acknowledge  their  existence  and  to  see  how  they  may 
affect  the  form,  decoration,  or  representation  of  objects. 

Having  stated  the  objects  for  which  these  representations  are 
made,  we  must  pass  to  a  few  other  general  considerations. 

It  is  probable  that  suggestion  in  some  cases  first  turned  the 
human  mind  towards  representation.  A  chance  form  or  contour 


546  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

suggested  a  resemblance  to  something  else.  From  what  we  know 
of  the  working  of  the  mind  of  savages,  a  mere  resemblance  is 
sufficient  to  indicate  an  actual  affinity.  These  chance  resem- 
blances have  occupied  a  very  important  place  in  what  has  been 
termed  sympathetic  magic,  and  natural  objects  which  suggest 
other  objects  are  frequently  slightly  carved,  engraved,  or  painted 
in  order  to  increase  the  fancied  resemblance.  A  large  number 
of  examples  of  this  can  be  culled  from  the  writings  of  mission- 
aries and  others,  or  seen  in  large  ethnographical  collections.  Mr. 
H.  Balfour  has  also  given  one  or  two  interesting  illustrations 
of  this  process.  For  example,  a  stone  which  suggests  a  human 
face  is  noted  by  a  native  and  the  features  are  slightly  emphasised, 
and  ultimately  the  object  may  become  a  fetich  or  a  charm.  The 
mandrake  (Mandragora)  is  very  important  in  sympathetic  magic, 
and  its  human  attributes  have  been  suggested  by  the  two  roots 
which  diverge  from  a  common  underground  portion,  and  which 
recall  the  body  and  legs  of  a  man;  a  slight  amount  of  carving 
will  considerably  assist  nature  and  a  vegetable  man  results. 

Suggestion  does  not  operate  only  at  the  inception  of  a  repre- 
sentation or  design,  but  it  acts  continuously,  and  may  at  various 
times  cause  strange  modifications  to  occur. 

Expectancy,  as  Dr.  Colley  March  has  pointed  out,  has  been  a 
very  important  factor  in  the  history  of  art.  This  is  intimately 
connected  with  the  association  of  ideas.  If  a  particular  form  or 
marking  was  natural  to  a  manufactured  object,  the  same  form 
and  analogous  marking  would  be  given  to  a  similar  object  made 
in  a  different  manner,  and  which  was  not  conditioned  by  the 
limitations  of  the  former.  For  beautiful  and  convincing  illustra- 
tions of  the  operation  of  this  mental  attitude  of  expectancy  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  section  on  skeuomorphic  pottery  (p.  997). 

We  may  regard  suggestion  and  expectancy  as  the  dynamic 
and  static  forces  operating  on  the  arts  of  design ;  the  former 
initiates  and  modifies,  the  latter  tends  to  conserve  what  already 
exists. 

It  is  the  play  between  these  two  operations  which  gives  rise 
to  what  may  be  termed  a  distinctive  "life-history"  of  artistic  rep- 
resentations. 

A  life-history  consists  of  three  periods:  birth,  growth,  death. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  547 

The  middle  period  is  one  which  is  usually  marked  by  modifica- 
tions which  may  conveniently  be  grouped  under  the  term  of  evo- 
lution, as  they  imply  a  gradual  change  or  metamorphosis,  or  even 
a  series  of  metamorphoses. 

For  our  present  purpose  we  may  recognise  three  stages  of 
artistic  development — origin,  evolution,  and  decay. 

The  vast  bulk  of  artistic  expression  owes  its  birth  to  realism ; 
the  representations  were  meant  to  be  life-like,  or 'to  suggest  real 
objects ;  that  they  may  not  have  been  so  was  owing  to  the  apathy 
or  incapacity  of  the  artist  or  to  the  unsuitability  of  his  materials. 

Once  born,  the  design  was  acted  upon  by  constraining  and 
restraining  forces  which  gave  it,  so  to  speak,  an  individuality  of 
its  own.  In  the  great  majority  of  representations  the  life-history 
ran  its  course  through  various  stages  until  it  settled  down  to  un- 
eventful senility ;  in  some  cases  the  representation  ceased  to  be — 
in  fact  it  died 

It  will  be  found  that  the  decorative  art  of  primitive  folk  is 
directly  conditioned  by  the  environment  of  the  artists ;  and  in 
order  to  understand  the  designs  of  a  district,  the  physical  condi- 
tions, climate,  flora,  fauna,  and  anthropology,  all  have  to  be  taken 
into  account ;  thus  furnishing  another  example  of  the  fact  that  it 
is  impossible  to  study  any  one  subject  comprehensively  without 
touching  many  other  branches  of  knowledge. 

All  human  handiwork  is  subject  to  the  same  operation  of  ex- 
ternal forces,  but  the  material  on  which  these  forces  act  is  also 
infinitely  varied.  The  diverse  races  and  people  of  mankind  have 
different  ideas  and  ideals,  unequal  skill,  varied  material  to  work 
upon,  and  dissimilar  tools  to  work  with.  Everywhere  the  environ- 
ment is  different.  So  we  get  that  bewildering  confusion  of  ideas 
which  crowd  upon  us  when  inspecting  a  large  ethnographical  col- 
lection or  a  museum  of  the  decorative  arts. 

The  conclusion  that  forced  itself  upon  me  is  that  the  decorative 
art  of  a  people  does,  to  a  certain  extent,  reflect  their  character. 
A  poor,  miserable  people  have  poor  and  miserable  art.  Even 
among  savages  leisure  from  the  cares  of  life  is  essential  for  the 
culture  of  art.  It  is  too  often  supposed  that  all  savages  are  lazy, 
and  have  an  abundance  of  spare  time,  but  this  is  by  no  means 
always  the  case.  Savages  do  all  that  is  necessary  for  life;  any- 


548  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

thing  extra  is  for  excitement,  aesthetics,  or  religion;  and  even  if 
there  is  abundance  of  time  for  these  latter,  it  does  not  follow 
that  there  is  an  equivalent  superfluity  of  energy.  The  white  man, 
who  has  trained  faculties  and  overflows  with  energy,  is  apt  to 
brand  as  lazy  those  who  are  not  so  endowed.  In  the  case  of 
British  New  Guinea  it  appears  pretty  evident  that  art  flourishes 
where  food  is  abundant.  One  is  perhaps  justified  in  making  the 
general  statement  that  the  finer  the  man  the  better  the  art,  and 
that  the  artistic  skill  of  a  people  is  dependent  upon  the  favourable- 
ness of  their  environment. 

The  relation  of  art  to  ethnology  is  an  important  problem.  So 
far  as  our  information  goes,  it  appears  that  the  same  processes 
operate  on  the  art  of  decoration  whatever  the  subject,  wherever 
the  country,  whenever  the  age — another  illustration  of  the  essen- 
tial solidarity  of  mankind.  But  there  are,  at  the  same  time, 
numerous  and  often  striking  idiosyncrasies  which  have  to  be 
explained.  Many  will  be  found  to  be  due  to  what  may  be  termed 
the  accidents  of  locality.  Natural  forms  can  only  be  intelligently 
represented  where  they  occur,  and  the  materials  at  the  disposal 
of  the  artist  condition  his  art 

I  have  elsewhere  thrown  out  the  following  suggestion: — "It 
will  often  be  found  that  the  more  pure  or  the  more  homogeneous 
a  people  are,  the  more  uniformity  will  be  found  in  their  art 
work,  and  that  florescence  of  decorative  art  is  a  frequent  result 
of  race  mixture."  For  although  prolific  art  work  may  be  depend- 
ent, to  some  extent,  upon  leisure  due  to  an  abundance  of  food, 
this  will  not  account  for  artistic  aptitude,  though  in  process  of 
time  the  latter  may  be  a  result  of  the  employment  of  the  leisure ; 
still  less  will  it  account  for  the  artistic  motives  or  for  the  tech- 
nique. 

The  art  of  a  people  must  also  be  judged  by  what  they  need 
not  do  and  yet  accomplish.  The  resources  at  their  command, 
and  the  limitations  of  their  materials,  are  very  important  factors  ; 
but  we  must  not,  at  the  same  time,  ignore  what  they  would  do  if 
they  could,  nor  should  we  project  our  own  sentiment  too  much 
into  their  work.  In  this,  as  in  all  other  branches  of  ethno- 
graphical inquiry,  we  should  endeavour  to  learn  all  we  can  about 
them  from  their  own  point  of  view  before  it  is  too  late.  At  the 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  549 

present  stage  knowledge  will  not  be  advanced  much  by  looking 
at  laggard  peoples  through  the  spectacles  of  old-world  civilisation. 
— A.  C.  HADDON,  Evolution  in  Art:  Introduction,  2-10  (Walter 
Scott,  1895). 

CLOTHING  AND  ORNAMENT 

We  have  heard  tell  of  races  to  whom  clothing  is  unknown; 
but  it  must  be  said  that  the  few  cases  of  this  for  which  there  is 
good  evidence  are  exceptions  that  have  arisen  under  such  special 
conditions  as  only  to  establish  the  rule.  If,  however  we  are  to 
discover  the  principles  which  underlie  the  usage  generally,  the 
first  thing  required  is  to  come  to  an  understanding  as  to  what  we 
mean  by  clothing.  It  is  surely  impossible  to  designate  mere  orna- 
ment as  clothing ;  among  tribes  in  tropical  countries  the  motive  of 
protection  against  cold  entirely  disappears,  and  of  all  the  super- 
fluity of  our  northern  apparel,  nothing  remains  save  what  is  re- 
quired by  decency.  One  need  hardly  discuss  the  question 
whether  there  is  any  thought  of  simply  protecting  the  parts  con- 
cealed. If  it  were  a  question  of  protection,  the  feet  and  ankles 
would  surely  be  sooner  covered.  What  is  most  decisive  is  the 
observed  fact  that  clothing  stands  in  unmistakable  relation  to  the 
sexual  life,  and  that  the  first  to  wear  complete  clothes  is  not  the 
man  who  has  to  dash  through  the  bush  in  hunting,  but  the  mar- 
ried woman.  This  gives  us  the  primary  cause  of  wrappings, 
which  must  have  arisen  when  the  family  was  evolved  from  the 
unregulated  intercourse  of  the  horde, — when  the  man  began  to 
assert  a  claim  to  individual  and  definite  women.  He  it  was  who 
compelled  the  woman  to  have  no  dealings  with  other  men,  and 
to  cover  herself  as  a  means  of  diminishing  her  attractions.  As 
a  further  step  in  this  direction  may  be  noted  the  veiling  of  the 
bosom.  From  this  root,  the  separation  of  the  sexes,  sprang  the 
feeling  of  modesty ;  this  developed  powerfully,  and  clothing  with 
it.  It  was  a  great  stride;  since  the  more  confined  and  more  des- 
titute the  life  of  a  tribe  is,  the  less  inducement  is  given  to  a 
rigid  separation  of  the  sexes  with  its  attendant  jealousy;  and  the 
more  readily  do  they  dispense  with  the  troublesome  covering, 
of  which  scanty  fragments  alone  remain.  Thus  it  is  always  the 
smallest,  most  degraded,  most  out-of-the-way  tribes  among 


55°  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

whom  we  more  especially  find  no  mention  of  customary  clothing ; 
such  as  some  Australian  races,  the  extinct  Tasmanians,  some 
forest  tribes  of  Brazil,  and  here  or  there  a  negro  horde.  Even 
with  them  survivals  of  dress  are  not  wanting.  When  clothing 
was  more  complete,  the  woman  gained  immensely  in  charm,  es- 
teem, and  social  position,  so  that  she  had  every  reason  to  keep  up 
her  wardrobe. 

It  is  quite  otherwise  with  the  portion  of  the  dress  intended 
directly  to  protect  the  body.  In  all  places  we  find  the  shoulder- 
covering  in  the  shape  of  a  cloak.  Tropical  tribes  use  it  primarily 
to  keep  off  the  rain,  while  in  colder  climates  it  serves  for  warmth 
and  also  as  a  sleeping-cover.  These  cloak-like  articles  of  clothing 
are  far  less  widely  diffused  than  those  which  serve  for  decency; 
which  also  proves  that  the  latter  were  the  first  clothing  worn  by 
men. 

Another  circumstance  undoubtedly  has  contributed  to  develop 
the  sense  of  modesty,  as  Karl  von  den  Steinen  has  pointed  out. 
As  the  wild  beast  drags  his  prey  into  the  thicket,  in  order  to  de- 
vour it  undisturbed,  so  some  tribes  think  it  highly  indecorous 
to  look  at  any  one  eating;  and  the  same  may  have  held  good  in 
regard  to  other  functions.  Still  this  can  only  have  been  sub- 
sidiary, and  does  not  account  for  the  original  concealment. 
Finally  we  must  not  overlook  the  superstitious  dread  of  the  pos- 
sible effects  of  the  evil  eye,  though  here  again  this  cannot  be 
rightly  assigned  as  the  root-idea  of  modesty.  Curiously  enough, 
in  New  Guinea  no  more  than  in  ancient  Greece  do  the  repre- 
sentations of  ancestors,  with  their  free  exhibition  of  what  in  the 
living  is  carefully  concealed,  seem  to  give  any  offence.  But  all 
these  various  causes  tend  to  react  upon  and  supplement  each 
other  mutually.  Further,  no  relation  can  be  traced  between  the 
amount  of  clothing  worn  and  the  degree  of  culture  attained. 
The  lady  of  Uganda  -or  Unyoro  who  drapes  herself  with  elab- 
orate care  in  her  robes  of  bark,  stands  in  general  no  higher  than 
the  Nyam-Nyam  negress,  whose  sole  garment  is  a  leaf.  Nor 
do  the  former  race,  who  treat  it  as  a  capital  offence  to  strip  in 
public,  hold  any  higher  position  than  the  Duallas,  who  take  off 
every  rag  for  their  work  in  the  sea.  Nor,  lastly,  do  we  find  any 
marked  national  distinctions  in  these  matters.  All  things  consid- 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  551 

ered,  we  may  say  that  in  mankind  of  to-day  modesty  is  universal ; 
and  where  it  seems  to  be  lacking,  this  is  due  to  some  accidental 
or  transitory  conditions. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  feeling  which  the  simple  man  is  en- 
deavouring to  satisfy  when  he  clothes  his  body.  Next  to  it 
stands  the  gratification  of  vanity.  The  former  motive,  as  a  mere 
injunction  of  custom,  is  quickly  done  with;  the  other  is  sought  to 
be  attained  at  any  cost.  One  may  say  without  exaggeration 
that  many  races  spend  the  greater  part  of  their  thought  and 
their  labour  on  the  adornment  of  their  persons.  These  are  in 
their  own  sphere  greater  fops  than  can  be  found  in  the  highest 
civilization.  The  traders  who  deal  with  these  simple  folk  know 
how  quickly  the  fashion  changes  among  them,  as  soon  as  a 
plentiful  importation  of  varied  stuffs  and  articles  of  ornament 
takes  place.  The  natural  man  will  undergo  any  trouble,  any  dis- 
comfort, in  order  to  beautify  himself  to  the  best  of  his  power. 

Thus  it  would  obviously  be  unjust  to  form  any  judgment  as 
to  the  absence  or  deficiency  of  clothing  without  regard  to  the 
other  attentions  which  the  "natural"  races  pay  to  the  body.  If 
we  look  at  all  together  we  get  an  impression  of  predominant 
frivolity.  Necessaries  have  to  give  way  to  luxuries.  The  poorest 
Bushman  makes  himself  an  arm-ring  out  of  a  strip  of  hide,  and 
never  forgets  to  wear  it,  though  it  may  well  happen  that  his 
leather  apron  is  in  a  scandalously  tattered  state.  The  man  of 
low  culture  demands  much  more  luxury  compared  with  his  small 
means  than  one  in  a  higher  state.  Ornament  holds  such  a  fore- 
most place  that  some  ethnologists  have  declared  it  impossible 
to  decide  where  clothing  ends  and  ornament  begins.  All  cloth- 
ing seems  to  them  to  have  proceeded  by  way  of  modification 
from  ornament;  and  they  hold  that  modesty  played  no  part  in 
the  earliest  evolution  of  dress.  The  facts  no  doubt  show  that 
the  delight  in  ornament  preponderates  over  the  sense  of  decency ; 
but  it  does  not  follow  that  is  was  anterior. 

Modesty  in  the  woman  is  especially  apt  to  take  on  a  touch 
of  coquetry,  for  an  example  of  which  we  need  look  no  further 
than  the  low-necked  dresses  of  our  own  ball-rooms.  In  this  way 
what  was  once  an  article  essential  to  decency  imperceptibly 
approximates  more  and  more  to  ornament  by  the  addition  of 


552  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

fringes,  or,  as  among  the  Fans  and  some  of  the  Congo  tribes, 
by  the  attachment  of  strings  of  jingling  bells.  Even  more  gro- 
tesque combinations  of  concealment  and  parade  may  be  observed ; 
especially  where  there  is  a  religious  motive  for  the  former. 

The  style  and  completeness  of  the  clothing  naturally  depends 
in  great  measure  upon  the  extent  to  which  Nature  or  labour  has 
provided  material.  All  countries  are  not  so  benevolently 
furnished  in  this  respect  as  tropical  Brazil,  where  the  "shirt- 
tree,"  a  kind  of  Lecythis,  grows  with  its  pliant  and  easily-stripped 
bark.  The  Indians  cut  up  the  stem  into  lengths  of  4  or  5  feet, 
strip  the  bark  off,  soak  and  beat  it  soft,  cut  two  armholes,  and 
the  shirt  is  ready.  In  the  same  forests  grows  a  palm,  the  spathe 
of  which  provides  a  convenient  cap  without  further  preparation. 
The  fig-leaf  of  Paradise  recurs  in  a  thousand  variations,  and 
celebrates  its  revival  by  appearing  in  manifold  forms,  even  to 
the  universal  rush-cloak. 

The  use  of  bark  as  a  clothing  material  is,  or  was,  widely 
spread  from  Polynesia  to  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  It  recurs  in 
America,  and  thus  is  found  in  all  lands  within  the  tropics ;  and 
besides  this,  the  bast  or  inner  bark  of  the  lime  was  used  for  a 
similar  purpose  in  the  old  days  by  Germanic  tribes.  The  laws  of 
Manu  prescribe  to  the  Brahman  who  purposes  to  end  his  days  in 
religious  meditation  amid  the  primeval  forests,  that  he  shall  wear 
a  garment  of  bark  or  skin.  Here  probably,  as  in  Africa,  the  bark 
of  a  species  of  Ficus  was  used  for  the  purpose.  But  in  Poly- 
nesia the  manufacture  of  a  material  called  tapa  from  the  bark  of 
the  paper-mulberry  was  carried  to  great  perfection.  Races  who 
no  longer  make  use  of  this  material  procure  it  for  special  occa- 
sions. Thus  the  more  settled  Kayans  of  Borneo,  when  they  go 
into  mourning,  throw  off  their  cotton  sarongs  to  wrap  themselves 
in  bark-cloth;  and  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  at  certain  fes- 
tivities connected  with  fetish-worship,  it  is  usual  to  wear  skins 
instead  of  clothes.  In  this  there  lies  a  perfectly  right  sentiment, 
that  their  home-invented  garments,  borrowed  directly  from  Na- 
ture, have  a  higher  intrinsic  value  than  the  rubbishy  European 
fripperies,  the  invasion  of  which  has  made  clothing  arbitrary  and 
undignified. 

How  little  the  great  schoolmistress  Want  can  impress  upon 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  553 

the  "natural"  races  that  seriousness  which  behaves  appropriately 
at  the  bidding  of  hardship,  is  shown  by  comparing  the  dwellers 
in  a  severe  climate  with  those  who  live  under  more  genial  skies. 
The  South  Australians  and  Tasmanians  hardly  wore  more  clothes 
than  the  Papuas.  Considering  the  abundance  of  animals,  we  can 
only  refer  the  scantiness  of  their  attire  to  laziness.  The  Fuegians 
who  are  best  situated,  those  of  the  east  coast,  wear  guanaco 
cloaks  like  the  Patagonians,  and  those  of  the  west  coast,  have  at 
least  seal-skins;  but  among  the  tribes  near  Wollaston  Island  a 
piece  of  otter-skin,  hardly  as  large  as  a  pocket-handkerchief,  often 
affords  the  only  protection  against  the  rude  climate.  Fastened 
across  the  breast  with  strings,  it  is  pushed  to  one  side  or  another, 
according  as  the  wind  blows.  But  many,  says  Darwin,  go  with- 
out even  this  minimum  of  protection.  Only  the  Arctic  races, 
always  inventive  and  sensible,  have  in  this,  as  in  other  matters, 
better  adapted  themselves  to  the  demands  of  their  surroundings 
and  their  climate;  and  their  clothing  of  furs  and  bird-skins  is  in 
any  case  among  the  most  rational  and  practical  inventions  in  this 
class.  They  are,  however,  the  only  "natural"  races  of  the  tem- 
perate or  frigid  zones  whose  clothing  is  completely  adapted  to  its 
purpose.  The  outliers  of  them  in  the  North  Pacific,  such  as  the 
inhabitants  of  King  William's  Sound  and  others,  may  be  recog- 
nised at  once  beside  their  Indian  neighbours  by  their  clothing. 
The  Eskimo  dress,  which  covers  the  whole  body,  obviously  limits 
the  use  of  ornament.  Hence  we  never  find  arm  or  leg-rings, 
and  only  rarely  necklaces  of  animal's  teeth  or  European  beads ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  buttons,  like  sleevebuttons,  of  stone  or 
bone,  not  uncommonly  decorate  lips  and  ears.  The  fact  that 
they  tattoo  the  body,  however,  indicates  a  former  residence  in  a 
warmer  climate. 

Footgear  is  universally  worn  on  the  march;  it  is  generally 
made  of  hide,  less  often  of  wood  or  bark.  Curiously  enough  the 
method  of  fastening  sandals  is  essentially  the  same  all  the  world 
over. 

Among  "natural"  races  no  one  goes  without  ornament ;  the 
contrary  to  what  we  find  among  civilized  people,  many  of  whom, 
rich  and  poor  alike,  avoid  any  ornamentation,  either  of  their 
person  or  of  their  clothing.  But  the  universal  distribution  of 


554  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

ornament  seems  easier  when  we  consider  its  by-aims.  In  the  first 
place  the  amulets,  which  are  hardly  ever  missing,  assume  the 
shape  of  decorations.  Hildebrandt,  in  his  admirable  work  on  the 
Wakamba,  says:  "Amulets  are  regarded  as  defensive  weapons, 
and  so,  in  a  treatise  on  ethnography,  deserve  a  place  between 
weapons  and  ornaments."  But  they  have  more  affinity  with  the 
latter  than  with  the  former.  The  fan  is  used  not  only  to  flirt, 
nor  only  even  for  purposes  of  coolness,  but  is  an  indispensable 
implement  in  kindling  and  maintaining  the  charcoal  fire.  The 
massive  iron  arm-rings,  with  which  the  negro  bedecks  himself, 
are  adapted  for  both  parrying  and  striking.  The  Irengas  of  the 
Upper  Nile  wear  these  sharpened  to  a  knife-like  edge.  In  peace 
they  are  covered  with  a  leather  sheath,  in  battle  they  serve  as 
fighting-rings.  Of  a  similar  kind  are  the  arm-rings  of  the  neigh- 
bouring Jurs,  fitted  with  a  pair  of  spikes.  The  smart  dagger 
attached  to  the  upper  arm  or  hung  from  the  neck  is  half  weapon, 
half  ornament.  But  we  must  reckon  among  genuinely  decorative 
weapons  the  beautifully-carved  clubs  of  the  Melanesians  and 
negroes,  the  batons  of  command,  the  decorated  paddles.  The 
savage  warrior  can  no  more  do  without  ornament  than  without 
his  weapon.  Are  we  to  suppose  that  this  connection  has  so  deep 
a  psychological  basis  in  the  stimulus  to  self-esteem  and  courage 
given  by  external  splendour,  that  it  has  reached  even  to  the 
heights  of  our  own  military  civilization? 

Ornament  and  distinction  again  go  hand  in  hand,  though  for 
this  brilliancy  and  costliness  are  not  always  necessary.  In  East 
and  Central  Africa  the  chiefs  wear  arm  and  leg-rings  made  from 
the  hair  of  the  giraffe's  tail;  in  West  Africa,  caps  from  the  hide 
of  a  particular  antelope ;  while  in  Tonga,  necklaces  of  the  cachalot 
or  sperm-whale's  teeth  serve  at  once  for  ornament,  distinction, 
and  money — perhaps  also  for  amulets.  It  is  quite  intelligible 
that  in  the  lower  grades  of  civilization,  where  even  great  capi- 
talists can  carry  their  property  on  their  persons,  ornament  and 
currency  should  be  interchangeable.  There  is  no  safer  place — 
none  where  the  distinction  conferred  by  wealth  can  be  more 
effectively  displayed — than  the  owner's  person.  Hence  the  fre- 
quency with  which  we  find  forms  of  currency  which  may  at  the 
same  time  "serve  for  ornament,  cowries,  dentalium,  and  other 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  555 

shells,  cachalots'  teeth,  iron  and  copper  rings,  coins  with  a  hole 
through  them.  Silver  and  gold  currencies  have  grown  up  in  the 
same  way;  but  among  the  barbarous  races  of  the  older  world, 
only  the  Americans  seem  to  have  appreciated  the  value  of  gold. 
It  was  left  for  Europeans  to  discover  the  great  stores  of  this 
metal  in  Australia,  California  and  Africa.  To  this  day  in  the 
districts  of  Famaka  and  Fadasi,  although  almost  every  torrent 
brings  down  gold,  it  plays  no  part  in  native  ornament  or  trade. 

Lastly,  we  may  reflect  how  eloquent  for  a  savage  is  the  silent 
language  of  bodily  mutilation  and  disfigurement.  As  Theophile 
Gautier  says :  "Having  no  clothes  to  embroider,  they  embroider 
their  skins."  Tattooing  serves  for  a  tribal  or  family  mark; 
it  often  indicates  victorious  campaigns,  or  announces  a  lad's 
arrival  at  manhood,  and  so  also  do  various  mutilations  of  teeth 
and  artificial  scars.  Radiating  or  parallel  lines  of  scars  on  cheek 
or  breast,  such  as  the  Australians  produce  with  no  other  ap- 
parent object  save  that  of  ornament,  denote  among  the  Shillooks, 
Tibboos,  and  other  Africans,  the  loss  of  near  kindred.  Even  if  we 
cannot  see  in  circumcision,  or  the  amputation  of  a  finger,  any  at- 
tempt at  personal  embellishment,  in  these  and  similar  practices 
it  is  difficult  to  separate  with  a  hard-and-fast  line  the  motives  of 
decoration,  distinction,  and  fulfilment  of  a  religious  or  social 
precept.  Doubtless  much  of  the  ornamentation  which  is  applied 
to  the  body  is  a  mode  of  expressing  the  primitive  artistic  impulse 
upon  which  special  attention  is  bestowed ;  and  thus  the  tattooings 
of  the  New  Zealanders,  often  the  work  of  years  to  execute,  and 
that  at  the  cost  of  much  labour  and  pain,  must  be  reckoned  among 
the  most  conspicuous  achievements  of  the  artistic  sense  and  dex- 
terity of  that  race.  The  Indians  are  less  distinguished  in  this 
respect,  while  among  the  Negroes  few  devote  so  much  attention 
to  this  branch  of  art  as  to  the  arrangement  of  their  hair — a  point 
in  which  they  certainly  surpass  all  races,  being  materially  aided 
in  this  task  by  the  stiff  character  of  their  wigs. 

As  in  all  primitive  industries,  we  meet  here,  as  a  characteristic 
phenomenon,  with  endless  variations  on  a  limited  theme.  Thus 
some  races  take  to  painting,  some  to  tattooing,  some  again  to 
hairdressing.  Customs  affecting  the  same  region  of  the  body 
may  often  indicate  relationships.  Thus  the  Batokas  knock  out 


556  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

their  upper  front  teeth,  causing  the  lower  to  project  and  push 
out  the  under  lip.  Their  neighbours  to  the  eastward,  the  Man- 
ganyas,  wear  a  plug  in  their  upper  lip,  often  in  the  lower,  and 
thereby  arrive  at  a  similar  disfigurement.  These  luxuriant  de- 
velopments of  the  impulse  for  ornament  exhibit  the  innate 
artistic  sense  of  a  race  often  in  an  astonishing  phase,  and  it  is 
not  without  interest  to  trace  it  from  its  crudest  beginnings.  The 
articles  which  savages  use  for  ornament  are  calculated  to  show 
up  against  their  dark  skins.  White  shells,  teeth,  and  such  like, 
produce  a  very  different  effect  on  that  background  to  what  they 
offer  on  our  pale  hands  or  in  dark  cabinets.  Hence  we  find  far 
and  wide  painting  with  red  and  white — cosmetics  were  among  the 
objects  buried  with  their  dead  by  the  old  Egyptians — dressing  of 
the  dark  hair  with  white  lime  and  similar  artifices.  But  the 
highest  summit  of  the  art  has  been  attained  by  the  Monbuttus, 
who,  in  the  great  variety  of  patterns  with  which  they  paint  their 
bodies,  avoid  harsh  colours  and  elementary  stripes  and  dots. 
The  old  people  alone  leave  off  adorning  themselves  and  let  the 
painting  wear  out ;  but  it  is  at  this  age  that  the  indelible  tattooing 
begins  to  be  valuable. 

Among  one  and  the  same  race,  special  decorative  themes  are 
generally  adhered  to  most  rigidly,  and  varied  only  within  narrow 
limits.  We  must,  however,  beware  of  the  temptation  to  read  too 
much  conscious  intention  into  these  manifold  ornaments.  In 
face  of  the  tendency  of  prehistoric  research  to  treat  particular 
themes  as  the  signatures,  so  to  say,  of  the  respective  races,  it  is 
necessary  specially  to  emphasize  the  space  to  be  allowed  for  the 
play  of  caprice.  It  is  true  that  you  can  always  tell  a  Tongan 
club  by  the  little  human  figures  which  stand  out  in  the  mosaic- 
like  carved  pattern ;  but  here  we  have  to  deal  with  a  limited  area 
of  culture,  within  which  a  great  persistency  of  tradition  can 
easily  be  aimed  at.  But  would  any  one  take  the  cross,  which 
is  so  natural  a  motive  in  matted  work,  as  it  appears  on  the 
beautifully  woven  shields  of  the  Nyam-Nyams,  for  an  imitation  of 
the  Christian  symbol,  or  ascribe  the  crescent  on  Polynesian  carved 
work  to  the  influence  of  Islam? 

Among  the  other  advantages  enjoyed  by  the  male  sex  is  that 
of  cultivating  every  kind  of  adornment  to  a  greater  extent,  and 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  557 

devoting  more  time  to  it.  In  the  lowest  groups  of  savages  orna- 
ment follows  the  rule  which  is  almost  universal  among  the  higher 
animals ;  the  male  is  the  more  richly  adorned.  As  is  well  known, 
civilization  has  pretty  well  reversed  this  relation,  and  the  degree 
of  progress  to  which  a  race  has  attained  may  to  some  extent  be 
measured  by  the  amount  of  the  sacrifice  which  the  men  are  pre- 
pared to  make  for  the  adornment  of  their  women.  Otherwise, 
in  the  most  civilized  communities,  men  only  revert  to  the  custom 
of  adorning  themselves  when  they  happen  to  be  soldiers  or  at- 
tendants at  court. 

A  practical  result  of  the  tendency  to  luxury  in  the  midst  of 
destitution  is  the  confinement  of  trade  with  the  "natural"  races 
to  a  small  list  of  articles,  the  number  of  which  is  almost  entirely 
limited  by  the  purposes  of  ornament  or  pastime  and  sensual  en- 
joyment. Of  trade  in  the  great  necessaries  of  food  and  clothing 
there  is  hardly  any.  The  objects  exchanged,  things  of  value  and 
taste,  are  primarily  luxuries.  Setting  aside  the  partly  civilized 
inhabitants  of  the  coast,  and  the  European  colonies,  the  important 
articles  of  the  African  trade  are  beads,  brass  wire,  brass  and  iron 
rings,  spirits,  tobacco.  The  only  articles  in  a  different  category 
which  have  attained  to  any  importance  are  cotton  goods  and 
firearms. 

Finally  we  may  find  a  place  in  this  section  for  those  imple- 
ments of  the  toilet  wherewith  all  those  works  of  art  are  per- 
formed upon  which  primitive  man,  in  this  respect  nowise  behind 
his  civilized  brother,  bases  his  hope  of  pleasing  and  conquering. 
Let  us  hear  how  Schweinfurth  describes  the  dressing  case  of  a 
Bongo  lady :  "For  pulling  out  eyelashes  and  eyebrows  they 
make  use  of  little  tweezers.  Pe'culiar  to  the  women  of  the 
Bongos  are  the  curious  little  elliptical  knives  fitted  into  a  handle 
at  both  ends,  sharpened  on  both  edges  and  decorated  with  tool- 
ing in  many  patterns.  These  knives  the  women  use  for  all  their 
domestic  operations,  especially  for  peeling  tubers,  slicing  cucum- 
bers and  gourds,  and  the  like.  Rings,  bells  of  different  kinds, 
clasps,  and  buttons,  which  are  stuck  into  holes  bored  in  their  lips 
and  ear  lobes ;  with  lancet-shaped  hairpins,  which  seem  necessary 
for  parting  and  dividing  their  plaits,  complete  the  Bongo  lady's 
dressing-case."  A  pair  of  tweezers  for  thorns,  in  a  case  attached 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  the  dagger-sheath,  forms  part  of  the  outfit  in  almost  all  parts 
of  Africa.  Many  carry  a  porcupine's  bristle  or  an  ivory  pin 
stuck  into  the  hair  to  keep  it  smooth.  Combs  are  well  known  to 
the  Polynesians,  the  Arctic  races  and  the  Negroes. 

While  the  civilized  European  regards  cleanliness  as  the  best 
adornment,  even  the  Oriental  is  very  far  from  giving  it  a  high 
place.  Barbarous  races  practise  it  when  it  does  not  cost  too 
much  trouble.  In  certain  directions,  however,  it  can  become  a 
custom;  for  example,  the  negro  pays  much  more  attention  to 
keeping  his  teeth  clean  than  the  average  European.  The  horror 
of  ordure  is  often  in  truth  superstitious,  and  in  that  case  con- 
tributes to  keep  the  neighbourhood  of  the  huts  cleanly.  Fur- 
neaux  was  astonished  to  see  latrines  among  the  Maoris.  But 
what  especially  promotes  cleanliness  is  the  absence  or  scantiness 
of  clothing.  Dirt  as  a  general  rule  is  principally  met  with  among 
such  races  as  are  compelled  by  uncertainty  of  climate  or  by  cus- 
-tom  to  keep  their  bodies  always  covered.  A  daily  change  will  in- 
volve rapid  wearing  out,  and  for  this  reason' they  usually  wear 
their  clothes,  as  Jenghis  Khan  prescribed,  until  they  drop  off  in 
tatters.  In  the  most  intimate  family  life,  however,  a  reserve  pre- 
vails among  natural  races  which  puts  their  civilized  brethren  to 
shame.  Among  Negroes,  Malays,  and  Indians,  it  is  widespread 
custom  that  parents  and  children  should  not  sleep  in  the  same 
room. — F.  RATZEL,  History  of  Mankind,  i  :93— 106. 

FORM  AND  ORNAMENT  IN  CERAMIC  ART 

....  Ceramic  art  presents  two  classes  of  phenomena  of  im- 
portance in  the  study  of  the  evolution  of  aesthetic  culture.  These 
relate,  first,  to  form  and  second,  to  ornament. 

Form,  as  embodied  in  clay  vessels,  embraces,  ist,  useful 
shapes  which  may  or  may  not  be  ornamental,  and,  2d,  (esthetic 
shapes,  which  are  ornamental  and  may  be  useful.  There  are 
also  grotesque  and  fanciful  shapes,  which  may  or  may  not  be 
either  useful  or  ornamental. 

No  form  or  class  of  forms  can  be  said  to  characterize  a 
particular  age  or  stage  of  culture.  In  a  general  way,  of  course, 
the  vessels  of  primitive  peoples  will  be  simple  in  form,  while 
those  of  more  advanced  races  will  be  more  varied  and  highly 
specialized. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  559 

The  shapes  first  assumed  by  vessels  in  clay  depend  upon  the 
shape  of  the  vessels  employed  at  the  time  of  the  introduction  of 
the  art,  and  these  depend,  to  a  great  extent,  upon  the  kind  and 
grade  of  culture  of  the  people  acquiring  the  art  and  upon  the 
resources  of  the  country  in  which  they  live.  To  illustrate:  If, 
for  instance,  some  of  the  highly  advanced  Alaskan  tribes  which 
do  not  make  pottery  should  migrate  to  another  habitat,  less 
suitable  to  the  practice  of  their  old  arts  and  well  adapted  to  art 
in  clay,  and  should  there  acquire  the  art  of  pottery,  they  would 
doubtless,  to  a  great  extent,  copy  their  highly  developed  utensils 
of  wood,  bone,  ivory,  and  basketry,  and  thus  reach  a  high  grade 
of  ceramic  achievement  in  the  first  century  of  the  practice  of  the 
art;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  certain  tribes,  very  low  in  intelli- 
gence and  having  no  vessel-making  arts,  should  undergo  a  cor- 
responding change  of  habitat  and  acquire  the  art  of  pottery,  they 
might  not  reach  in  a  thousand  years,  if  left  to  themselves,  a  grade 
in  the  art  equal  to  that  of  the  hypothetical  Alaskan  potters  in  the 
first  decade.  It  is,  therefore,  not  the  age  of  the  art  itself  that 
determines  its  forms,  but  the  grade  and  kind  of  art  with  which 
it  originates  and  coexists. 

Ornament  is  subject  to  similar  laws.  Where  pottery  is  em- 
ployed by  peoples  in  very  low  stages  of  culture,  its  ornamentation 
will  be  of  the  simple  archaic  kind.  Being  a  conservative  art  and 
much  hampered  by  the  restraints  of  convention,  the  elementary 
forms  of  ornament  are  carried  a  long  way  into  the  succeeding 
periods  and  have  a  very  decided  effect  upon  the  higher  stages. 
Pottery  brought  into  use  for  the  first  time  by  more  advanced 
races  will  never  pass  through  the  elementary  stage  of  decoration, 
but  will  take  its  ornament  greatly  from  existing  art  and  carry 
this  up  in  its  own  peculiar  way  through  succeeding  generations. 
The  character  of  the  ornamentation  does  not  therefore  depend 
upon  the  age  of  the  art  so  much  as  upon  the  acquirements  of  the 
potter  and  his  people  in  other  arts. 

ORIGIN  OF  FORM 

In  order  to  convey  a  clear  idea  of  the  bearing  of  the  preced- 
ing statements  upon  the  history  of  form  and  ornament,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  present  a  number  of  points  in  greater  detail. 


560  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  following  synopsis  will  give  a  connected  view  of  various 
possible  origins  of  form. 

By  adventition. 


Origin  of  form. 


By  imitation. 


(  Of  natural  models. 

I  Of  artificial  models. 
By  invention. 

Forms  suggested  by  adventition. — The  suggestions  of  accident, 
especially  in  the  early  stages  of  art,  are  often  adopted,  and 
become  fruitful  sources  of  improvement  and  progress.  By  such 
means  the  use  of  clay  was  discovered  and  the  ceramic  art  came 
into  existence.  The  accidental  indentation  of  a  mass  of  clay 
by  the  foot,  or  hand,  or  by  a  fruit-shell,  or  stone,  while  serving 
as  an  auxiliary  in  some  simple  art,  may  have  suggested  the 
making  of  a  cup,  the  simplest  form  of  vessel. 

The  use  of  clay  as  a  cement  in  repairing  utensils,  in  protecting 
combustible  vessels  from  injury  by  fire,  or  in  building  up  the 
walls  of  shallow  vessels,  may  also  have  led  to  the  formation 
of  disks  or  cups,  afterwards  independently  constructed.  In  any 
case  the  objects  or  utensils  with  which  the  clay  was  associated 
in  its  earliest  use  would  impress  their  forms  upon  it.  Thus,  if 
clay  were  used  in  deepening  or  mending  vessels  of  stone  by  a 
given  people,  it  would,  when  used  independently  by  that  people, 
tend  to  assume  shapes  suggested  by  stone  vessels.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  its  use  in  connection  with  wood  and  wicker,  or 
with  vessels  of  other  materials.  Forms  of  vessels  so  derived 
may  be  said  to  have  an  adventitious  origin,  yet  they  are  essen- 
tially copies,  although  not  so  by  design,  and  may  as  readily  be 
placed  under  the  succeeding  head. 

Forms  derived  by  imitation. — Clay  has  no  inherent  qualities 
of  a  nature  to  impose  a  given  form  or  class  of  forms  upon  its 
products,  as  have  wood,  bark,  bone,  or  stone.  It  is  so  mobile  as 
to  be  quite  free  to  take  form  from  surroundings,  and  where  ex- 
tensively used  will  record  or  echo  a  vast  deal  of  nature  and  of 
coexistent  art. 

In  this  observation  we  have  a  key  that  will  unlock  many  of 
the  mysteries  of  form. 

In  the  investigation  of  this  point  it  will  be  necessary  to 
consider  the  processes  by  which  an  art  inherits  or  acquires  the 
forms  of  another  art  or  of  nature,  and  how  one  material  imposes 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  561 

its  peculiarities  upon  another  material.  In  early  stages  of  culture 
the  processes  of  art  are  closely  akin  to  those  of  nature,  the  human 
agent  hardly  ranking  as  more  than  a  part  of  the  environment. 
The  primitive  artist  does  not  proceed  by  methods  identical  with 
our  own.  He  does  not  deliberately  and  freely  examine  all  depart- 
ments of  nature  or  art  and  select  for  models  those  things  most 
convenient  or  most  agreeable  to  fancy;  neither  does  he  experi- 
ment with  the  view  of  inventing  new  forms.  What  he  attempts 
depends  almost  absolutely  upon  what  happens  to  be  suggested 
by  preceding  forms,  and  so  narrow  and  so  direct  are  the  processes 
of  his  mind  that,  knowing  his  resources,  we  could  closely  predict 
his  results. 

The  range  of  models  in  the  ceramic  art  is  at  first  very 
limited,  and  includes  only  those  utensils  devoted  to  the  particular 
use  to  which  the  clay  vessels  are  to  be  applied;  later,  closely- 
associated  objects  and  utensils  are  copied.  In  the  first  stages 
of  art,  when  the  savage  makes  a  weapon,  he  modifies  or  copies 
a  weapon;  when  he  makes  a  vessel,  he  modifies  or  copies  a 
vessel. 

This  law  holds  good  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  culture,  varying 
to  a  certain  extent  with  the  character  of  the  material  used. 

Natural  originals. — Natural  originals,  both  animal  and  vege- 
table, necessarily  differ  with  the  country  and  the  climate,  thus 
giving  rise  to  individual  characters  in  art  forms  often  extremely 
persistent  and  surviving  decided  changes  of  environment. 

The  gourd  is  probably  the  most  varied  and  suggestive  natural 
vessel.  We  find  that  the  primitive  potter  has  often  copied  it 
in  the  most  literal  manner.  One  example  only,  out  of  the  many 
available  ones,  is  necessary.  This  is  from  a  mound  in  south- 
eastern Missouri. 

In  Fig.  464,  a  illustrates  a  common  form  of  gourd,  while  b 
represents  the  imitation  in  clay. 

All  nations  situated  upon  the  sea  or  upon  large  rivers  use 
shells  of  mollusks,  which,  without  modification,  make  excellent 
receptacles  for  water  and  food.  Imitations  of  these  are  often 
found  among  the  products  of  the  potter's  art.  A  good  example 
from  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  shown  in  Fig.  465,  a  being  the 
original  and  b  the  copy  in  clay. 


562  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

In  Africa,  and  in  other  countries,  such  natural  objects  as 
cocoanut  shells,  and  ostrich  eggs  are  used  in  like  manner. 

Another  class  of  vessels,  those  made  from  the  skins,  bladders, 
and  stomachs  of  animals,  should  also  be  mentioned  in  this  connec- 
tion, as  it  is  certain  that  their  influence  has  frequently  been  felt 
in  the  conformation  of  earthen  utensils. 

In  searching  nature,  therefore,  for  originals  of  primitive  cer- 
amic forms  we  have  little  need  of  going  outside  of  objects 
that  in  their  natural  or  slightly  altered  state  are  available  for 
vessels. 

True,  other  objects  have  been  copied.  We  find  a  multitude 
of  the  higher  forms,  both  animal  and  vegetable,  embodied  in 
vessels  of  clay,  but  their  presence  is  indicative  of  a  somewhat 
advanced  stage  of  art,  when  the  copying  of  vessels  that  were 
functionally  proper  antecedents  had  given  rise  to  a  familiarity 
with  the  use  of  clay  and  a  capacity  in  handling  it  that,  with 
advancing  culture,  brought  all  nature  within  the  reach  of  the 
potter  and  made  it  assist  in  the  processes  of  variation  and  devel- 
opment. 

Artificial  originals. — There  is  no  doubt  that  among  most 
peoples  art  had  produced  vessels  in  other  materials  antecedent 
to  the  utilization  of  clay.  These  would  be  legitimate  models  for 
the  potter  and  we  may  therefore  expect  to  find  them  repeated 
in  earthenware.  In  this  way  the  art  has  acquired  a  multitude  of 
new  forms,  some  of  which  may  be  natural  forms  at  second  hand, 
that  is  to  say,  with  modifications  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
material  in  which  they  were  first  shaped.  But  all  materials  other 
than  clay  are  exceedingly  intractable,  and  impress  their  own 
characters  so  decidedly  upon  forms  produced  in  them  that  ulti- 
mate originals,  where  there  are  such,  cannot  often  be  traced 
through  them. 

It  will  be  most  interesting  to  note  the  influence  of  these 
peculiarities  of  originals  upon  the  ceramic  art. 

A  nation  having  stone  vessels,  like  those  of  California,  on 
acquiring  the  art  of  pottery  would  use  the  stone  vessels  as 
models,  and  such  forms  as  that  given  in  Fig.  466  would  arise,  a 
being  in  stone  and  b  in  clay,  the  former  from  California  and  the 
latter  from  Arizona. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  563 

Similar  forms  would  just  as  readily  come  from  gourds,  bas- 
kets, or  other  globular  utensils. 

Nations  having  wooden  vessels  would  copy  them  in  clay  on 
acquiring  the  art  of  pottery.  This  would  give  rise  to  a  distinct 
group  of  forms,  the  result  primarily  of  the  peculiarities  of  the 
woody  structure 

MODIFICATION  OF  FORM 

Incapacity  of  material. — It  is  evident  at  a  glance  that  clay 
lacks  the  capacity  to  assume  and  to  retain  many  of  the  details  of 
form  found  in  antecedent  vessels.  This  necessarily  results  in 
the  alteration  or  omission  of  these  features,  and  hence  arise  many 
modifications  of  original  forms. 

The  simple  lack  of  capacity  on  the  part  of  the  potter  who 
undertook  to  reproduce  a  model  would  lead  to  the  modification 
of  all  but  the  most  simple  shapes. 

The  acquisition  of  the  art  by  a  superior  or  an  inferior  race, 
or  one  of  different  habits  would  lead  to  decided  changes.  A 
people  accustomed  to  carrying  objects  upon  the  head,  on  acquir- 
ing earthen  vessels  would  shape  the  bases  and  the  handles  to 
facilitate  this  use. 

Improvements  in  the  methods  of  manufacture  are  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  the  progress  of  an  art.  The  introduction 
of  the  lathe,  for  example,  might  almost  revolutionize  form  in  clay. 

As  arts  multiply,  clay  is  applied  to  new  uses.  Its  employment 
in  the  manufacture  of  lamps,  whistles,  or  toys  would  lead  to  a 
multitude  of  distinct  and  unique  forms. 

The  acquisition  of  a  new  vessel-making  material  by  a  nation 
of  potters  and  the  association  of  the  forms  developed  through  its 
inherent  qualities  or  structure  would  often  lead  ceramic  shapes 
into  new  channels. 

The  contact  of  a  nation  of  potters  with  a  nation  of  carvers 
in  wood  would  tend  very  decidedly  to  modify  the  utensils  of  the 
former.  One  example  may  be  given  which  will  illustrate  the 
possibilities  of  such  exotic  influences  upon  form.  In  Fig.  473,  a, 
we  have  an  Alaskan  vessel  carved  in  wood.  It  represents  a 
beaver  grasping  a  stick  in  its  hands  and  teeth.  The  conception 
is  so  unusual  and  the  style  of  vessel  so  characteristic  of  the  people 
that  we  should  not  expect  to  find  it  repeated  in  other  regions ; 


564  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

but  the  ancient  graves  of  the  Middle  Mississippi  Valley  have  fur- 
nished a  number  of  very  similar  vessels  in  clay,  one  of  which  is 
outlined  in  b.  While  this  remarkable  coincidence  is  suggestive 
of  ethnic  relationships  which  do  not  call  for  attention  here,  it 
serves  to  illustrate  the  possibilities  of  modification  by  simple 
contact. 

A  curious  example  illustrative  of  possible  transformation  by 
adventitious  circumstances  is  found  in  the  collection  from  the 
province  of  ancient  Tusayan.  A  small  vessel  of  sphynx-like 
appearance,  possibly  derived  more  or  less  remotely  from  a  skin 
vessel,  has  a  noticeable  resemblance  to  some  life  form,  Fig.  474, 
a.  The  fore-legs  are  represented  by  two  large  bosses,  the  wide- 
open  mouth  takes  the  place  of  the  severed  neck,  and  a  handle 
connects  the  top  of  the  rim  with  the  back  of  the  vessel.  The 
handle  being  broken  off  and  the  vessel  inverted,  b,  there  is  a 
decided  change ;  we  are  struck  by  the  resemblance  to  a  frog  or 
toad.  The  original  legs,  having  dark  concentric  lines  painted 
around  them,  look  like  large  protruding  eyes,  and  the  mouth 
gapes  in  the  most  realistic  manner,  while  the  two  short  broken 
ends  of  the  handle  resemble  legs  and  serve  to  support  the  vessel 
in  an  upright  position,  completing  the  illusions  The  fetich-hunt- 
ing Pueblo  Indian,  picking  up  this  little  vessel  in  its  mutilated 
condition,  would  probably  at  once  give  to  it  the  sacred  character 
of  the  water  animal  which  it  resembles,  and  it  might  readily 
transmit  its  peculiarities  of  form  to  other  generations  of  vessels. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  study  to  refer  at  length  to  the  influ- 
ence of  metallic  vessels  upon  ceramic  forms.  They  do  not  usually 
appear  until  the  ceramic  art  is  far  advanced  and  often  receive  a 
heritage  of  shape  from  earthen  forms.  Afterwards,  when  the 
inherent  qualities  of  the  metal  have  stamped  their  individuality 
upon  utensils,  the  debt  is  paid  back  to  clay  with  interest,  as  will 
be  seen  by  reference  to  later  forms  in  many  parts  of  the  world. 

To  enhance  usefulness. — There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
desire  upon  the  part  of  the  archaic  potter  to  increase  the  useful- 
ness and  convenience  of  his  utensils  has  been  an  important  agent 
in  the  modification  of  form.  The  earliest  vessels  employed  were 
often  clumsy  and  difficult  to  handle.  The  favorite  conch  shell 
would  hold  water  for  him  who  wished  to  drink,  but  the  breaking 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  565 

away  of  spines  and  the  extraction  of  the  interior  whorl  improved 
it  immeasurably.  The  clumsy  mortar  of  stone,  with  its  thick 
walls  and  great  weight,  served  a  useful  purpose,  but  it  needed 
a  very  little  intelligent  thought  to  show  that  thin  walls  and  neatly- 
trimmed  margins  were  much  preferable. 

Vessels  of  clay,  aside  from  the  forms  imposed  upon  them  by 
their  antecedents  and  associates,  would  necessarily  be  subject  to 
changes  suggested  by  the  growing  needs  of  man.  These  would 
be  worked  out  with  ever-increasing  ease  by  his  unfolding  genius 
for  invention.  Further  investigation  of  this  phase  of  develop- 
ment would  carry  me  beyond  the  limits  set  for  this  paper. 

To  please  fancy. — The  skill  acquired  by  the  handling  of  clay 
in  constructing  vessels  and  in  efforts  to  increase  their  usefulness 
would  open  an  expansive  field  for  the  play  of  fancy.  The  potter 
would  no  sooner  succeed  in  copying  vessels  having  life  form 
than  he  would  be  placed  in  a  position  to  realize  his  capacity  to 
imitate  forms  not  peculiar  to  vessels.  His  ambition  would  in 
time  lead  him  even  beyond  the  limits  of  nature  and  he  would 
invade  the  realm  of  imagination,  embodying  the  conceptions  of 
superstition  in  the  plastic  clay.  This  tendency  would  be  encour- 
aged and  perpetuated  by  the  relegation  of  vessels  of  particular 
forms  to  particular  ceremonies. 

ORIGIN    OF   ORNAMENT 

The  birth  of  the  embellishing  art  must  be  sought  in  that 
stage  of  animal  development  when  instinct  began  to  discover 
that  certain  attributes  or  adornments  increased  attractiveness. 
When  art  in  its  human  sense  came  into  existence  ideas  of  embel- 
lishment soon  extended  from  the  person,  with  which  they  had 
been  associated,  to  all  things  with  which  man  had  to  deal.  The 
processes  of  the  growth  of  the  aesthetic  idea  are  long  and  obscure 
and  cannot  be  taken  up  in  this  place. 

The  various  elements  of  embellishment  in  which  the  ceramic 
art  is  interested  may  be  assigned  to  two  great  classes,  based  upon 
the  character  of  the  conceptions  associated  with  them.  These 
are  ideographic  and  non-ideographic.  In  the  present  paper  I 
shall  treat  chiefly  of  the  non-ideographic,  reserving  the  ideo- 
graphic for  a  second  paper. 

Elements,  non-ideographic  from  the  start,  are  derived  mainly 


566  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

from  two  sources:  1st,  from  objects,  natural  or  artificial,  associ- 
ated with  the  arts;  and,  2d,  from  the  suggestions  of  accidents 
attending  construction.  Natural  objects  abound  in  features  highly 
suggestive  of  embellishment  and  these  are  constantly  employed 
in  art.  Artificial  objects  have  two  classes  of  features  capable 
of  giving  rise  to  ornament:  these  are  constructional  and  func- 
tional. In  a  late  stage  of  development  all  things  in  nature  and 
in  art,  however  complex  or  foreign  to  the  art  in  its  practice,  are 
subject  to  decorative  treatment.  This  latter  is  the  realistic 
pictorial  stage,  one  of  which  the  student  of  native  American  cul- 
ture needs  to  take  little  cognizance. 

Elements  of  design  are  not  invented  outright:  man  modifies, 
combines,  and  recombines  elements  or  ideas  already  in  existence, 
but  does  not  create 

Suggestions  of  natural  features  of  objects. — The  first  articles 
used  by  men  in  their  simple  arts  have  in  many  cases  possessed 
features  suggestive  of  decoration.  Shells  of  mollusks  are  ex- 
quisitely embellished  with  ribs,  spines,  nodes,  and  colors.  The 
same  is  true  to  a  somewhat  limited  extent  of  the  shells  of  the 
turtle  and  the  armadillo  and  of  the  hard  cases  of  fruits. 

These  decorative  features,  though  not  essential  to  the  utensil, 
are  nevertheless  inseparable  parts  of  it,  and  are  cast  or  un- 
consciously copied  by  a  very  primitive  people  when  similar 
articles  are  artificially  produced  in  plastic  material.  In  this  way 
a  utensil  may  acquire  ornamental  characters  long  before  the 
workman  has  learned  to  take  pleasure  in  such  details  or  has  con- 
ceived an  idea  beyond  that  of  simple  utility.  This  may  be  called 
unconscious  embellishment.  In  this  fortuitous  fashion  a  ribbed 
variety  of  fruit  shell  would  give  rise  to  a  ribbed  vessel  in  clay ; 
one  covered  with  spines  would  suggest  a  noded  vessel,  etc. 
When  taste  came  to  be  exercised  upon  such  objects  these  features 
would  be  retained  and  copied  for  the  pleasure  they  afforded. 

Passing  by  the  many  simple  elements  of  decoration  that  by 
this  unconscious  process  could  be  derived  from  such  sources,  let 
me  give  a  single  example  by  which  it  will  be  seen  that  not  only 
elementary  forms  but  even  so  highly  constituted  an  ornament  as 
the  scroll  may  have  been  brought  thus  naturally  into  the  realm 
of  decorative  art.  The  sea-shell  has  always  been  intimately  asso- 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  567 


464a 


4G4b 


476C 


473b 


4J4b 


480b 


568  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

ciated  with  the  arts  that  utilize  clay  and  abounds  in  suggestions 
of  embellishment.  The  Busycon  was  almost  universally  employed 
as  a  vessel  by  the  tribes  of  the  Atlantic  drainage  of  North 
America.  Usually  it  was  trimmed  down  and  excavated  until 
only  about  three-fourths  of  the  outer  wall  of  the  shell  remained. 
At  one  end  was  the  long  spike-like  base  which  served  as  a  handle, 
and  at  the  other  the  flat  conical  apex,  with  its  very  pronounced 
spiral  line  or  ridge  expanding  from  the  center  to  the  circumfer- 
ence, as  seen  in  Fig.  475  a.  This  vessel  was  often  copied  in 
clay,  as  many  good  examples  now  in  our  museums  testify.  The 
notable  feature  is  that  the  shell  has  been  copied  literally,  the 
spiral  appearing  in  its  proper  place.  A  specimen  is  illustrated 
in  Fig.  475  b  which,  although  simple  and  highly  conventionalized, 
still  retains  the  spiral  figure. 

In  another  example  we  have  four  of  the  noded  apexes  placed 
about  the  rim  of  the  vessel,  as  shown  in  Fig.  476  a,  the  concep- 
tion being  that  of  four  conch  shells  united  to  one  vessel,  the  bases 
being  turned  inward  and  the  apexes  outward.  Now  it  is  only 
necessary  to  suppose  the  addition  of  the  spiral  lines,  always 
associated  with  the  nodes,  to  have  the  result  shown  in  b,  and 
by  a  still  higher  degree  of  convention  we  have  the  classic  scroll 
ornament  given  in  c.  Of  course,  no  such  result  as  this  could 
come  about  adventitiously,  as  successful  combination  calls  for  the 
exercise  of  judgment  and  taste;  but  the  initiatory  steps  could  be 
taken — the  motive  could  enter  art — without  the  conscious  super- 
vision of  the  human  agent. 

SUGGESTIONS  BY  FEATURES  OF  ARTIFICIAL  OBJECTS 

Functional  features. — Functional  features  of  art  products 
liable  to  influence  ornament  comprise  handles,  legs,  feet,  rims, 
bands,  and  other  peculiarities  of  shape  originating  in  utility. 
Handles,  for  instance,  may  have  been  indigenous  to  a  number 
of  arts;  they  are  coeval  and  coextensive  with  culture.  The  first 
load,  weapon,  or  vessel  transported  by  man  may  have  been 
suspended  by  a  vine  or  filament.  Such  arts  as  have  fallen  heir 
to  handles  have  used  them  according  to  the  capacities  of  the 
material  employed.  Of  all  the  materials  stone  is  probably  the 
least  suited  to  their  successful  use,  while  clay  utilizes  them  in 
its  own  peculiar  way,  giving  to  them  a  great  variety  of  expression. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  569 

They  are  copied  in  clay  from  various  models,  but  owing  to  the 
inadequate  capacities  of  the  material,  often  lose  their  function 
and  degenerate  into  mere  ornaments,  which  are  modified  as 
such  to  please  the  potter's  fancy.  Thus,  for  example,  the  series 
of  handles  placed  about  the  neck  of  the  vessel  become,  by  modi- 
fication in  frequent  copying,  a  mere  band  of  ornamental  figures 
in  relief,  or  even  finally  in  engraved,  punctured,  or  painted  lines, 
in  the  manner  suggested  in  Fig.  477.  Legs,  pedestals,  spouts, 
and  other  features  may  in  a  like  manner  give  rise  to  decoration. 

Constructional  features. — Features  of  vessels  resulting  from 
construction  are  infinitely  varied  and  often  highly  suggestive 
of  decoration.  Constructional  peculiarities  of  the  clay  utensils 
themselves  are  especially  worthy  of  notice,  and  on  account  of 
their  actual  presence  in  the  art  itself  are  more  likely  to  be  utilized 
or  copied  for  ceramic  ornament  than  those  of  other  materials. 
The  coil,  so  universally  employed  in  construction,  has  had  a 
decided  influence  upon  the  ceramic  decoration  of  certain  peoples, 
as  I  have  shown  in  a  paper  on  ancient  Pueblo  art.  From  it  we 
have  not  only  a  great  variety  of  surface  ornamentation  produced 
by  simple  treatment  of  the  coil  in  place,  but  probably  many  forms 
suggested  by  the  use  of  the  coil  in  vessel  building,  as,  for  instance, 
the  spiral  formed  in  beginning  the  base  of  a  coiled  vessel,  Fig. 
478  a,  from  which  the  double  scroll  b,  as  a  separate  feature, 
could  readily  be  derived,  and  finally  the  chain  of  scrolls  so  often 
seen  in  border  and  zone  decoration.  This  familiarity  with  the 
use  of  fillets  or  ropes  of  clay  would  also  lead  to  a  great  variety 
of  applied  ornament,  examples  of  which,  from  Pueblo  art,  are 
given  in  Fig.  479.  The  sinuous  forms  assumed  by  a  rope  of 
clay  so  employed  would  readily  suggest  to  the  Indian  the  form 
of  the  serpent  and  the  means  of  representing  it,  and  might  thus 
lead  to  the  introduction  of  this  much  revered  creature  into  art. 

Of  the  various  classes  of  utensils  associated  closely  with  the 
ceramic  art,  there  are  none  so  characteristically  marked  by  con- 
structional features  as  nets  and  wicker  baskets.  The  twisting, 
interlacing,  knotting,  and  stitching  of  filaments  give  relieved 
figures  that  by  contact  in  manufacture  impress  themselves  upon 
the  plastic  clay.  Such  impressions  come  in  time  to  be  regarded  as 
pleasing  features,  and  when  free-hand  methods  of  reproducing 


570  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

are  finally  acquired  they  and  their  derivatives  become  essentials 
of  decoration.  At  a  later  stage  these  characters  of  basketry 
influence  ceramic  decoration  in  a  somewhat  different  way.  By 
the  use  of  variously-colored  fillets  the  woven  surface  displays 
figures  in  color  corresponding  to  those  in  relief  and  varying 
with  every  new  combination.  Many  striking  patterns  are  thus 
produced,  and  the  potter  who  has  learned  to  decorate  his  wares 
by  the  stylus  or  brush  reproduces  these  patterns  by  free-hand 
methods.  We  find  pottery  in  all  countries  ornamented  with 
patterns,  painted,  incised,  stamped,  and  relieved,  certainly  derived 
from  this  source.  So  well  is  this  fact  known  that  I  need  hardly 
go  into  details. 

In  the  higher  stages  of  art  the  constructional  characters  of 
architecture  give  rise  to  many  notions  of  decoration  which  after- 
wards descend  to  other  arts,  taking  greatly  divergent  forms. 
Aboriginal  architecture  in  some  parts  of  America,  had  reached 
a  development  capable  of  wielding  a  strong  influence.  This  is 
not  true,  however,  of  any  part  of  the  United  States. 

Besides  the  suggestions  of  surface  features  impressed  in 
manufacture  or  intentionally  copied  as  indicated  above,  we  have 
also  those  of  accidental  imprints  of  implements  or  of  the  fingers 
in  manufacture.  From  this  source  there  are  necessarily  many 
suggestions  of  ornament,  at  first  of  indented  figures,  but  later, 
after  long  employment,  extending  to  the  other  modes  of  repre- 
sentation. 

Non-ideographic  forms  of  ornament  may  originate  in  ideo- 
graphic features,  mnemonic,  demonstrative,  or  symbolic.  Such 
significant  features  are  borrowed  by  decorators  from  other 
branches  of  art.  As  time  goes  on  they  lose  their  significance  and 
are  subsequently  treated  as  purely  decorative  elements.  Subjects 
wholly  pictorial  in  character,  when  such  come  to  be  made,  may 
also  be  used  as  simple  decoration,  and  by  long  processes  of 
convention  become  geometric. 

The  exact  amount  of  significance  still  attached  to  significant 
figures  after  adoption  into  decoration  cannot  be  determined  except 
in  cases  of  actual  identification  by  living  peoples,  and  even  when 
the  signification  is  known  by  the  more  learned  individuals  the 
decorator  may  be  wholly  without  knowledge  of  it. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  571 


481b 


rLTLTLTLn 


4880. 


488b 


481c 


481d 


489a 


4S9b 


489c 


4S9d 


572  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

MODIFICATION  OF  ORNAMENT 

There  are  comparatively  few  elementary  ideas  prominently 
and  generally  employed  in  primitive  decorative  art.  New  ideas 
are  acquired,  as  already  shown,  all  along  the  pathway  of  progress. 
None  of  these  ideas  retain  a  uniform  expression,  however,  as 
they  are  subject  to  modification  by  environment  just  as  are  the 
forms  of  living  organisms.  A  brief  classification  of  the  causes 
of  modification  is  given  in  the  following  synopsis : 

(     Through  material. 
Modification  of  ornament /    Through  form. 

/    Through  methods  of  realization. 

Through  material. — It  is  evident  at  a  glance  that  material 
must  have  a  strong  influence  upon  the  forms  assumed  by  the 
various  decorative  motives,  however  derived.  Thus  stone,  clay, 
wood,  bone,  and  copper,  although  they  readily  borrow  from  na- 
ture and  from  each  other,  necessarily  show  different  decorative 
results.  Stone  is  massive  and  takes  form  slowly  and  by  peculiar 
processes.  Clay  is  more  versatile  and  decoration  may  be 
scratched,  incised,  painted,  or  modeled  in  relief  with  equal  fa- 
cility, while  wood  and  metal  engender  details  having  characters 
peculiar  to  themselves,  producing  different  results  from  the  same 
motives  or  elements.  Much  of  the  diversity  displayed  by  the 
art  products  of  different  countries  and  climates  is  due  to  this 
cause. 

Peoples  dwelling  in  arctic  climates  are  limited,  by  their  ma- 
terials, to  particular  modes  of  expression.  Bone  and  ivory  as 
shaped  for  use  in  the  arts  of  subsistence  afford  facilities  for  the 
employment  of  a  very  restricted  class  of  linear  decoration,  such 
chiefly  as  could  be  scratched  with  a  hard  point  upon  some  irregu- 
lar, often  cylindrical,  implements.  Skins  and  other  animal  tissues 
are  not  favorable  to  the  development  of  ornament,  and  the  textile 
arts — the  greatest  agents  of  convention — do  not  readily  find  suit- 
able materials  in  which  to  work. 

Decorative  art  carried  to  a  high  stage  under  arctic  environ- 
ment would  be  more  likely  to  achieve  unconventional  and  realistic 
forms  than  if  developed  in  more  highly  favored  countries.  The 
accurate  geometric  and  linear  patterns  would  hardly  arise. 

Through  form. — Forms  of  decorated  objects  exercise  a  strong 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  573 

influence  upon  the  decorative  designs  employed.  It  would  be 
more  difficult  to  tattoo  the  human  face  or  body  with  straight 
lines  or  rectilinear  patterns  than  with  curved  ones.  An  ornament 
applied  originally  to  a  vessel  of  a  given  form  would  accommodate 
itself  to  that  form  pretty  much  as  costume  becomes  adjusted  to 
the  individual.  When  it  came  to  be  required  for  another  form 
of  vessel,  very  decided  changes  might  be  necessary. 

With  the  ancient  Pueblo  peoples  rectilinear  forms  of  meander 
patterns  were  very  much  in  favor  and  many  earthen  vessels  are 
found  in  which  bands  of  beautiful  angular  geometric  figures 
occupy  the  peripheral  zone,  Fig.  480  a,  but  when  the  artist  takes 
up  a  mug  having  a  row  of  hemispherical  nodes  about  the  body,  b, 
he  finds  it  very  difficult  to  apply  his  favorite  forms  and  is  almost 
compelled  to  run  spiral  curves  about  the  nodes  in  order  to  secure 
a  neat  adjustment. 

Through  methods  of  realisation. — It  will  readily  be  seen  that 
the  forms  assumed  by  a  motive  depend  greatly  upon  the  character 
of  the  mechanical  devices  employed.  In  the  potter's  art  devices 
for  holding  and  turning  the  vessel  under  manipulation  produce 
peculiar  results. 

In  applying  a  given  idea  to  clay  much  depends  upon  the 
method  of  executing  it.  It  will  take  widely  differing  forms  when 
executed  by  incising,  by  modeling,  by  painting,  and  by  stamping. 

Intimately  associated  with  methods  of  execution  are  pecul- 
iarities of  construction,  the  two  agencies  working  together  in  the 
processes  of  modification  and  development  of  ornament. 

I  have  previously  shown  how  our  favorite  ornament,  the  scroll, 
in  its  disconnected  form  may  have  originated  in  the  copying  of 
natural  forms  or  through  the  manipulation  of  coils  of  clay.  I 
present  here  an  example  of  its  possible  origin  through  the  modi- 
fication of  forms  derived  from  constructional  features  of  basketry. 
An  ornament  known  as  the  guilloche  is  found  in  many  countries. 
The  combination  of  lines  resembles  that  of  twisted  or  platted  fil- 
lets of  wood,  cane,  or  rushes,  as  may  be  seen  at  a  glance,  Fig. 
481  a.  An  incised  ornament  of  this  character,  possibly  derived 
from  basketry  by  copying  the  twisted  fillets  or  their  impressions 
in  the  clay,  is  very  common  on  the  pottery  of  the  mounds  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  its  variants  form  a  most  interesting 


574  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

study.  In  applying  this  to  a  vessel  the  careless  artist  does  not 
properly  connect  the  ends  of  the  lines  which  pass  beneath  the 
intersecting  fillets,  and  the  parts  become  disconnected,  b.  In 
many  cases  the  ends  are  turned  in  abruptly  as  seen  in  c,  and  only 
a  slight  further  change  is  necessary  to  lead  to  the  result,  d,  the 
running  scroll  with  well-developed  links.  All  of  these  steps  may 
be  observed  in  a  single  group  of  vessels. 

It  may  be  thought  by  some  that  the  processes  of  development 
indicated  above  are  insufficient  and  unsatisfactory.  There  are 
those  who,  seeing  these  forms  already  endowed  with  symbolism, 
begin  at  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  wrong  end  of  the  process. 
They  derive  the  form  of  symbol  directly  from  the  thing  symbol- 
ized. Thus  the  current  scroll  is,  with  many  races,  found  to  be 
a  symbol  of  water,  and  its  origin  is  attributed  to  a  literal  rendi- 
tion of  the  sweep  and  curl  of  the  waves.  It  is  more  probable 
that  the  scroll  became  the  symbol  of  the  sea  long  after  its  develop- 
ment through  agencies  similar  to  those  described  above,  and  that 
the  association  resulted  from  the  observation  of  incidental  re- 
semblances. This  same  figure,  in  use  by  the  Indians  of  the 
interior  of  the  continent,  is  regarded  as  symbolic  of  the  whirl- 
wind, and  it  is  probable  that  any  symbol-using  people  will  find 
in  the  features  and  phenomena  of  their  environment,  whatever 
it  may  be,  sufficient  resemblance  to  any  of  their  decorative  devices 
to  lead  to  a  symbolic  association. 

One  secret  of  modification  is  found  in  the  use  of  a  radical  in 
more  than  one  art,  owing  to  differences  in  constructional  char- 
acters. For  example,  the  tendency  of  nearly  all  woven  fabrics 
is  to  encourage,  even  to  compel,  the  use  of  straight  lines  in  the 
decorative  designs  applied.  Thus  the  attempt  to  employ  curved 
lines  would  lead  to  stepped  or  broken  lines.  The  curvilinear 
scroll  coming  from  some  other  art  would  be  forced  by  the  con- 
structional character  of  the  fabric  into  square  forms,  and  the 
rectilinear  meander  or  fret  would  result,  as  shown  in  Fig.  482, 
a  being  the  plain  form,  painted,  engraved,  or  in  relief,  and  b  the 
same  idea  developed  in  a  woven  fabric.  Stone  or  brick-work 
would  lead  to  like  results,  Fig.  483;  but  the  modification  could 
as  readily  move  in  the  other  direction.  If  an  ornament  originat- 
ing in  the  constructional  character  of  a  woven  fabric,  or  re- 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  575 

modeled  by  it,  and  hence  rectilinear,  should  be  desired  for  a 
smooth  structureless  or  featureless  surface,  the  difficulties  of 
drawing  the  angular  forms  would  lead  to  the  delineation  of 
curved  forms,  and  we  would  have  exactly  the  reverse  of  the 
order  shown  in  Figs.  482  and  483.  The  two  forms  given  in 
Fig.  484  actually  occur  in  one  and  the  same  design  painted  upon 
an  ancient  Pueblo  vase.  The  curved  form  is  apparently  the  result 
of  careless  or  hurried  work,  the  original  angular  form  having 
come  from  a  textile  source. 

Many  excellent  examples  illustrative  of  this  tendency  to  modi- 
fication are  found  in  Pueblo  art.  Much  of  the  ornament  applied 
to  pottery  is  derived  from  the  sister  art,  basketry.  In  the  latter 
art  the  forms  of  decorative  figures  are  geometric  and  symmetrical 
to  the  highest  degree,  as  I  have  frequently  pointed  out.  The 
rays  of  a  radiating  ornament,  worked  with  the  texture  of  a 
shallow  basket,  spring  from  the  center  and  take  uniform  direc- 
tions toward  the  margin But  when  a  similar  idea  derived 

from  basketry  (as  it  could  have  no  other  origin)  is  executed  in 
color  upon  an  earthen  vessel,  we  observe  a  tendency  to  depart 
from  symmetry  as  well  as  from  consistency 

The  growth  of  decorative  devices  from  the  elementary  to  the 
highly  constituted  and  elegant  is  owing  to  a  tendency  of  the 
human  mind  to  elaborate  because  it  is  pleasant  to  do  so  or  because 
pleasure  is  taken  in  the  result,  but  there  is  still  a  directing  and 
shaping  agency  to  be  accounted  for. 

I  have  already  shown  that  such  figures  as  the  scroll  and  the 
guilloche  are  not  necessarily  developed  by  processes  of  selection 
and  combination  of  simple  elements,  as  many  have  thought,  since 
they  have  come  into  art  at  a  very  early  stage  almost  full-fledged ; 
but  there  is  nothing  in  these  facts  to  throw  light  upon  the  pro- 
cesses by  which  ornament  followed  particular  lines  of  develop- 
ment throughout  endless  elaboration.  In  treating  of  this  point, 
Prof.  C.  F.  Hartt  maintained  that  the  development  of  ornamental 
designs  took  particular  and  uniform  directions  owing  to  the 
structure  of  the  eye,  certain  forms  being  chosen  and  perpetuated 
because  of  the  pleasure  afforded  by  movements  of  the  eye  in 
following  them.  In  connection  with  this  hypothesis,  for  it  is 
nothing  more,  Mr.  Hartt  advanced  the  additional  idea,  that  in 


576  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

unison  with  the  general  course  of  nature  decorative  forms  began 
with  simple  elements  and  developed  by  systematic  methods  to 
complex  forms.  Take  for  example  the  series  of  designs  shown 
in  Fig.  488.  The  meander  a  made  up  of  simple  parts  would, 
according  to  Mr.  Hartt,  by  further  elaboration  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  muscles  of  the  eye,  develop  into  b.  This,  in  time, 
into  c,  and  so  on  until  the  elegant  anthemium  was  achieved.  The 
series  shown  in  Fig.  489  would  develop  in  a  similar  way,  or  other- 
wise would  be  produced  by  modification  in  free-hand  copying 
of  the  rectilinear  series.  The  processes  here  suggested,  although 
to  all  appearances  reasonable  enough,  should  not  be  passed  over 
without  careful  scrutiny. 

Taking  the  first  series,  we  observe  that  the  ornaments  are 
projected  in  straight  continuous  lines  or  zones,  which  are  filled 
in  with  more  or  less  complex  parts,  rectilinear  and  geometrically 
accurate.  Still  higher  forms  are  marvelously  intricate  and  grace- 
ful, yet  not  less  geometric  and  symmetrical. 

Let  us  turn  to  the  primitive  artisan,  and  observe  him  at  work 
with  rude  brush  and  stylus  upon  the  rounded  and  irregular  forms 
of  his  utensils  and  weapons,  or  upon  skins,  bark,  and  rock  sur- 
faces. Is  it  probable  that  with  his  free  hand  directed  by  the  eye 
alone  he  will  be  able  to  achieve  these  rhythmic  geometric  forms. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  whole  tendency  is  in  the  opposite  direction. 
I  venture  to  surmise  that  if  there  had  been  no  other  resources 
than  those  named  above  the  typical  rectilinear  fret  would  never 
have  been  known,  at  least  to  the  primitive  world;  for,  notwith- 
standing the  contrary  statement  by  Professor  Hartt,  the  fret  is 
in  its  more  highly-developed  forms  extremely  difficult  to  follow 
with  the  eye  and  to  delineate  with  the  hand.  Until  arts,  geometric 
in  their  construction,  arose  to  create  and  to  combine  mechanically 
the  necessary  elements  and  motives,  and  lead  the  way  by  a  long 
series  of  object-lessons  to  ideas  of  geometric  combination,  our 
typical  border  ornament  would  not  be  possible.  Such  arts  are 
the  textile  arts  and  architecture.  These  brought  into  existence 
forms  and  ideas  not  met  with  in  nature  and  not  primarily  thought 
of  by  man,  and  combined  them  in  defiance  of  human  conceptions 
of  grace.  Geometric  ornament  is  the  offspring  of  technique. — 
W.  H.  HOLMES,  Reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  4:444-65. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  577 

THE  DANCE 

While  the  significance  which  pictorial  art  in  lifeless  material 
has  acquired  among  the  higher  peoples  can  be  discerned,  at 
least  in  the  germ,  among  the  lower  tribes,  the  great  social  power 
which  the  living  picture,  the  dance,  once  possessed,  can  hardly 
be  guessed  to-day.  The  modern  dance  is  only  a  degenerated 
aesthetical  and  social  remnant;  the  primitive  dance  is  the  most 
immediate,  most  perfect,  and  most  efficient  expression  of  the 
primitive  aesthetic  feeling. 

The  characteristic  mark  of  the  dance  is  the  rhythmical  order 
of  the  motions.  There  is  no  dance  without  rhythm.  The  dances 
of  hunting  peoples  can  be  divided,  according  to  their  character, 
into  two  groups — mimetic  and  gymnastic  dances.  The  mimetic 
dances  consist  of  rhythmical  imitations  of  the  motions  of  animals 
and  men,  while  the  movements  in  gymnastic  dances  follow  no 
natural  model.  Both  kinds  appear  side  by  side  among  the  most 
primitive  tribes. 

Best  known  are  the  gymnastic  dances  of  the  Australians,  the 
corroborries,  which  have  been  described  in  nearly  every  account 
of  Australian  travel,  for  they  are  known  over  the  whole  continent. 
The  corroborries  are  always  performed  at  night,  and  generally 
by  moonlight.  We  do  not,  however,  consider  it  necessary,  for 
that  reason,  to  regard  them  as  religious  ceremonies.  Moonlight 
nights  are  chosen  probably  not  because  they  are  holy,  but  because 
they  are  clear.  The  dancers  are  usually  men,  while  women  form 
the  orchestra.  Frequently  several  tribes  join  in  a  great  dancing 
festival ;  four  hundred  participants  having  occasionally  been 
counted  in  Victoria.  The  largest  and  most  noteworthy  festivals 
apparently  take  place  on  the  conclusion  of  a  peace;  moreover, 
all  the  more  important  events  of  Australian  life  are  celebrated 
by  dances — the  ripening  of  a  fruit,  the  beginning  of  the  oyster 
dredging,  the  initiation  of  the  youth,  a  meeting  with  a  friendly 
tribe,  the  march  to  battle,  a  successful  hunt.  The  corroborries  of 
different  occasions  and  of  different  tribes  are  so  like  one  another 
that  the  observer  is  acquainted  with  them  all  when  he  has  seen 
one.  Let  us  suppose  ourselves  attending  one  described  by 
Thomas  in  the  colony  of  Victoria.  The  scene  is  a  clearing  in  the 
bush.  In  the  middle  of  it  blazes  a  large  fire,  the  ruddy  glare 


578  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  which  is  mingled  wkh  the  bluish  light  of  the  full  moon.  The 
dancers  are  not  yet  visible;  they  have  retired  into  the  dark 
shrubbery  to  put  on  their  festal  decorations.  On  one  side  of  the 
fire  are  assembled  the  women  who  are  to  form  the  orchestra. 
All  at  once  a  crackling  and  rustling  are  heard,  and  the  dancers 
appear.  The  thirty  men  who  have  entered  within  the  circle 
of  the  firelight  have  all  painted,  with  white  earth,  rings  around 
the  eyes  and  long  streaks  on  the  body  and  limbs.  They  wear, 
besides,  tufts  of  leaves  on  their  ankles  and  an  apron  of  hide 
around  their  loins.  Meanwhile  the  women  have  arranged 
themselves,  facing  one  another,  into  a  horseshoe-shaped  group. 
They  are  entirely., naked.  Each  holds  on  her  knees  a  neatly 
folded  and  tightly  stretched  opossum  skin,  which  serves  at  other 
times  as  a  robe.  Between  them  and  the  fire  stands  the  director. 
He  wears  the  usual  apron  of  opossum  skin,  and  holds  a  stick  in 
each  hand.  The  spectators  sit  or  stand  around  in  a  large  circle. 
The  director  casts  a  searching  glance  at  the  dancers,  then  turns 
and  slowly  approaches  the  women.  He  strikes  his  two  sticks 
abruptly  together;  the  dancers  have  arranged  themselves  with 
the  rapidity  of  lightning  in  a  line,  and  advance;  then  they  halt. 
A  new  pause,  while  the  director  reviews  the  line.  All  is  in 
order,  and  now  at  last  he  gives  the  signal.  He  begins  by  beating 
the  time  with  his  two  sticks ;  the  dancers  fall  in  with  the  move- 
ment; the  women  sing  and  beat  on  the  opossum  hides,  and  the 
corroborry  begins.  It  is  astonishing  how  accurately  the  time  is 
kept ;  the  tunes  and  the  movements  are  all  in  unison.  The  dancers 
move  as  smoothly  as  the  best-trained  ballet-troupe.  They  as- 
sume all  possible  positions,  sometimes  springing  aside,  sometimes 
advancing,  sometimes  retiring  one  or  two  steps ;  they  stretch  and 
bend  themselves,  swing  their  arms  and  stamp  with  their  feet. 
Nor  is  the  director  idle.  While  he  is  beating  the  time  with  his 
sticks,  he  continually  executes  a  peculiar  nasal  song,  louder  or 
more  softly  by  turn,  as  he  makes  a  step  forward  or  backward. 
He  does  not  stand  in  the  same  place  for  an  instant;  now  he 
turns  toward  the  dancers,  now  toward  the  women,  who  then 
lift  up  their  voices  with  all  their  might.  The  dancers  gradually 
become  more  excited;  the  time-sticks  are  struck  faster;  the 
motions  become  more  rapid  and  vigorous;  the  dancers  shake 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  579 

themselves,  spring  into  the  air  to  an  incredible  height,  and 
finally  utter -a  shrill  cry,  as  if  from  one  mouth.  An  instant 
later,  and  they  have  all  vanished  into  the  bushes  as  suddenly 
as  they  came  out  of  them.  The  place  remains  empty  for  a 
while.  Then  the  director  gives  the  signal  anew,  and  the  dancers 
again  appear.  This  time  they  form  a  curved  line.  In  other 
respects  the  second  part  is  like  a  continuation  of  the  first  one. 
The  women  advance,  beating  and  singing  at  times  as  loud  as 
if  they  would  split  their  throats,  at  other  times  so  softly  that  their 
murmuring  is  hardly  audible.  The  ending  is  similar  to  that 
of  the  first  part ;  and  a  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  act  are  performed 
in  a  similar  style.  At  one  time,  however,  the  dancers  form  a 
band  four  files  deep:  the  first  line  springs  aside;  those  behind 
it  advance,  and  in  this  way  the  mass  moves  forward  toward 
the  women.  The  troop  looks  now  like  an  inextricable  tangle  of 
bodies  and  limbs;  and  one  would  think  the  dancers  were  about 
to  break  one  another's  skulls  with  their  wildly  brandished  sticks. 
But  in  reality  a  strict  regulation  prevails  now  as  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  dance.  The  excitement  is  at  its  height;  the  dancers 
cry  out,  stamp,  and  jump;  the  women  beat  time  as  if  they  were 
crazy,  and  sing  with  all  the  strength  of  their  lungs  ;  the  fire,  which 
is  blazing  up  high,  scatters  a  shower  of  red  sparks  over  the  wild 
scene;  and  then  the  director  raises  his  arms  high  over  his  head; 
a  loud  clapping  breaks  through  the  tumult,  and  the  next  instant 
the  dancers  are  gone.  The  women  and  the  spectators  rise  and 
disperse  to  their  miams.  A  half  hour  later  nothing  is  stirring 
in  the  moonlit  clearing  except  the  waning  fire.  Such  is  an  Aus- 
tralian corroborry. 

The  corroborry  of  the  men,  as  we  have  said,  always  offers 
substantially  the  same  spectacle,  but  the  dance  of  the  women, 
which  is  apparently  much  more  rarely  introduced,  presents  a 
very  different  character.  We  owe  the  best  description  of  the 
woman's  dance  to  Eyre.  "The  dancing  women,"  he  says,  "clasp 
their  hands  over  their  heads,  lock  their  feet,  and  press  their  knees 
together.  Then  the  legs  are  thrown  outward  from  the  knee — 
while  the  feet  and  hands  remain  in  their  original  position — and 
are  brought  together  again  so  quickly  as  to  give  a  sharp  sound 
when  they  strike.  This  dance  is  performed  either  by  one  girl 


580  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

alone,  or  by  several,  at  pleasure.  Sometimes,  too,  a  woman 
dances  it  alone  before  a  file  of  male  dancers  in  order  to  excite 
their  passion.  In  another  figure  the  feet  are  kept  close  together 
on  the  ground,  and  the  dancers  move  forward,  while  describing 
a  small  semicircle,  by  a  peculiar  wriggling  of  the  body.  This 
dance  is  almost  solely  performed  by  young  girls  in  concert."  The 
corroborries  of  the  Tasmanians,  so  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the 
scanty  accounts  we  have  of  them,  did  not  differ  from  those  of 
the  Australians. 

The  striking  resemblance  which  we  have  so  far  remarked 
at  every  step  between  the  Australians  and  the  Mincopies  extends 
also  to  the  dance.  The  dances  of  the  Mincopies  so  resemble 
those  of  the  Australians  that  they  might  be  interchangeable  with 
them.  The  occasions  are  the  same — a  visit  of  friends,  and  be- 
ginning of  a  season,  recovery  from  illness,  and  the  end  of  a 
period  of  mourning;  in  short,  every  event  which  would  excite  a 
joyful  feeling  in  the  people.  In  addition  to  these,  larger  festivals 
are  celebrated,  to  which  several  tribes  resort.  On  a  little  clear- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  thick  jungle,  says  Man,  are  collected 
more  than  a  hundred  bepainted  men  and  women.  The  moon 
pours  down  its  soft  light,  while  out  of  every  hut  the  ruddy  glow 
of  fires  casts  wierd  shadows  through  the  scattered  groups.  On 
one  side  sit  in  a  row  the  women  who  are  to  sing  in  chorus  the 
refrain  of  the  dancing  song ;  on  the  other  side  are  seen  the 
dusky  forms  of  the  spectators,  many  of  whom  take  part  in  the 
performance  by  clapping  their  hands  in  unison.  The  director, 
who  is  likewise  the  poet  and  composer  of  the  dance  melody, 
stations  himself  where  he  can  be  seen  by  all;  his  foot  resting 
on  the  narrow  end  of  the  sounding-board,  and,  supporting  his 
body  on  a  spear  or  a  bow,  he  beats  the  time  for  the  singers  and 
dancers,  tapping  on  the  sounding-board  with  the  sole  or  the 
heel  of  his  other  foot.  During  his  solo,  which  has  the  character 
of  a  recitative,  all  the  other  voices  are  silent,  and  the  spectators 
remain  motionless ;  but  as  soon  as  the  sign  for  the  refrain  is 
given,  a  number  of  dancers  plunge  in  wild  excitement  into  the 
arena,  and,  while  performing  their  parts  with  passionate  energy, 
the  song  of  the  women  becomes  stronger.  The  dancer  bends  his 
back  and  throws  his  whole  weight  upon  one  leg,  which  is  bent 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  581 

at  the  knee.  His  hands  are  extended  forward  at  the  height  of 
his  breast,  the  thumb  of  one  being  held  between  th;.  thumb  and 
forefinger  of  the  other,  while  the  other  fingers  are  extended 
upward.  In  this  position  he  advances,  hopping  on  one  foot  and 
stamping  on  the  ground  with  the  other  at  every  second  motion. 
He  thus  crosses  the  whole  arena  forward  and  backward,  to  the 
time  of  the  sounding-board  and  the  song.  When  the  dancer 
tires,  he  indulges  himself  in  a  little  change  by  giving  the  time 
in  a  peculiar  fashion,  bending  his  knees  and  raising  his  heels 
from  the  ground  exactly  according  to  the  measure.  As  in  Aus- 
tralia, in  the  Adaman  Islands  the  women  do  not  take  part  in 
the  dances  of  men.  But  they  have  their  own  dances,  which, 
according  to  the  accounts  of  some  eyewitnesses,  are  of  rather 
doubtful  propriety.  Man's  description,  however,  furnishes 
nothing  remarkable  concerning  them.  He  says  that  the  women 
swing  their  arms  forward  and  backward,  while  their  knees 
are  bent  and  moved  up  and  down.  Now  and  then  the  dancer 
advances  two  steps  and  begins  the  movements  anew. 

The  Bushmen  have  so  lively  a  talent  for  mimicry  that  we 
might  expect  to  see  it  exercised  in  their  dances.  Nevertheless, 
the  accounts,  which  are  scanty  enough,  mention  only  gymnastic 
dancers.  The  most  complete  description  of  a  Bushman  dance 
is  found  in  Burchell.  The  dance  took  place  in  the  evening  in  a 
hut  that  belonged  to  the  head  man,  "and  there  were  in  it  as 
many  persons  of  both  sexes  as  could  sit  in  a  circle  and  leave 
the  dancers  standing  room.  A  bright  fire  was  blazing  close  by 
the  entrance.  The  dancer  was  in  an  ecstacy  of  vivacity  and  sat- 
isfaction, in  which  he  cared  for  nothing  about  him  and  hardly 
thought  of  himself.  As  an  adult  can  hardly  stand  up,  even  in  the 
largest  hut,  the  dancer  was  obliged  to  support  himself  on  two 
long  sticks,  which  he  held  in  his  hands  and  which  rested  on  the 
floor  as  far  apart  as  was  conveniently  practicable.  Consequently 
his  body  was  bent  forward  in  an  extremely  constrained  position, 
and  a  very  awkward  one  for  dancing.  On  the  other  hand,  his 
limbs  were  not  restrained  by  clothing,  for  he  wore  nothing  but 
his  jackal's  skin.  In  this  position  he  danced  without  pausing. 
Sometimes  he  did  not  even  support  himself  on  the  sticks.  It 
was  the  privilege  of  each  of  the  company,  when  his  turn  came, 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  take  his  place  and  dance  as  long  as  he  pleased;  then  another 
put  on  the  rattle,  which  is  there  generally  used.  This  dance  is 
peculiar,  and  so  far  as  I  know  there  is  nothing  like  it  among 
any  other  savage  tribes  on  the  globe.  One  foot  was  firmly 
planted,  while  the  other  was  kept  in  rapid  and  irregular  motion, 
but  without  suffering  any  notable  change  of  place,  although  the 
knee  and  lower  part  of  the  leg  moved  hither  and  thither  as  far 
as  the  position  permitted.  The  arms,  having  to  support  the 
body,  were  only  slightly  moved.  The  dancer  sang  all  the  while, 
keeping  time  with  his  movements.  Sometimes  he  let  his  body 
down  and  raised  it  again  quickly,  till  at  last,  wearied  by  the 
difficult  motions,  he  sank  to  the  ground  to  catch  his  breath.  He 
continued  to  sing,  however,  and  moved  his  body,  keeping  time 
with  the  singing  of  the  spectators.  After  a  few  minutes  he  rose 
again  and  resumed  his  dance  with  new  vigour.  When  one  leg 
was  tired,  or  when  the  course  of  the  dance  brought  it  about,  the 
turn  of  the  other  came.  The  dancer  wore  a  kind  of  rattle  on  each 
ankle,  which  was  made  of  four  springboks'  ears  joined  together, 
containing  a  number  of  pieces  of  ostrich-egg  shells,  which  gave 
at  each  movement  of  the  foot  a  sound  that  was  not  unpleasant 
or  harsh,  and  considerably  enhanced  the  effect  of  the  perform- 
ance. Although  only  one  person  could  dance  at  a  time,  the 
whole  company  present  took  part  in  the  ceremony,  all  the  mem- 
bers, as  well  as  the  dancers,  accompanying  and  assisting  in  the 
evening's  entertainment.  This  accompaniment  consisted  of 
singing  and  drumming;  all  sang  and  kept  time  by  gently  clap- 
ping their  hands.  The  words  they  used,  which  mean  nothing  in 
themselves,  were  Ae-o,  ae-o,  continually  repeated.  The  hands 
were  struck  together  at  the  sound  O,  and  the  dancer  pronounced 
the  syllables  Wa-wa^kuh.  Neither  sex  was  excluded  from  the 
singing,  and,  though  the  voices  did  not  all  give  the  same  tone, 
they  were  still  in  good  accord.  The  girls  sang  five  or  six  tones 
higher,  and  in  a  much  more  animated  manner."  A  dance  which 
was  performed  in  the  open  air  in  the  presence  of  Arbousset  and 
Daumas  was  of  an  entirely  different  character.  The  Bushmen, 
according  to  their  account,  "would  not  dance  until  they  had 
eaten  and  were  full,  and  then  in  the  middle  of  the  kraal  by 
moonlight.  The  movements  consisted  of  irregular  leaps,  and 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  583 

were,  to  borrow  a  native  comparison,  like  those  of  a  herd  of 
gambolling  calves.  The  dancers  jumped  till  they  were  tired  out 
and  covered  with  perspiration.  The  thousand-voice  cries  they 
uttered  and  the  movements  they  executed  were  so  difficult  that 
now  one,  now  another  were  seen  to  fall  to  the  ground  completely 
exhausted  and  covered  with  blood,  which  streamed  from  their 
nostrils.  On  that  account  this  dance  was  called  mokoma,  or 
blood  dance." 

Our  information  concerning  the  dances  of  the  Fuegians  is 
very  scanty.  Dramatic  representations,  some  of  which  may  be 
mimetic  dances,  are  mentioned  of  only  one  tribe,  the  Yahgans. 
Of  gymnastic  dances  among  them  we  know  absolutely  nothing, 
but  we  should  not  therefore  presume  that  they  have  none.  Of 
the  dances  of  the  Botocudo,  too,  not  a  word  can  be  found  in  most 
of  the  accounts.  The  Prince  of  Wied  expressly  denied  that  there 
were  any,  but  Ehrenreich  saw  some  after  the  prince's  visit  and 
has  described  them :  "On  festive  occasions,  as  when  a  success- 
ful hunt  or  a  victory  is  celebrated  or  a  stranger  is  received,  the 
whole  horde  collects  at  night  around  the  camp  fire  for  the  dance. 
Men  and  women  form  a  circle  in  motley  arrangement,  each 
dancer  places  his  arms  around  the  necks  of  his  neighbours,  and 
then  the  whole  circle  begins  to  turn  toward  the  right  or  the 
left,  all  stamping  at  once  lustily  with  the  foot  of  the  side  toward 
which  they  are  turning  and  drawing  the  other  foot  quickly  after 
it.  Soon  with  bowed  heads  they  press  more  and  more  closely 
upon  one  another,  after  which  they  break  ranks.  All  the  while 
a  monotonous  song  is  sung,  the  time  of  which  is  followed  by 
the  feet." 

Among  the  Eskimo,  at  least  in  the  descriptions,  the  gymnastic 
dances  are  of  somewhat  less  account  than  the  mimetic.  "The 
dances,"  says  Boas,  "are  held  in  summer  in  the  open  air,  but 
in  winter  in  a  feast-house  built  on  purpose  for  them.  This 
house  is  a  large  dome  of  snow,  about  fifteen  English  feet  high 
and  twenty  feet  in  diameter.  In  the  middle  of  it  is  a  pillar 
of  snow  about  five  feet  high  on  which  the  lamps  stand.  When 
the  villagers  collect  in  this  building  for  singing  and  dancing,  the 
married  women  station  themselves  in  a  line  along  the  wall  and 
the  unmarried  ones  form  a  second  concentric  circle,  while  the 


584  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

men  sit  in  the  inner  circle.  The  children  form  two  groups  by 
the  sides  of  the  door.  At  the  beginning  of  the  festival  one  of 
the  men  seizes  the  drum,  steps  into  the  open  space  near  the 
door,  and  begins  to  sing  and  dance.  The  songs  are  composed  by 
the  singer  himself,  and  satirical  compositions  are  most  in  favour 
on  these  occasions.  While  the  men  are  silently  listening,  the 
women  join  in  a  chorus  with  the  words  'amna  aya.'  The  dancer, 
who  remains  at  the  same  place,  stamps  rhythmically  with  his 
feet  and  swings  his  body  hither  and  thither,  beating  the  drum 
all  the  time.  While  dancing  he  strips  himself  to  the  waist, 
keeping  on  only  his  breeches  and  boots."  In  another  gymnastic 
dance,  which  Bancroft,  for  some  reason  unmentioned,  calls  the 
national  dance  of  the  Eskimo,  each  of  the  girls  steps  in  suc- 
cession into  the  midst  of  the  circle  while  the  others  dance  around 
her  with  hands  entwined,  singing.  "The  most  extravagant  mo- 
tions gain  the  greatest  applause."  While  the  gymnastic  dances 
are  usually  solos,  several  actors  may  appear  at  the  same  time 
in  the  mimetic  dances.  "The  dancers,  who  are  commonly  young 
men,  bare  themselves  to  the  waist  or  even  appear  quite  naked. 
They  execute  numerous  burlesque  imitations  of  birds  and  ani- 
mals, while  their  movements  are  accompanied  with  the  beating 
of  tambourines  and  singing  They  are  sometimes  fantastically 
dressed  in  breeches  of  sealskin  and  reindeer  hide  and  wear 
feathers  or  a  coloured  cloth  on  their  heads."  The  representations 
are,  however,  not  limited  to  animal  life.  A  monotonous  re- 
frain, accompanied  by  drumming,  calls  one  young  man  after 
another  upon  the  danuig  place  lill  a  circle  of  about  twenty  is 
formed.  Then  begins  a  series  of  pantomimic  representations  of 
love,  jealousy,  hatred,  and  friendship." 

As  compared  with  the  uniform  character  of  the  corroborry, 
the  mimetic  dances  in  Australia  afford  a  great  diversity.  The 
animal  dances,  again,  have  the  first  place.  There  are  emu,  dingo, 
frog,  and  butterfly  dances,  but  no  other  seems  to  enjoy  such 
general  popularity  as  the  kangaroo  dance,  which  has  been  de- 
scribed by  numerous  travellers.  All  agree  in  admiring  the  mi- 
metic talent  which  the  natives  display  in  them.  Nothing  more 
comical  and  no  more  successful  imitation,  says  Mundy,  could 
be  imagined  than  to  see  the  dancers  all  hopping  round  in  rivalry. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  585 

Eyre  saw  the  kangaroo  dance  on  Lake  Victoria  "so  admirably 
executed  that  it  would  have  called  down  thunders  of  applause 
in  any  European  theatre."  Subjects  for  mimetic  dances  are 
afforded  by  the  two  most  important  events  of  human  life — love 
and  the  battle.  Mundy  describes  a  mimic  war  dance  which  he 
saw  in  New  South  Wales.  The  dancers  performed  first  a  series 
of  complicated  and  wild  movements  in  which  clubs,  spears, 
boomerangs,  and  shields  were  brandished.  Then  "all  at  once 
the  mass  divided  into  groups,  and  with  deafening  shrieks  and 
passionate  cries  the)'  sprang  upon  one  another  in  a  hand-to-hand 
fight.  One  side  was  speedily  driven  out  of  the  field  and  pur- 
sued into  the  darkness,  whence  howls,  groans,  and  the  strokes 
of  clubs  could  be  heard,  producing  the  perfect  illusion  of  a 
terrible  massacre.  Suddenly  the  whole  troupe  again  came  up 
close  to  the  fire,  and  having  arranged  themselves  in  two  ranks, 
the  time  of  the  music  was  changed.  The  dancers  moved  in 
slower  rhythm,  accompanying  every  step  with  stamping  and  a 
grunting  sound.  Gradually  the  drum  beats  and  the  movements 
became  more  rapid  till  they  attained  as  nearly  a  lightning-like 
velocity  as  the  human  body  can  reach.  Sometimes  the  dancers 
all  sprang  into  the  air  to  a  surprising  height,  and  when  they 
struck  the  ground  again  the  calves  of  their  widely  spreading 
legs  trembled  so  violently  that  the  stripes  of  white  clay  looked 
like  wriggling  snakes,  and  a  loud  hissing  filled  the  air."  The 
love  dances  of  the  Australians  are  passed  over  in  most  of  the 
accounts  with  a  few  suggestive  references.  They  are  hardly 
suitable  for  exhaustive  descriptions.  "I  have  seen  dances," 
writes  Hodgkinson,  "which  consist  of  the  most  repulsive  of 
obscene  motions  that  one  can  imagine,  and,  although  I  was  alone 
in  the  darkness,  and  nobody  observed  my  presence.  I  was 
ashamed  to  be  a  witness  of  such  abomination."  It  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  consider  one  dance  of  this  sort — the  kaaro  of  the 
Wachandi :  "The  festival  begins  with  the  first  new  moon  after 
the  yams  are  ripe,  and  is  opened  by  the  men  with  an  eating  and 
drinking  bout ;  then  a  dance  is  executed  in  the  moonlight  around 
a  pit  which  is  surrounded  with  shrubbery.  The  pit  and  the 
shrubbery  represent  the  female  organ,  which  they  are  made 
to  resemble,  while  the  spears  swung  by  the  men  represent  the 


586  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

male  member.  The  men  jump  around,  betraying  their  sexual 
excitement  with  the  wildest  and  most  passionate  gestures, 
thrusting  their  spears  into  the  pit."  In  this  dance  Scherer,  the 
historian  of  literature,  has  discovered  the  "primitive  germ  of 
poetry."  War  and  love  are,  as  we  have  said,  the  chief  motives 
stimulating  the  Australians  to  mimetic  dances,  but  less  sug- 
gestive scenes  are  'also  represented.  Thus  a  canoe  dance  is  per- 
formed in  the  north.  For  it  the  participants  "paint  themselves 
with  white  and  red  and  carry  sticks  to  represent  paddles.  The 
dancers  arrange  themselves  in  two  ranks;  each  one  holds  the 
stick  behind  his  back  and  moves  his  feet  alternately  with  the 
rhythm  of  the  song.  At  a  signal  all  bring  their  sticks  forward 
and  swing  them  rhythmically  back  and  forth  like  paddles,  as  if 
they  were  paddling  in  one  of  their  light  canoes.  Finally,  we 
may  mention  a  mimetic  dance  that  symbolizes  death  and  the 
resurrection.  Parker  saw  it  when  among  the  aborigines  at 
Loddon.  The  performance  was  led  by  an  old  man  who  had 
learned  the  dance  from  the  Northwestern  tribes.  "The  dancers 
held  boughs  in  their  hands,  with  which  they  gently  fanned 
themselves  over  the  shoulders,  and  after  they  had  danced  for 
some  time  in  rows  and  half  circles  they  gradually  collected  into 
a  close  circular  group.  They  then  slowly  sank  to  the  ground, 
and,  hiding  their  heads  under  the  boughs,  they  represented  the 
approach,  and,  in  the  perfectly  motionless  position  in  which  they 
remained  for  some  time,  the  condition  of  death.  Then  the  old 
man  gave  the  sign  by  abruptly  beginning  a  new  lively  dance  and 
wildly  flourishing  his  bough  over  the  resting  group.  All  sprang 
up  at  once  and  fell  into  the  joyous  dance  that  was  intended  to 
signify  the  return  to  life  of  the  soul  after  death." 

No  protracted  research  is  needed  to  estimate  the  pleasure 
these  gymnastic  and  mimetic  performances  afford  to  the  per- 
formers and  the  spectators.  There  is  no  other  artistic  act  which 
moves  and  excites  all  men  like  the  dance.  In  it  primitive  men 
doubtless  find  the  most  intense  aesthetic  enjoyment  of  which 
they  are  generally  capable.  Most  primitive  dance  movements 
are  very  energetic.  We  need  only  to  go  back  to  the  years  of 
our  childhood  to  recollect  the  lively  pleasure  that  was  asso- 
ciated with  such  vigorous  and  rapid  motions,  provided  that  in 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  587 

them  a  certain  measure  of  duration  and  exertion  was  not  ex- 
ceeded. And  this  feeling  was  the  stronger  as  the  emotional 
tension  relieved  by  them  was  more  intense.  To  continue  un- 
moved outwardly  when  inwardly  disturbed  is  a  great  pain,  and 
it  is  a  delight  to  give  vent  to  inner  pressure  by  outer  movements. 
We  have  seen,  in  fact,  that  occasion  is  given  for  dances  among 
hunting  tribes  by  any  event  that  excites  the  mobile  feelings  of 
the  primitive  peoples.  The  Australian  dances  around  the  booty 
he  has  secured  as  the  child  hops  around  his  Christmas  tree. 

Yet  if  the  dance  movements  were  only  active  the  pleasure 
of  energetic  motion  would  soon  give  place  to  the  unpleasant 
feeling  of  weariness.  The  aesthetic  character  of  the  dance 
lies  less  in  the  energy  than  in  the  order  of  the  movements. 
We  have  pronounced  rhythm  the  most  important  property  of 
the  dance,  and  have  thereby  only  given  expression  to  the  pe- 
culiar feeling  of  primitive  men,  who  observe  before  all  else 
a  strict  rhythmical  regulation  of  the  movements  in  their  dances. 
"It  is  astonishing,"  says  Eyre  in  his  description  of  Australian 
dances,  "to  see  how  perfectly  the  time  is  maintained,  and  how 
admirably  exact  is  the  coincidence  of  the  motions  of  the  dancers 
with  the  intonations  of  the  music."  And  a  similar  impression 
has  been  made  upon  all  who  have  observed  the  dances  of  the 
primitive  men.  This  enjoyment  of  rhythm  is  without  doubt 
deeply  seated  in  the  human  organization.  It  is,  however,  an  ex- 
aggeration to  say  that  the  rhythmical  is  always  the  natural  form 
of  our  movements ;  however,  a  large  portion  of  them,  particularly 
those  which  serve  in  making  a  change  of  place,  are  executed 
naturally  in  rhythmical  form.  Further,  every  stronger  emo- 
tional excitement,  as  Spencer  has  justly  observed,  tends  to 
express  itself  in  rhythmical  movements  of  the  body;  and  Gurney 
adds  the  pertinent  remark  that  every  emotional  movement  is  in 
and  of  itself  rhythmical.  In  this  way  the  rhythm  of  the  motions 
of  the  dance  appears  to  be  simply  the  natural  form  of  the  move- 
ments of  locomotion  sharply  and  powerfully  exalted  by  the 
pressure  of  emotional  excitement.  The  value  of  rhythm  as  a 
factor  of  pleasure  is  still  not  accounted  for  by  this  observation ; 
although  we  can  not  make  a  definition  avail  as  an  explanation, 
we  are  compelled  to  receive  it  for  the  present  as  a  finality.  In 


588  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

any  case  the  pleasure  is  felt  by  primitive  at  least  as  strongly  as 
by  civilized  peoples.  The  study  of  their  poetry  and  music  will 
supply  us  with  further  evidence. 

•  So  far  it  has  not  been  necessary  to  distinguish  between  gym- 
nastic and  mimetic  dances,  for  the  pleasure  in  energetic  and 
rhythmical  movements  is  enjoyed  in  both  kinds  alike.  The  mi- 
metic dances  afford  primitive  man  a  further  delight  which  he 
does  not  find  in  the  gymnastic  dances.  They  gratify  his  pro- 
pensity for  imitation,  which  sometimes  appears  to  be  developed 
into  a  real  passion.  The  Bushmen  take  the  greatest  pleasure  in 
"imitating  with  deceptive  exactness  the  movements  of  particular 
men  or  animals;"  "all  the  Australian  aborigines  have  a  surpris- 
ing gift  of  mimicry,"  which  they  exercise  on  every  occasion; 
and  it  is  told  of  the  Fuegians  that  "they  repeat  with  perfect 
accuracy  every  word  of  a  remark  pleasing  to  them  that  is  made 
in  their  presence,  copying  even  the  manner  and  the  bearing  of 
the  speaker."  In  respect  to  this  trait,  a  striking  analogy  exists 
between  primitive  peoples  and  the  primitive  individual,  the  child. 
The  same  passion  for  mimicry  can  be  observed  in  our  children, 
and  in  them,  too,  it  is  not  unfrequently  gratified  in  mimetic 
dances.  The  propensity  to  imitation  is  certainly  a  universal  human 
property,  but  it  does  not  prevail  with  the  same  force  in  all  grades 
of  development.  In  the  lowest  stages  of  culture  it  is  almost 
irresistible  in  all  members  of  society.  But  the  more  the  differ- 
ences between  the  several  social  members  increase  with  the 
progress  of  civilization  the  less  does  its  power  become,  and  the 
most  highly  cultivated  person  strives  above  all  to  be  like  himself 
only.  Consequently  the  mimetic  dances  which  play  so  large  a 
part  among  the  primitive  tribes  are  put  further  and  further  into 
the  background,  and  have  a  place  left  for  them  only  in  the  child 
world,  where  the  primitive  man  is  forever  returning  to  live  anew. 
The  highest  pleasure-giving  value  must  doubtless  be  ascribed 
to  those  mimetic  dances  which  represent  the  working  of  human 
passions — as,  in  the  first  rank,  war  dances  and  love  dances;  for 
while  they,  no  less  than  the  gymnastic  and  the  other  mimetic 
dances,  satisfy  the  liking  for  active  and  rhythmic  movements  and 
the  propensity  to  imitate,  they  afford  besides  that  beneficent 
cleansing  and  freeing  of  the  mind  from  the  wild,  turbulent 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  589 

passions  that  vent  themselves  through  them — that  katharsis 
which  Aristotle  declared  to  be  the  highest  and  the  best  effect 
of  tragedy.  This  last  form  of  mimetic  dance  constitutes  in  fact 
the  transition  to  the  drama,  which  appears,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  development  of  history,  as  a  differentiated  form  of  the 
dance.  When  we  seek  to  distinguish  between  the  dance  and 
the  drama  among  primitive  peoples,  we  have  to  depend  on  an 
external  mark — the  presence  or  absence  of  rhythm.  But  both 
are  at  the  bottom  identical  in  nature  and  effect  at  this  stage  of 
development. 

Pleasure  in  vigorous  and  rhythmical  motions,  pleasure  in 
imitation,  pleasure  in  the  discharge  of  violent  emotions — these 
factors  afford  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  passion  with 
which  primitive  peoples  cultivate  the  dancing  art.  The  joys  of 
the  dance  are  of  course  most  intensely  and  immediately  ex- 
perienced by  the  dancers  themselves.  But  the  delights  which 
blaze  in  the  actors  stream  out  likewise  over  the  spectators,  and 
these  have  further  an  enjoyment  which  is  denied  the  others. 
The  dancer  can  not  regard  himself  or  his  associates ;  he  can  not 
enjoy  the  view  of  the  lusty,  regular,  alternating  movements, 
singly  and  in  mass,  as  the  beholders  do.  He  feels  the  dance, 
but  does  not  see  it;  the  spectator  does  not  feel  the  dance, 
but  sees  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  dancer  is  compensated  by 
the  knowledge  that  he  is  drawing  the  good  will  and  admiration 
of  his  public  toward  himself.  In  this  way  both  parties  rise 
to  a  passionate  excitement ;  they  become  intoxicated  by  the  tones 
and  movements;  the  enthusiasm  rises  higher  and  higher,  and 
swells  finally  into  a  real  madness,  which  not  rarely  breaks  out 
with  violence.  When  we  contemplate  the  powerful  effects  which 
the  primitive  dances  produce  upon  the  actors  as  well  as  upon  the 
spectators,  we  can  understand  without  further  inquiry  why  the 
dance  has  often  acquired  the  significance  of  a  religious  ceremony. 
It  is  quite  natural  for  the  primitive  man  to  suppose  that  the 
exercises  which  make  so  powerful  an  impression  upon  him  can 
also  exert  a  definite  influence  on  the  spiritual  and  demoniacal 
powers  whose  disposition  controls  his  fate.  So  he  executes 
dances  in  order  to  frighten  away  or  to  propitiate  the  ghosts  and 
demons.  Parker  has  described  an  Australian  dance  which  was 


590  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

intended  to  propitiate  Mindi,  a  terrible  demon,  and  secure  his 
aid  against  the  enemies  of  the  tribe:  "Rude  images,  one  large 
figure  and  two  small  ones,  carved  out  of  bark  and  painted,  were 
set  up  in  a  distant  spot.  The  place  was  strictly  tabooed.  The 
men,  and  after  them  the  women,  decked  in  foliage  and  carrying 
a  small  rod  with  a  tuft  of  feathers  in  their  hands,  danced  up  to 
the  spot  in  a  single,  sharply  curved  line ;  and,  having  gone  round 
it  several  times,  they  approached  the  principal  figure  and  touched 
it  timidly  with  their  rods."  A  similar  figure  appeared  in  the  re- 
ligious dance  observed  by  Eyre  at  Moorunde.  "The  dancers, 
who  were  painted  and  adorned  as  usual,  wore  tufts  of  cockatoo 
feathers  on  their  heads.  Some  also  carried  sticks  with  similar 
tufts  in  their  hands,  while  others  held  bunches  of  green  foliage. 
After  they  had  danced  a  while  they  withdrew,  and  when  they 
appeared  again  they  carried  a  curious  rude  figure  which  rose 
high  in  the  air.  It  consisted  of  a  bundle  of  grass  and  reeds 
wrapped  in  a  kangaroo  skin,  the  inner  side  of  which  was  turned 
out  and  was  painted  all  over  with  little  white  circles.  A  slender 
stick  with  a  large  tuft  of  feathers,  which  was  intended  to  repre- 
sent the  head,  projected  from  the  upper  end,  and  at  the  sides 
were  two  sticks  with  tufts  of  feathers  coloured  red,  representing 
the  hands.  In  front  was  a  stick  about  six  inches  long,  with  a 
thick  knot  of  grass  at  the  end,  around  which  was  wrapped  a 
piece  of  old  cloth.  This  was  painted  white,  and  represented  the 
navel.  The  whole  figure  was  about  eight  feet  long,  and  was 
evidently  intended  to  represent  a  man.  It  was  carried  for  a 
considerable  time  in  the  dance.  Afterward  two  standards  took 
its  place,  which  were  formed  of  poles  and  were  borne  by  two 
persons.  These,  too,  finally  disappeared,  and  the  dancers  ad- 
vanced with  their  spears."  It  is  very  probable  that  other  primi- 
tive peoples  have  religious  dances ;  but  they  have  not  yet  been 
described.  Even  in  Australia  religious  dances  have  been  com- 
paratively seldom  observed.  Gerland  says,  indeed,  that  "origi- 
nally all  dances  were  religious ;"  but  he  has  not  been  able  to  prove 
this  assertion.  In  fact,  it  has  no  support,  so  far  as  is  known  to 
us.  There  is  nothing  to  require  us  to  suppose  that  the  Austra- 
lian dances  possessed  originally  any  other  meaning  than  the 
one  they  now  suggest  to  an  unprejudiced  view.  Only  the  smaller 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  591 

number  bear  the  character  of  religious  ceremonies;  the  great 
majority  aim  only  at  aesthetic  expression  and  the  aesthetic  stimu- 
lation of  passionate  emotional  movements. 

The  purpose  is  not  identical  with  the  effect.  While  the  pur- 
pose of  most  primitive  dances  is  purely  aesthetic,  their  effect  ex- 
tends widely  and  mightily  beyond  aesthetic  limits.  No  other 
primitive  art  has  so  high  a  practical  and  cultural  meaning  as  the 
dance.  From  the  height  of  our  civilization  we  are  at  first  in- 
clined to  look  for  this  meaning  in  the  association  of  the  sexes 
which  the  dance  brings  about.  This  is,  indeed,  the  only  social 
function  that  is  left  to  the  modern  dance.  But  the  primitive 
dance  and  the  modern  dance  are  so  extremely  different  in  their 
character  that  no  conclusion  whatever  can  be  drawn  from  the  one 
as  to  the  other.  The  particular  feature  which  has  caused  the 
modern  dance  to  be  favoured  by  both  sexes — the  close  and 
familiar  pairing  of  the  male  and  the  female  dancers — is  absent 
from  most  of  the  primitive  dances.  The  dances  of  hunting  peo- 
ples are  usually  executed  by  the  men  alone,  while  the  women 
have  only  to  care  for  the  musical  accompaniment.  There  are, 
however,  dances  in  which  men  and  women  take  part  together, 
and  these  are  for  the  most  part  undoubtedly  calculated  to  excite 
sexual  passion.  We  may  further  assert  that  even  the  male  dances 
promote  sexual  association.  A  skilful  and  sturdy  dancer  will 
certainly  not  fail  to  make  a  profound  impression  upon  the  female 
spectators;  and  as  a  skilful  and  sturdy  dancer  is  also  a  skilful 
and  strong  hunter  and  warrior,  the  dance  may  contribute  in  this 
way  to  sexual  selection  and  to  the  improvement  of  the  race. 
Yet,  however  great  may  be  the  significance  of  the  primitive  dance 
in  this  respect,  it  is  still  not  great  enough  to  justify  by  itself  the 
assumption  that  no  other  primitive  art  exercises  so  important  a 
cultural  function  as  the  dance. 

The  dances  of  the  hunting  peoples  are,  as  a  rule,  mass  dances. 
Generally  the  men  of  the  tribe,  not  rarely  the  members  of  sev- 
eral tribes,  join  in  the  exercises,  and  the  whole  assemblage  then 
moves  according  to  one  law  in  one  time.  All  who  have  described 
the  dances  have  referred  again  and  again  to  this  "wonderful" 
unison  of  the  movements.  In  the  heat  of  the  dance  the  several 
participants  are  fused  together  as  into  a  single  being,  which  is 


592  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

stirred  and  moved  as  by  one  feeling.  During  the  dance  they  are 
in  a  condition  of  complete  social  unification,  and  the  dancing 
group  feels  and  acts  like  a  single  organism.  The  social  signifi- 
cance of  the  primitive  dance  lies  precisely  in  this  effect  of  social 
unification.  It  brings  and  accustoms  a  number  of  men  who,  in 
their  loose  and  precarious  conditions  of  life,  are  driven  irregu- 
arly  hither  and  thither  by  different  individual  needs  and  desires 
to  act  under  one  impulse  with  one  feeling  for  one  object.  It 
introduces  order  and  connection,  at  least  occasionally,  into  the 
rambling,  fluctuating  life  of  the  hunting  tribes.  It  is,  besides 
wars,  perhaps  the  only  factor  that  makes  their  solidarity  vitally 
perceptible  to  the  adherents  of  a  primitive  tribe,  and  it  is  at  the 
same  time  one  of  the  best  preparations  for  war,  for  the  gymnastic 
dances  correspond  in  more  than  one  respect  to  our  military  ex- 
ercises. It  would  be  hard  to  overestimate  the  importance  of 
the  primitive  dance  in  the  culture  development  of  mankind.  All 
higher  civilization  is  conditioned  upon  the  uniformly  ordered  co- 
operation of  individual  social  elements,  and  primitive  men  are 
trained  to  this  co-operation  by  the  dance. 

The  hunting  tribes  appear  to  have  some  perception  of  the 
socializing  influence  of  their  dances.  In  Australia  the  corroborry 
at  least  serves  "as  an  assurance  of  peace  between  single  tribes. 
Two  tribes,  desiring  to  confirm  mutual  good  feeling,  dance  it 
together."  On  the  Adaman  Islands  the  tribes  hold  a  market  fair 
in  connection  with  their  joint  dancing  festivals.  It  is  proper  to 
remark,  finally,  in  order  to  estimate  the  full  influence  of  these 
intertribal  festivals,  that  they  are  often  of  very  considerable 
duration.  Lumholtz  tells,  for  example,  of  one  that  occupied  six 
entire  weeks. 

The  fact  that  the  highest  significance  of  the  dance  lies  in  its 
socializing  influence  accounts  for  its  former  power  and  its  present 
decay.  Even  under  the  mo?c  favourable  conditions  only  a  some- 
what limiisd  number  of  per-cis  can  en^?ge  ia  a  dance  at  once. 
We  have  seen  that  among-  the  Australians  and  on  the  Andaman 
Islands  men  of  several  tribes  dance  together;  but  hunting  tribes 
have  only  small  poll  lists.  With  the  progress  of  culture  and  the 
improvement  of  the  means  of  production  the  social  groups  in- 
crease ;  the  small  hordes  grow  into  tribes,  the  members  of  which 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  593 

are  much  too  numerous  for  all  to  join  in  a  common  dance;  and 
in  this  way  the  dance  gradually  loses  its  socializing  function,  and 
consequently  loses  also  its  importance.  Among  hunting  peoples 
the  danca  is  a  public  festival  ceremony;  among  modern  civilized 
nations  it  is  either  an  empty  theatrical  spectacle  on  the  stage,  or, 
in  the  ballroom,  a  simple  social  enjoyment.  The  only  social 
function  left  it  is  that  of  facilitating  the  mutual  approach  of 
the  sexes,  and  even  in  this  respect  its  value  has  become  very  ques- 
tionable. We  can,  moreover,  suppose  that  the  primitive  dance 
served  as  a  medium  for  sexual  selection  toward  the  improvement 
of  the  race,  as  the  most  active  and  skilful  hunter  is  also  usually 
the  most  persistent  and  nimble  dancer.  But  mental  rather  than 
bodily  vigour  prevails  in  our  stage  of  civilization,  and  the  heroes 
and  heroines  of  the  ballroom  often  enough  play  but  a  sorry  part 
in  sober  life.  The  ballet  of  civilization,  finally,  wuh  its  repulsive 
sprawling  attitudes  and  distorted  perversions  of  Nature,  may,  to 
speak  mildly,  at  best  but  satisfy  vulgar  curiosity.  It  can  not  be 
said  that  the  dance  has  won  in  aesthetic  what  it  has  lost  in  social 
significance  by  the  development  of  civilization.  We  have  already 
pronounced  upon  the  artisti:  value  of  our  ballet,  and  the  purely 
aesthetic  enjoyment  which  our  society  dances  as  dances  afford 
to  the  participants  and  to  the  spectators  is  hardly  sufficient  to 
account  for  their  popularity.  The  modern  dance  presents  itself 
to  us  in  every  respect  as  a  vestigial  organ  which  has  become  use- 
less in  consequence  of  changed  conditions  of  life,  and  has  there- 
fore degenerated.  Its  former  great  function  has  been  long  since 
transferred  to  other  arts.  What  the  dance  was  for  the  social 
life  of  the  hunting  tribes,  poetry  is  for  civilized  nations. — E. 
GROSSE,  The  Beginnings  of  Art,  207-31.  (Copyright,  1897,  by 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.) 

PRIMITIVE  DRAMA  AND  PANTOMIME 

We  have  seen  in  the  former  chapters  how  intimately  music 
and  dancing  are  connected.  Primitive  dance,  have  in  the  most 
cases  a  special  rreaning:  they  have  to  represent  something  and 
have  therefore  a  position  among  the  other  arts  quite  different 
from  the  modern  dances.  At  such  representations  no  words 
are  spoken,  but  mimicry  and  gestures  are  not  less  a  language, 


594  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

far  better  fitted  to  explain  the  action  than  the  primitive  language 
of  words.  These  pantomimes,  as  we  may  call  them,  are  indeed 
a  primitive  drama,  and  as  music  is  always  connected  with  dances 
one  may  judge  how  great  the  importance  was  that  music  had 
on  these  occasions.  Dramatic  music,  or  musical  drama,  if  you 
like,  is  not  an  occasional  union  of  two  different  arts,  it  is  origi- 
nally one  organism,  and  at  the  same  time  the  earliest  manifesta- 
tion of  human  art  in  general.  Therefore,  Richard  Wagner's 
artistic  genius  again  correctly  defined  the  essential  character  of 
the  drama  when  he  said :  "Long  before  the  epic  songs  of  Homer 
had  become  a  matter  of  literary  concern  they  had  flourished 
among  a  people  as  actually  represented  works  of  art,  supported 
by  the  voice  and  gesture,  so  to  speak,  as  concentrated,  fixed, 
lyric,  dancing  songs  ("verdichtete,  gefestigte,  lyrische  Gesangs- 
tanze"),  in  which  the  poets'  fondness  of  resting  with  the  de- 
scription of  the  action  and  the  repetiton  of  heroic  dialogues  pre- 
vailed." In  one  word,  the  historical  order  of  all  the  branches  of 
poetry  does  not  begin  with  the  epos — as  frequently  taught — but 
with  the  drama,  lyric  coming  next,  the  epos  lastly.  This  is  the 
order  the  ethnologist  can  trace,  this  is  at  the  same  time  the 
most  simple  and  natural  way  in  the  development  of  poetry. 
The  epos  requires  for  all  its  psychological  details  so  much  polish 
of  language,  so  much  grammar  and  refined  style  to  follow  all 
the  different  shades  of  expression  as  to  render  very  difficult  our 
expecting  this  from  very  primitive  people.  For  the  dramatic 
representation  mimicry  and  gestures  are  not  only  quite  suffi- 
cient but  the  only  effective  means  for  explaining  the  action  to 
an  audience  of  different  tribes,  which  sometimes  do  not  under- 
stand their  respective  dialects  and  are  accustomed  to  converse 
in  gesture  language. 

Unfortunately  Richard  Wagner  lost  his  advantageous  position 
(just  as  in  speaking  of  dance  and  music)  when  elaborating  his 
intuitive  idea.  Then  he  called  those  dancing  songs  "a  middle- 
way  station  from  the  ancient  lyric  to  the  drama,"  although  the 
pantomime  cannot  possibly  be  the  very  beginning  of  poetry  and 
a  middle  way  station  at  the  same  time.  Wagner  constantly  over- 
looks the  fact  that  the  primitive  drama  is  pantomime  only,  not 
poetry  as  well,  no  words  being  spoken  in  it.  It  is  not  until 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  595 

later  on  that  other  arts,  poetry  among-  them,  begin  to  show  their 
genius,  which  they  unfold  and  develop  in  the  same  propor- 
tion as  they  become  independent  and  separate  themselves 
from  the  common  trunk.  This  done  it  would  be  contrary  to  all 
laws  of  development  that  the  accomplished  arts  should  once  more 
form  an  organic  union  as  they  might  have  formed  in  their 
primitive  state.  Therefore,  the  attempt  to  unite  the  accom- 
plished arts  in  equal  rank  to  a  single  art  work  is  theoretically 
a  contradiction  and  practically  an  impossibility.  The  result  of 
such  an  attempt  was  always  that  the  composer  either  spoiled  his 
art  by  a  theoretical  prejudice  or  practically  acted  contrary  to  his 
rules.  Wagner's  artistic  genius  was  never  in  doubt  for  a  single 
moment  which  way  to  go,  and  therefore  his  theory  has  remained 
an  intolerable  chaos,  while  his  art  has  flourished  in  unrivalled 
splendour. 

Thus  we  have  reached  the  most  recent  phase  of  the  drama 
before  speaking  a  single  word  of  the  original  pantomime,  a 
proof  how  far-reaching  and  important  it  is  to  settle  its  character, 
of  which  we  are  now  going  to  give  a  few  examples. 

The  dances  of  the  Damaras  consist  mostly  of  mimic  repre- 
sentations of  the  movements  of  oxen  and  sheep.  The  dancers 
accompany  their  gesticulations  by  monotonous  tunes,  and  keep 
time  by  clapping  the  hands  and  striking  the  ground  with  their 
feet.  In  the  Ngumbi  forest  in  Africa  the  gorilla  is  the  object 
of  mimic  representations,  during  which  an  iron  bell  is  rung  and 
a  hoarse  rattle  mingled  with  the  other  sounds.  Then  the  meas- 
ure grows  quicker  and  quicker,  a  drum  is  beaten,  sticks  thun- 
dered on  the  log,  until  the  whole  hunting  and  rolling  of  the 
gorilla  is  performed  with  great  truth  to  nature. 

Among  the  Fans,  who  are  cannibals,  the  dancers  are  fond  of 
all  sorts  of  mummery,  in  which  a  man  disguises  himself  as  any 
animal  by  putting  on  some  cloth  and  mats,  performing  all  kinds 
of  grotesque  movements  amidst  the  jubilating  shouts  of  his 
fellow-tribesmen.  Such  mummeries  as  occur  on  all  the  conti- 
nents seem  to  be  the  origin  of  our  masques,  which  are  in  great 
favour  with  savages  and  occur  in  very  characteristic  shapes. 
Thus  the  primitive  animal  pantomime  is  in  some  sense  the 
original  of  our  fancy-dress  balls.  Another  kind  of  pantomimes 


596  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

is  that  in  which  the  dancers  closely  imitate  all  the  movements 
they  are  accustomed  to  perform  in  a  real  war,  as  do  the  natives 
of  Mahenge.  These  representations  are  evidently  based  on  the 
principle  of  employing  that  overflow  of  vigour  and  energy  which 
is  necessary  for  the  struggle  of  life  (war,  hunt,  work),  with- 
out, however,  being  in  appropriate  use  for  a  time.  Mr.  Lander 
saw  at  Katunga  a  pantomimic  performance  in  three  acts.  The 
first  was  a  dance  of  twenty  men  wrapped  up  in  sacks;  the 
second  represented  the  capture  of  a  boa  constrictor,  which  was 
imitated  by  one  of  the  dancers  as  well  as  circumstances  per- 
mitted it;  the  third,  which  caused  the  most  laughter,  was  a 
caricature  of  the  white  man  who  was,  however,  very  badly 
represented  by  a  white-painted  dancer.  During  the  "entract," 
which  was  very  short,  there  was  a  concert  of  drums  and  pipes 
and  national  songs  of  the  women,  whose  choruses  were  joined 
by  the  whole  people. 

In  Australia,  too,  there  are  pantomimic  gestures  connected 
with  some  songs  which  are  passed  on  from  performer  to  per- 
former, as  the  song  is  carried  from  tribe  to  tribe.  The  abo- 
rigines of  Victoria  have  their  war  dances  before  and  after  fights, 
dances  appropriate  to  the  occasion  of  "making  young  men," 
dances  in  which  the  women  only  take  part,  and  dances  in  which 
the  movements  of  the  kangaroo,  the  emu,  the  frog,  the  butterfly 
are  imitated.  Mr.  B.  Smyth  tells  us  that  the  perceptive  faculties 
of  the  natives  are  very  clear,  and  their  power  of  observation  and 
imitation  sometimes  quite  extraordinary.  Monotonous  and  harsh 
as  their  chants  may  be,  the  natives  are  by  no  means  unsusceptible 
of  the  power  of  music.  The  young  people  readily  learn  how  to 
sing  and  how  to  play  on  instruments.  The  natives  at  the  Lake 
Albert  imitate  in  their  dances  the  actions  and  movements  of  a 
frog,  the  hunting  of  the  emu,  the  voice  of  a  bird. 

The  New  Zealanders,  too,  invariably  accompany  their  dances 
with  gesticulations.  Their  most  exciting  dance  is  the  war  dance, 
performed  before  a  battle  commences  with  the  purpose  to  excite 
their  warriors  to  the  highest  pitch  of  fury.  The  dances  of  the 
ancient  Tasmanians  were  imitations  of  animal  movements. 

The  dance  Hewa  (in  the  South  Sea  Islands)  is  an  accom- 
plished pantomime  in  which  the  abduction  of  a  girl  or  the  birth 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  597 

of  a  boy  is  represented.  The  Dyaks  of  Borneo  have  different 
kinds  of  dances  representing  the  movements  of  animals,  or  a 
pantomime  representing  the  hunting.  All  these  dances  are 
opened  with  music,  to  which  excellent  time  is  kept,  and  not  sel- 
dom concluded  in  drunkenness.  One  of  their  pantomimes  repre- 
sented a  sham  fight  in  which  one  of  the  warriors  was  apparently 
killed,  while  the  victor  discovered  too  late  that  he  had  killed  a 
friend,  whereupon  he  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  regret  and 
sorrow.  Suddenly  the  slain  warrior  got  up  and  began  a  frantic 
dance.  Thus  even  in  this  state  of  culture  there  seems  to  be  a 
general  desire  for  the  story  to  end  well.  The  Papuans  imitate 
in  their  dance  the  minstrelsy  of  birds,  and  always  like  to  display 
some  symmetry  in  their  movements.  Of  two  dancers  standing 
next  to  each  other,  the  one  is  always  anxious  to  make  the  same 
movement  with  the  right  leg  or  arm  which  the  other  is  per- 
forming with  the  left. 

The  'dances  of  the  Chukchi  closely  resemble  those  of  the 
Indians.  The  men  dance  quite  nude,  having  only  the  feet 
covered  and  the  hair  ornamented  with  feathers.  Their  move- 
ments consist  of  wild  imitations  of  hunt  and  fight.  The  women 
sing  to  this  and  again  imitate  the  movements  of  their  own  daily 
occupations,  such  as  carrying  water,  collecting  berries.  Thus 
these  dances  become  natural  mimic  ballets.  The  dancers  of  the 
Kamchadales  are  pantomimic,  while  the  music  to  them  is  sung 
with  always  increasing  passion.  The  rhythm  is  a  system  of  six 
trochees  (bachia-a).  The  fish-Tunguses  have  the  same  rhythm 
but  without  the  division  into  strophes.  With  unvaried  monotony 
it  is  repeated  to  perfect  exhaustion.  The  Ostiaks  on  the  Ob 
(main  river  of  W.  Siberia)  have  similar  dances  at  their  religious 
feasts,  whence  Mr.  Swan  concludes  that  a  religious  purpose 
must  have  formerly  existed  in  the  dances  of  the  Kamchadales 
as  well. 

Besides  these  dances  of  the  Kamchadales  Mr.  Langsdorf 
mentions  the  sea-dog  dance  and  the  bear  dance,  at  which  they 
go  from  the  gentlest,  softest  motion  of  the  head  and  shoulders 
to  the  most  violent  motions  of  the  whole  body.  Mr.  Lesseps 
mentions  the  partridge  dance.  Of  course  they  are  all  accom- 
panied with  music,  and  it  is  almost  painful  to  see  with  what 


598  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

great  exertion,  especially  of  the  lungs,  they  are  carried  on.  Mr. 
Krebs  saw  similar  dances  on  the  Island  of  Spierken  (Kurile 
group,  south  of  Kamchatka,  formerly  belonging  to  Russia,  since 
1875  to  Japan).  The  inhabitants  are  Ainus. 

The  dances  and  games  of  the  Indians  in  California  represent 
scenes  of  war,  hunting,  and  private  life.  In  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains the  natives  have  the  calumet  dance,  lasting  from  two  to 
three  days  and  always  performed  with  the  expectation  of  re- 
ceiving presents;  another  dance  represents  the  discovering  of 
the  enemy;  again,  others  are  repeatedly  described  by  travellers 
as  the  bear  dance,  beggar  dance,  bison  dance,  ox  dance,  sun 
dance.  Speaking  of  the  Sioux  Indians  Mr.  Keating  mentions 
the  dog  dance  and  the  Chippewa  scalp  dance,  of  which  the 
music  is  low  and  melancholic  but  not  unpleasant.  The  perform- 
ers stand  in  a  circle  each  with  the  wing  of  a  bird  in  his  hand 
(origin  of  the  fan?),  with  which  he  beats  time  on  his  gun,  arrow, 
or  something  that  would  give  a  sound.  The  Indians  in  Guiana 
also  have  animal  dances  at  which  they  keep  up  a  monotonous 
chant,  every  dancer  stamping  the  ground  in  strict  time  with  the 
others.  As  they  danced  they  uttered  alternate  cries  which  resem- 
bled the  note  of  a  certain  bird  often  heard  in  the  forests.  Two 
pieces  of  wood,  rudely  carved,  had  to  resemble  the  bird  itself, 
others  to  represent  infants. 

It  is  no  doubt  a  sign  of  further  progress  in  those  perform- 
ances when  the  spoken  word  comes  to  the  aid  of  the  repre- 
sentation, and  from  this  moment  we  may  speak  of  the  drama 
proper. 

At  Zleetun  (or  Zuletin,  or  Ziliten,  or  Sliten,  North  Africa) 
Mr.  Lyon  heard  the  negro  women  singing  a  national  song  in  a 
chorus  while  pounding  wheat,  always  in  time  with  the  music. 
One  of  the  songs,  sung  by  three  girls,  dealt  with  the  return  of 
the  warriors,  when  suddenly  they  beat  without  measure  and  sang 
as  if  for  one  who  was  dead,  endeavouring  to  comfort  the  girl  who 
was  supposed  to  have  lost  her  lover.  Then  a  goat  was  supposed  to 
be  killed  and  the  entrails  examined  until  a  happy  sign  was 
discovered  which  indicated  that  the  lost  lover  died  nobly.  They 
then  resumed  their  pestles,  winding  up  with  a  beautiful  chorus. 
The  master  of  the  girls,  however,  forbade  their  singing  any 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  599 

more,  saying  it  was  unholy  and  displeasing  to  their  Lord  Mo- 
hammed, the  Prophet  of  God. 

The  dramatic  narratives  of  the  negroes  are  on  the  whole 
remarkable.  So  true  to  nature  is  their  action  that  they  even 
indicate  the  space  of  time  which  elapsed  between  two  events  by 
producing  a  sound  like  r-r-r-r.  In  ancient  Egypt  there  was, 
however,  no  public  show  which  would  resemble  a  theatre,  nor 
pantomimic  exhibitions  nor  scenic  representation.  The  priests 
succeeded  in  forbidding  this  noblest  and  highest  outcome  of  the 
human  mind  in  order  to  use  the  mere  rudiments  of  art  for  their 
own  religious  purposes.  In  consequence  of  the  absence  of  a 
drama  in  Egypt,  Mr.  Wilkinson  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  stage  was  a  purely  Greek  invention,  and  the  pantomime  a 
Roman.  I  think  that  the  ethnological  examples  sufficiently  prove 
a  much  earlier  origin. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  forms  of  a  primitive  drama  is 
the  Australian  corrobberree.  The  performers  decorate  themselves 
in  some  grotesque  style,  marking  each  rib  by  a  broad  stripe  of 
white  paint  over  the  black  skin,  thus  making  the  chorus  look 
like  a  number  of  skeletons  "endued  with  life  by  magic  powers." 

The  festivities  began  by  the  dancers  intoning  a  plaintive 
song,  to  which  the  old  men  and  women  joined  in  at  times.  The 
words  to  this  were  simply:  "Junger  a  bia,  mati,  mati,"  which 
they  always  repeated.  They  commenced  in  a  loud,  shrill  tone, 
gradually  sinking  in  pitch  and  decreasing  in  force  until  the  tones 
were  so  soft  as  to  be  scarcely  distinguishable  from  a  gentle 
breath  of  air  that  rustled  in  the  bush.  During  the  song  the 
dancers  remained  in  a  bent  position,  and  marked  the  time  with 
their  feet,  lifting  them  from  the  ground  in  short  movements. 
At  the  same  time  plucking  the  long  ends  of  their  beards,  they 
suddenly  changed  the  music  to  a  loud  "ha  hei,  ha  hei,"  striking 
their  spears  and  wameras  against  each  other  and  stamping  the 
ground  vigorously  with  their  feet.  Then  they  got  up  with  a 
sudden  jerk,  shouting  a  terrific  "garra  wai."  Again  they  assumed 
the  first  motion,  but  in  twice  as  quick  time;  now  the  whole  row 
moved  sideways  up  and  down,  shoulder  on  shoulder;  now  they 
danced  in  a  circle,  all  with  the  same  music  and  the  same  stamp- 
ing of  feet. 


600  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

In  another  corrobberree,  which  Mr.  Lumholtz  saw,  the  music 
was  performed  by  one  man  only,  the  others  dancing  in  a  chorus. 
A  single  woman  was  allowed  to  take  part  in  dancing,  which  was 
considered  a  great  honour  to  her.  The  music,  in  strict  time 
with  the  movements,  was  quick  and  not  very  melancholy.  The 
monotonous  clattering,  the  hollow  accompaniment  of  the  women, 
the  grunting  of  the  male  dancers  and  the  heavy  footfall  of  the 
men,  reminded  Mr.  Lumholtz,  especially  when  he  was  some 
distance  away  from  the  scene,  of  a  steam  engine  at  work.  While 
all  took  great  pleasure  in  the  performance,  the  musician  only 
apparently  had  no  interest  in  what  was  going  on,  and,  beating 
time,  he  sang  with  his  hoarse  tenor  voice  without  looking  up. 
He  had  already  been  watching  the  exercises  for  weeks,  and  knew 
them  all  by  heart ;  but  even  he  sometimes  seemed  to  be  amused. 
However  primitive  a  corrobberree  may  appear  to  us,  it  is  a 
well-prepared  and  elaborated  dance,  which  it  takes  both  time  and 
practice  to  excel  in. 

Speaking  of  the  tribes  on  Mary  River  or  of  the  Bunja  Bunja 
Country,  Mr.  Edward  Curr  mentions  two  kinds  of  corrobberree, 
the  dramatic  and  the  lyric.  The  intelligence  that  a  new  cor- 
robberree had  been  composed  was  received  with  pleasurable  ex- 
citement by  the  surrounding  tribes.  The  poet  having  introduced 
his  work  to  the  neighbouring  tribes,  these  in  turn  invited  their 
allies  to  witness  it  and  aid  in  the  performance.  In  this  manner 
a  corrobberree  travelled,  and  was  sung  with  great  enthusiasm 
where  not  a  word  of  it  was  intelligible.  The  story  of  the  drama 
appears  to  have  been  exceedingly  short  and  simple,  and  rarely 
free  from  obscenity.  Besides,  there  was  an  amazing  simultaneous- 
ness  of  action,  and  excellent  time  was  beaten  by  the  women. 

The  corrobberree  music — says  Curr — is  much  like  a  chant. 
A  string  of  words  often  runs  to  the  one  note.  All  the  parts  are 
variations  of  one  tune,  sung  in  different  kinds  of  time,  and  at 
various  rates  of  speed.  There  is  a  peculiar  tendency  to  slide  in 
semitones  from  one  key  into  another,  and  the  effect  of  the  music 
is  almost  invariably  minor.  A  favourite  practice  is  to  raise  the 
pitch  suddenly  an  octave,  and  in  order  to  effect  this  it  is  some- 
times necessary  to  allow  it  to  slide  to  a  low  pitch  before.  Instead 
of  intimating  the  conclusion  of  one  part  of  the  piece  by  two  or 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  601 

three  yells,  as  the  singers  do  at  times,  a  more  musical  practice 
is  often  followed  by  trilling  the  sound  of  r  at  a  high  pitch. 

The  Kuri  dance  is  another  kind  of  primitive  drama.  Mr. 
Angas  described  one  that  was  performed  by  five  different  classes 
of  actors:  i.  A  body  of  about  twenty-five  young  men,  including 
five  or  six  boys,  the  dancers.  2.  Two  groups  of  women,  merely 
taking  the  part  of  supernumeraries,  and  beating  time  with  their 
feet  during  the  whole  performance.  3.  Two  remarkable  char- 
acters of  the  play.  4.  A  performer  distinguished  by  a  long 
spear.  5.  Two  singers — two  elderly  men  in  their  usual  habili- 
ments. 

The  man  in  group  four  commenced  a  part  which  called  forth 
unbounded  applause;  with  his  head  and  body  inclined  on  one 
side,  his  spear  and  feathers  behind  his  back,  standing  on  the  left 
leg,  he  beat  time  with  the  right  foot,  twitching  his  body  and  eyes, 
and  stamping  with  the  greatest  precision;  he  remained  a  few 
minutes  in  this  position,  and  then  suddenly  turned  round,  stood 
on  his  right  leg,  and  did  the  same  over  with  his  left  foot. 

Mr.  Bonwick  heard  at  Port  Jackson  what  he  called  a  "speak- 
ing pantomime;"  it  dealt  with  the  courtship  between  the  sexes, 
and  was  performed  with  very  expressive  actions. 

On  Cook's  second  voyage  Mr.  Foster  saw  a  "comic  opera" 
on  the  Society  Islands,  the  first  act  of  which  concluded  with  a 
burlesque  beating  of  three  of  the  participants.  The  performance 
of  the  Hurra,  the  festival  dances  on  O-Waihi,  called  forth  Mr. 
Chamisso's  admiration.  The  singing  of  the  dancers,  accompanied 
by  the  drum,  begins  slowly  and  softly,  gradually  quickening  and 
increasing,  while  the  dancers  proceed  and  play  in  a  more  lively 
manner.  At  Gresek  in  Java  Mr.  Tombe  saw  a  Malayan  comedy. 
"It  was  precisely  what  we  call  a  Chinese  shadow-play"  and  had 
to  represent  a  war.  The  music  to  it  consisted  of  kettle-drums, 
gom-goms,  and  the  Javese  violoncello,  while  the  manager  and 
thirty  young  dancing  girls  sang  the  praise  of  the  emperor  and 
his  ancestors.  Mrs.  Ida  Pfeiffer  witnessed  at  Bandong  the  per- 
formance of  a  Javese  pantomime  in  three  movements,  represent- 
ing a  fight,  where  the  noisy  and  discordant  music  changed  to  a 
soft,  plaintive  melody  as  soon  as  one  party  was  defeated.  The 
whole  performance  was  really  pretty  and  expressive.  The  dan- 


602  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

cers  kept  their  eyes  constantly  fixed  on  the  ground,  as  is  customary 
among  most  non-European  nations,  to  express  profound  respect 
for  the  spectators. 

The  most  complete  description  of  the  Javese  national  drama 
is  given  by  Mr.  Raffles,  who  reports  two  different  kinds  of  it, 
the  "topeng"  (characters  represented  by  men),  and  the  "wayang" 
(represented  by  "shadows").  In  general  the  performers  have 
only  to  "suit  the  action  to  the  words,"  which  are  spoken  by  the 
"dalang,"  the  manager  of  the  entertainment.  The  gamelan 
accompanies  the  piece  and  varies  in  expression  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  action  or  the  kind  of  emotion  to  be  excited.  The 
whole  of  the  performance  has  more  the  character  of  a  ballet  than 
of  a  regular  dramatic  exhibition. 

In  Sumatra  the  custom  prevails  during  their  dances  that  a 
young  lady  ("gadis")  sometimes  rises  and,  with  her  back  to  the 
audience,  begins  a  tender  song  which  is  soon  answered  by  one 
of  the  "bujangs"  in  company.  Professed  story-tellers  are 
sometimes  raised  on  a  little  stage  and  attract  the  attention  of 
the  audience  by  buffoonery,  or  mimicry,  and  keep  the  company  in 
laughter  all  night  long.  The  young  men  frequent  these  assem- 
blies in  order  to  look  out  for  wives,  and  Mr.  Marsden  remarks : 
"The  lasses  set  themselves  off  to  the  best  advantage."  From  this 
we  may  see  how  near  the  Javans  come  to  European  civilisation. 

A  savage  opera  of  the  more  advanced  kind  is  performed  by 
the  Khyongthas,  wild  tribes  in  South  Eastern  India.  The  per- 
formers, male  and  female,  each  had  a  cigar,  which,  at  emotional 
passages,  was  stuck  either  behind  the  ear  or  through  the  pierced 
lobe  thereof.  The  instruments  were  a  "shawn"  (a  cross  between 
the  clarionet  and  the  trumpet),  "a  battalion  of  drums"  tuned  up 
with  screws  in  the  most  scientific  style,  and  arranged  in  a  circle 
in  the  middle  of  which  the  player  was  sitting.  The  opera,  a 
happily  ending  love  story,  with  a  "primo  corifeo  tenore,"  a 
grumbling  bass  king,  and  a  romantic  soprano,  was  performed 
in  the  most  exact  style.  Mr.  Lewin  really  did  like  the  music; 
it  had  distinct  rhythm  and  time,  while  the  choruses  were  some- 
times very  quaint  and  jolly.  The  drums,  too,  with  their  different 
and  mellow  tones  were  employed  most  judiciously,  varying  in  ex- 
pression and  "tempo"  to  suit  the  dramatic  action  of  the  piece. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  603 

The  climax  of  realism  seems  to  be  reached  by  the  Chinese 
drama.  Mr.  Gortz  tells  us  that  one  of  his  companions  saw  a 
performance  where  a  woman  actually  tore  out  the  heart  of  her 
female  rival  and  ate  it  before  the  very  eyes  of  the  audience. 

Speaking  of  the  Aleutian  Islanders  (Indians)  Mr.  Choris 
mentions  a  pantomime  in  which  a  sportsman  shoots  a  beautiful 
bird;  it  suddenly  revives,  however,  into  a  beautiful  woman  with 
whom  he  at  once  falls  in  love.  The  ancient  Nahua,  which  belong 
to  some  extent  to  the  civilised  nations  of  the  Pacific  States, 
always  had  great  preparations  for  the  public  dances  and  dramas, 
with  music,  choirs  and  bands  generally  led  and  instructed  in  many 
rehearsals  by  a  priest.  When  one  set  of  dancers  became  tired 
another  took  its  place,  and  so  the  dance  continued  through  the 
whole  day,  each  song  taking  about  one  hour.  The  drama  scarcely 
equalled  the  choral  dance,  although  in  this  respect,  too,  the  Nahuas 
showed  considerable  advancement.  The  play  generally  had  the 
character  of  a  burlesque.  The  performers  mostly  wore  masks 
of  wood  or  were  disguised  as  animals.  Singers  appeared  on  the 
stage,  but  no  instrumental  music  is  mentioned.  The  ancient 
writers  unite  in  praising  the  perfect  unison  and  good  time  ob- 
served by  the  singers  both  in  solo  and  quartette,  and  they  mention 
particularly  the  little  boys  of  from  four  to  eight  years  of  age 
who  rendered  the  soprano  in  a  manner  that  reflected  great  credit 
on  the  training  of  their  priestly  tutors.  Each  temple,  and  many 
noblemen  kept  choirs  and  bands  of  professional  musicians  usually 
led  by  a  priest,  who  composed  odes  appropriate  to  every  occasion. 
The  art  of  music  was  under  royal  protection,  and  singers  as  well 
as  musicians  were  exempt  from  taxation ;  an  academy  of  science 
and  music  was  founded  where  the  allied  Kings  of  Mexico, 
Tezcuco,  and  Tlacopan  presided  and  distributed  prizes  to  the 
successful  competitors. 

The  Indian  singer  often  acts  while  he  sings  or  dances,  repre- 
senting at  the  same  time  a  certain  scene  from  life.  Sproat 
describes  one  of  those  dances,  where  a  man  appears  with  his  arms 
tied  behind  his  back  with  long  cords,  the  ends  of  which  are 
held  by  other  natives,  who  drive  him  about.  The  spectators  sing 
and  beat  time  on  their  wooden  dishes  and  bearskin  drums.  Sud- 
denly the  chief  appears,  and  plunges  his  knife  into  the  runner's 


604  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

back.  Another  blow  is  given,  a  third  one,  until  the  blood  flows 
down  his  back,  and  the  victim  falls  prostrate  and  lifeless.  Mr. 
Sproat  adds  he  never  saw  acting  more  true  to  the  life.  And  yet 
the  blood  was  only  a  mixture  of  red  gum,  resin,  oil  and  water, 
the  same  that  was  used  in  colouring  the  inside  of  canoes.  In 
ancient  Mexico  and  in  Guatemala  there  were  ballets  at  which 
rarely  less  than  400  people,  but  sometimes  more  than  2,000,  per- 
formed. During  the  great  feast  of  Toxcatl  the  music  was  sup- 
plied by  a  party  of  unseen  musicians,  who  occupied  one  of  the 
temple  buildings.  The  Maya  nations  in  Central  America  had 
dramatic  performances  under  the  leadership  of  one  who  was 
called  "holpop,"  or  master  of  ceremonies.  Women  were  not 
allowed  to  take  part  in  the  mummeries,  and  the  plays  had  a 
historical  character  with  songs  in  the  form  of  ballads  founded 
upon  local  traditions  and  legendary  tales. 

Messrs.  Spix  and  Martius  tell  us  of  a  pantomimic  scene  of 
the  Coroados  in  Brazil,  which  was  a  kind  of  lamentation,  saying: 
"They  had  attempted  to  pluck  a  flower  from  a  tree,  but  had  fallen 
down."  The  scene  is  interpreted  by  the  above  authors  as  the 
loss  of  Paradise. 

Of  a  peculiar  character  are  the  scenes  in  those  theatres  where 
the  audience  consists  of  white  and  black,  where  civilisation  and 
originality  each  react  in  its  own  way  on  the  impression  of  the 
drama.  At  Quito,  Indians  with  their  wives  and  babies,  and 
negroes  were  admitted  to  the  theatre,  together  with  a  party  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen  in  evening  dress.  At  the  most  important 
moments  the  audience,  in  its  excitement,  rose  up  and  stood  on 
the  benches.  In  one  of  the  tricks  a  pistol  was  fired,  and  then 
all  the  babies  set  up  a  squall  simultaneously,  so  that  the  actors 
had  to  stop  until  the  mothers  could  manage  to  hush  the  babies 
to  sleep  again.  This  is  perhaps  a  counterpart  to  Mr.  Schlagint- 
weit's  narrative  of  a  representation  in  California,  where  the  per- 
formance was  interrupted  by  babies'  cries,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  male  audience — ihere  were  very  few  females  there 
at  that  time — commanded  the  actors,  not  the  babies,  to  be  silent. 

It  has  often  been  asked  why  our  dramatic  performances  fre- 
quently assume  a  tragic  character,  although  we  are  at  liberty  to 
choose  any  other — perhaps  more  satisfactory — subject.  A  desire 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  605 

for  tragical  events,  however,  seems  to  be  deeply  rooted  in  human 
nature,  and  always  points  to  a  freshness  and  originality  of  feel- 
ing which,  not  being  entirely  used  up  in  every-day  life,  still 
press  to  the  surface  to  unfold  their  full  emotional  vigour  in  the 
most  precious  and  noblest  part  of  our  mental  life — in  our  fancy. 
Only  he,  whose  life  itself  is  a  mechanism  or  a  tragedy,  has  no 
need  for  serious  play  of  fancy.  Savages  do  not  yet  seem  to  be 
in  this  state  of  mental  decadence.  Mr.  Buchner  once  said: 
"Everywhere  among  the  so-called  savages  we  come  across  the 
custom  to  allow  oneself  to  be  shuddered  at  as  a  sort  of  devil." 
Among  the  women  of  the  Maoris  the  desire  for  "fear  and  dread" 
— the  two  dramatical  requirements  of  Aristotle — seem  to  be  still 
more  prevalent.  Their  chief  amusement  is  the  "tangi,"  or  crying. 
The  ladies  do  it  in  the  most  affecting  way,  tears  are  shed,  hands 
are  wrung,  and  the  most  heart-rending  cries  excite  the  sympathy 
of  the  company.  Yet  it  is  but  a  "mockery  of  woe."  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  express  a  strong  psychological  impulse  in  a  more 
simple  and  natural  way. — R.  WALLASCHEK,  Primitive  Music, 
214-29.  (Longmans,  Green  and  Co.,  1893.) 

[RELATION  OF  ART  TO  THE  CONTROL  OF  LIFE] 
ART   AND   INFORMATION 

....  It  is  only  natural  that  the  requirements  of  practical 
life  should  call  into  existence  various  kinds  of  mimic,  pictorial, 
or  literary  information  which  have  little  whatever  to  do  with  art, 
even  if  this  notion  is  conceived  in  its  widest  sense.  There  is  no 
reason  for  us  to  delay  our  argument  by  enumerating  panto- 
mimics,  gestures,  or  paintings  which  aim  at  communicating 
notices  of  trivial  importance,  such  as  directions  about  the  way 
to  be  taken  by  travellers,  warnings  with  regard  to  dangerous 
passages,  etc.  Even  as  a  purely  technical  product  a  work  is  of 
little  interest  as  long  as  its  subject  is  so  poor  and  insignificant. 
We  feel  justified,  therefore,  in  restricting  our  attention  to  such 
manifestations  as  present  in  their  contents  some  degree  of  co- 
herence and  continuity. 

The  simplest  examples  of  purely  narrative  art  which  fulfil 
the  technical  claims  of  a  complete  work  will  of  course  appear 
when  the  text  of  the  narration  consists  of  some  real  occurrence 


6o6  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

which  is  represented  with  all  its  episodes  and  incidents.  Primitive 
life  affords  many  inducements  to  such  relation.  The  men  who 
have  returned  from  war,  or  from  a  hunting  or  a  fishing  expedi- 
tion, will  thus  often  repeat  their  experiences  in  a  dramatic  dance 
performed  before  the  women  and  children  at  home.  Although 
in  many  cases  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  even  these  perform- 
ances may  be  executed  to  satisfy  some  superstitious  or  religious 
motive,  they  have  undoubtedly,  to  a  certain  extent,  been  prompted 
by  the  desire  to  revive  and  communicate  the  memories  of  eventful 
days.  Other  incidents  that  have  made  a  strong  impression  upon 
the  minds  of  the  people  are  in  the  same  way  displayed  in  panto- 
mimic action.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  refer  to  the  elaborate  dramas 
"Coming  from  Town"  performed  by  Macusi  children,  in  which 
all  the  episodes  of  a  journey  are  reproduced  with  the  utmost 
possible  exactness,  to  the  Corrobberrees  in  Queensland,  in  which 
incidents  of  individual  or  tribal  interests,  such  as  hunting  or  war 
adventures,  but  only  those  of  recent  occurrence,  are  enacted,  and 
to  the  performance  in  a  Wanyoro  village,  where  M.  de  Belief ond's 
behaviour  during  a  recent  battle  was  closely  imitated.  At  the 
dramatic  entertainment  held  before  some  members  of  Captain 
Cook's  expedition  an  elopement  scene  which  had  in  reality  taken 
place  some  time  previously  was  performed  in  the  presence  of 
the  runaway  girl  herself.  The  play  is  said  to  have  made  a  very 
strong  impression  upon  the  poor  girl,  who  could  hardly  refrain 
from  tears  when  she  saw  her  own  escapade  thus  reproduced.  The 
imitation  of  the  real  action  was  in  this  case  evidently  designed 
as  punishment  for  the  guilty  spectator ;  and  as  the  piece  concluded 
with  a  scene  representing  the  girl's  return  to  her  friends  and  the 
unfavorable  reception  she  met  with  from  them,  it  tended  no  doubt 
to  exercise  a  salutary  influence. 

This  naive  little  interlude,  with  its  satirical  and  moralising 
vein,  naturally  reminds  us  of  those  old  farces  which  candidly 
defined  themselves  as  adaptations  of  some  "scandale  du  quartier." 

La   elle   fut  executee 

Icy  vous  est  representee. 

The  wordless  pantomimes  and  dramatic  dances  of  the  modern 
savages  give  us  no  information  of  this  kind.  But  there  is  no 
doubt  that  a  closer  investigation  would  reveal  that  a  great  number 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  607 

of  the  comical  and  heroical  episodes  which  are  described  in  ethno- 
logical literature  have  had  their  prototypes  in  some  incidents  of 
recent  occurrence. 

This  opinion  can  only  be  corroborated  by  extending  our  investi- 
gation to  the  other  departments  of  narrative  art.  Whatever  other 
merits  one  might  discover  in  primitive  poetry,  its  strength  does 
certainly  not  lie  in  invention.  When  the  songs  contain  any  narra- 
tive element  at  all,  it  refers  to  some  simple  experience  of  the 
day.  Travel,  hunting,  and  war  afford  the  themes  for  the  simplest 
epical  poems  as  well  as  for  the  most  primitive  dramatic  recitals. 
And  any  event  of  unusual  occurrence  will  of  course  be  made  use 
of  by  the  poets.  Travellers  who  have  learned  to  understand  the 
languages  of  the  natives  they  sojourn  with  have  often  observed 
that  their  own  persons  have  been  described  in  impromptu  songs. 
Sometimes  these  songs  have  a  satirical  tendency ;  sometimes  they 
are  composed  as  glorifications  of  the  white  man.  But  there  is 
no  need  to  assume  either  of  these  tendencies  in  every  case.  The 
mere  fact  of  his  being  a  strange  and  new  thing  qualifies  the 
European  as  a  fitting  subject  for  the  primitive  drama  and  poetry. 
And  on  the  same  grounds  all  the  marvels  of  civilisation — the  rifles, 
steamers  and  so  on — will  often  be  described  in  poetry.  In  the 
savage  mind  these  unknown  facts  will  easily  give  rise  to  the  most 
marvellous  interpretations.  For  an  instance  of  such  apparently 
fantastic  products  of  poetic  imagination,  which  in  reality  have 
their  origin  in  an  unavoidable  misconstruction  of  an  unknown 
reality,  we  need  only  refer  to  the  description  of  Captain  Cook's 
ships  in  the  Hawaii  song,  which  has  been  taken  down  by  M.  de 
Varigny.  The  ships  themselves  are  spoken  of  as  great  islands, 
their  masts  are  trees,  the  sailors  are  gods,  who  drink  blood  (i.  c. 
claret),  and  eat  fire  and  smoke  through  long  tubes  (i.e.  pipes), 
and  carry  about  things  which  they  keep  in  holes  in  their  flanks. 
It  is  but  natural  to  assume  that — if  researches  on  the  origins  of 
the  subjects  were  possible — the  seeming  richness  of  invention  in 
many  similar  poems  could  be  accounted  for  by  the  deficient  obser- 
vation and  the  faults  of  memory  in  uneducated  man.  And  by 
such  researches  the  importance  of  actual  experience  would  be  sub- 
stantiated even  with  regard  to  the  art  of  barbaric  nations.  As  to 
the  songs  of  the  lower  savages,  to  which  we  have  to  restrict 


608  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

our  attention  at  present,  it  is,  as  shown  by  the  above  adduced 
examples,  unnecessary  to  appeal  to  this  explanation. 

Not  less  ephemeral  than  the  literary  subjects  are  the  motives 
of  primitive  pictorial  art.  In  Herr  von  den  Steinen's  account  of 
the  Xingu  tribes  we  can  find  some  most  typical  examples  of  such 
explanatory  designs  by  which  the  poetic  and  dramatic  recitals  of 
battles,  travels,  etc.,  are  supplemented.  Owing  to  their  fugitive 
character  these  simple  manifestations  can  never  be  reduced  to  a 
scientific  account.  But  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  pictures  have  been  drawn  in  the  air  or  in  the  sand, 
of  which  there  remain  no  more  trace  than  of  the  gesture  that  is 
over  or  of  the  unwritten  poem  that  is  forgotten. 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  in  some  instances  at  least  there 
have  remained  traces  of  these  ephemeral  narrations.  The  picture 
might  have  been  drawn  on  some  piece  of  bark  or  cloth  instead 
of  on  the  sand,  the  pantomime  might  have  been  repeated  even  after 
its  subject  had  lost  its  actuality,  or  the  text  remembered  after  it 
had  served  its  immediate  purpose  in  the  narration.  The  fugitive 
recital,  whether  pictorial,  mimic,  or  oral,  which  lives  only  for  the 
moment  might  in  this  way  have  become  a  permanent  work,  con- 
veying the  contents  of  the  narrative  to  future  times.  One  would 
think  that  as  soon  as  such  a  means  of  preserving  a  record  of  past 
events  had  been,  intentionally  or  accidentally,  discovered,  it  would 
have  immediately  been  turned  to  account.  There  is,  after  all, 
but  one  step  between  the  impromptu  dance  or  poem,  which  tells 
of  a  recent  occurrence,  and  the  work  of  art,  which  forwards  the 
memory  of  the  same  occurrence  to  consecutive  generations. 

Ethnological  science  shows,  however,  that  this  distinction  is 
by  no  means  a  theoretical  one  only.  There  are  tribes  amongst 
the  lower  savages  in  which  the  pantomimes  and  dances  refer  only 
to  the  most  recent  events.  And  if  amongst  these  tribes  some  pic- 
tures or  some  dances  have  been  preserved  from  older  times,  they 
appear  to  be  quite  isolated  exceptions,  the  presence  of  which  one 
is  tempted  to  attribute  to  accident  rather  than  design.  It  is  only 
when  we  look  to  a  higher  degree  of  culture  that  we  find  a  com- 
memorative art,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  appearing. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  comparative  psychology  this  fact 
is  easily  explained.  The  distance  between  an  impromptu  recital 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  609 

of  a  recent  occurrence  and  historical  art  and  literature,  as  we 
understand  them  to-day,  however  short  it  may  appear,  covers 
perhaps  the  most  momentous  progress  that  man  has  made  in 
his  advancement  towards  culture.  Whether  commemorative  art 
is  to  be  considered  as  retrospective  with  regard  to  something  that 
is  past,  the  memory  of  which  it  endeavours  to  revive,  or  as 
directed  towards  future  generations  whom  the  artist  would  wish 
to  make  participators  of  the  present,  it  presupposes  a  power  of 
conferring  attention  upon  matters  the  interest  in  which  is  not 
confined  to  the  immediate  present.  No  psychologist  would  in- 
clude this  faculty  among  the  attributes  of  those  in  the  lowest 
stage  of  mental  development.  Ethnological  science,  on  the  other 
hand,  shows  that  it  is  as  yet  lacking  in  some  of  the  existing 
tribes  of  the  lower  savages.  In  an  aesthetic  research  it  is  of  the 
highest  importance  to  know  exactly  when  and  where  this  attri- 
bute appears.  In  the  general  history  of  art  no  date  can  be  more 
significant  than  that  which  marks  the  commencement  of  a  larger 
conception  in  the  mind  of  the  artist  of  the  public  for  whom  he 
works,  bringing  in  its  train,  as  it  does,  wider  aims  concerning 
his  work. 

HISTORICAL  ART 

....  Foremost  in  rank  amongst  all  the  works  of  design 
and  sculpture  that  have  influenced  artistic  evolution  stand  the 
likenesses  of  a  deceased  person  which  are  placed  by  the  relatives 
on  his  grave  or  in  his  home.  To  civilised  man  it  is  most  natural 
to  look  upon  these  effigies  as  tokens  of  loving  remembrance  by 
which  the  survivors  endeavour  to  keep  fresh  the  memory  of 
the  departed.  It  is  also  easy  for  us  to  understand  that  the  pious 
feelings  extended  towards  such  effigies  may  acquire  an  almost 
religious  character.  There  is  something  to  be  said  therefore  on 
behalf  of  the  view  that  commemorative  monuments  have  been 
the  predecessors  of  idols  proper.  Lubbock,  who  interprets 
Erman's  description  of  the  Ostyak  religion  in  this  way,  quotes 
in  further  corroboration  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  in  which 
work  there  is  to  be  found  a  detailed  account  of  the  evolution 
of  idolatry  from  memorial  images.  The  probability,  however, 
is  that  in  pictorial  as  well  as  in  dramatic  art  the  purely  com- 
memorative intention  belongs  to  the  latter  stages  of  culture.  It 


6iO  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

seems  in  most  cases  to  be  beyond  doubt  that  among  the  lowest 
tribes  the  images  serve  as  paraphernalia  in  the  animistic  rites. 
They  are  either  taken  to  be  embodiments  of  the  ancestors'  soul, 
or  receptacles  in  which  this  soul,  if  properly  invoked,  might 
take  up  its  abode  for  the  occasion.  And  similar  superstitious 
notions  are  entertained,  not  only  with  regard  to  the  monuments 
proper  erected  on  the  graves  of  powerful  ancestors,  but  also 
with  regard  to  such  minor  works  as,  e.  g.,  the  dolls  which  are 
often  prepared  by  West  African  mothers  when  they  have  lost  a 
favourite  child.  The  vague  and  indistinct  character  of  these 
images  shows  us  also  that  no  intellectual  record  of  the  indi- 
vidual has  been  aimed  at.  No  more  than  the  poetic  effusions 
of  regret  with  which  the  pious  survivors  endeavour  to  propitiate 
the  names  of  the  deceased,  do  these  formative  works  of  "pietas" 
give  us  any  information  as  to  the  personality  of  him  whom  they 
pretend  to  represent. 

This  general  notion,  however,  must  not  be  allowed  to  pre- 
vent us  from  admitting  that  among  sundry  tribes  of  mankind 
the  images  may  be  historical.  This  is  asserted  with  regard  to 
the  Bongos  by  Schweinfurth,  and  with  regard  to  the  Gold  Coast 
negroes  by  Cruickshank.  The  wooden  effigies  on  the  Mar- 
quesas Islands  are  described  by  Herr  Schmeltz  as  "constructed 
in  memory  of  celebrated  members  of  the  tribe."  The  Melanesian 
sculptures  also,  according  to  Codrington,  are  chiefly  commemo- 
rative. It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  according  to  his  own 
description  a  sort  of  religious  respect  is  paid  at  least  to  some 
of  them.  More  undeniably  commemorative  examples  are  to  be 
found  in  New  Zealand.  Although  no  attempt  to  reproduce  like- 
nesses is  made  in  these  colossal  wooden  statues,  they  nevertheless 
more  nearly  approach  the  idea  of  monumental  commemorative 
portraiture  than  any  similar  works  of  primitive  art.  The  pat- 
terns of  tattooing,  that  infallible  means  of  identification  amongst 
the  Maoris,  render  it  possible  to  preserve  the  memories  of  the 
individual  ancestors  through  pictorial  representation. 

Not  less  problematic  than  ancestral  sculptures  are  the  much- 
debated  rock-paintings  and  engravings  that  can  be  found  in 
every  part  of  the  world.  Herr  Andree  finds  a  sort  of  learned 
bias  in  the  general  tendency  to  look  for  some  serious,  sacred, 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  6ll 

or  historical  meaning  in  every  petroglyph.  He  points,  very 
sensibly  as  it  seems,  to  the  prevailing  impulse  of  the  idle  hand 
to  scratch  some  figures,  however  meaningless,  on  every  inviting 
and  empty  surface.  Especially  at  much  frequented  localities — 
such  as  meeting-places,  common  thoroughfares,  and  places  of 
rest  for  travellers — where  the  drawings  of  previous  visitors 
call  for  imitation,  this  temptation  must  be  looked  upon  as  a 
very  strong  one.  There  is  no  reason  for  regarding  the  savage 
and  the  prehistoric  man  as  devoid  of  an  impulse,  which,  as  we 
all  know,  shows  its  strength  among  the  very  lowest  and  most 
primitive  layers  of  civilised  society.  It  is  unnecessary,  there- 
fore, to  find  anything  more  remarkable  in  the  petroglyphs  than 
is  to  be  found  in  the  familiar  pictures  on  walls,  trees,  and  rocks 
which  have  been  wantonly  decorated  by  the  modern  vandal. 
This  common-sense  explanation  is  undoubtedly  sufficient  to  ac- 
count for  the  origin  of  many  much-debated  works  of  glyphic  art. 
But  however  sound  within  its  proper  limits  it  cannot  be  extended 
so  as  to  give  a  general  solution  of  the  petroglyph  problem.  It 
is  not  likely,  as  Mr.  Im  Thurn  observes,  that  pictures  such  as 
the  rock-engravings  in  Guiana,  to  produce  which  must  have 
cost  so  much  time  and  trouble,  should  have  their  origin  in  mere 
caprice  and  idleness. 

But  even  if  the  serious  aspect  of  the  petroglyphs  is  granted 
there  still  remains  the  difficulty  of  determining  their  special 
purpose.  The  historical  explanation,  although  it  would  appear 
the  most  natural  for  us  to  adopt,  is  not  to  be  taken  unreservedly 
with  regard  to  tribes  on  a  low  degree  of  development.  What 
to  us  seems  a  sort  of  picture-writing  might  possibly  serve  a 
purpose  anything  but  communicative.  The  so-called  ideograms 
of  the  Nicobarese  have,  for  example,  according  to  Herr  Svoboda, 
for  their  object  the  distraction  of  the  attention  of  the  malevolent 
demons  from  their  houses  and  implements.  When  investigating 
the  ritual,  especially  the  funeral  ceremonies,  one  meets  with 
various  specimens  of  similar  ideography,  the  thought-conveying 
purpose  of  which  is  deceptive. 

By  the  above  examples  the  ambiguous  character  of  primitive 
art-works  has  been  proved  almost  ad  nauseam.  It  appears  that 
every  single  conclusion  based  upon  isolated  ethnological  ex- 


^       612  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

amples  only  is  liable  to  be  upset  after  a  closer  study  of  the  facts. 
In  order,  therefore,  to  make  any  positive  assertions  as  to  the 
commemorative  element  in  art  we  need  some  safer  and  more 
reliable  grounds  of  argument  than  the  inconsistent  stories  of 
travellers.  We  have,  in  other  words,  to  investigate  the  social 
and  psychological  conditions  which,  in  the  respective  cases,  speak 
for  or  against  the  assumption  of  a  commemorative  impulse  as  a 
motive  for  art-production.  Owing  to  our  deficient  knowledge 
of  primitive  life  we  are  not  able  to  rely  upon  these  social  and 
psychological  data  in  every  individual  case.  But  we  may  never- 
theless arrive  at  some  broad  results  which  in  the  main  tally  with, 
and  corroborate  the  evidence  afforded  by,  the  majority  of  ethno- 
logical facts. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  why  historical  art  holds  no  high 
place  among  the  lower — that  is,  the  hunting  and  fishing — tribes. 
Even  if,  as  is  the  case  in  Australia,  every  unusual  occurrence  is 
represented  in  art  with  a  view  of  keeping  up  its  memory,  these 
accidental  interruptions  in  a  monotonous  life  cannot  possibly 
contribute  to  the  development  of  an  historical  interest — that  is 
to  say,  a  commemorative  attention  in  the  people.  When,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  meet,  in  barbaric  and  semi-barbaric  tribes,  with 
a  flourishing  traditional  art,  we  can  also,  in  most  cases,  point 
to  some  peculiar  features  in  their  life  which  have  called  for 
commemoration.  In  a  general  survey  of  traditional  poetry  one 
cannot  but  be  struck  by  the  great  prevalence  of  legends  about 
migrations.  As  travels  and  incidents  of  travel  were  found  to 
provide  a  favourite  subject  for  the  pantomimes  and  poems  de- 
scribed in  the  preceding  chapter,  so  these  experiences  have  also 
exercised  an  important  influence  on  the  songs  that  have  been 
preserved  by  oral  tradition.  And  as  we  meet  with  numerous 
instances  of  improvised  drama  and  poetry  called  forth  by  so 
eminently  interesting  an  occurrence  as  the  visit  of  some  white 
people,  so  we  can  also  trace  the  same  theme  in  manifestations 
of  historical  art  from  dim  and  distorted  narrations  up  to  richly 
detailed  descriptions  like  those  of  the  Hawajian  songs  or  of 
the  Mangaian  "Drama  of  Cook."  The  influence  which  these 
motives  have  exercised  on  the  history  of  art  is  only  in  accordance 
with  the  universal  laws  of  psychology.  Tribal  memory,  no  less 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  613 

than  individual  memory,  is  dependent  for  its  development  on 
some  favourable  external  influences  that  stimulate  the  attention. 

It  must  not  surprise  us,  therefore,  that  the  varying  experi- 
ences of  war  have  everywhere  acted  as  a  strong  incentive  on  the 
commemorative  impulse.  In  this  case,  however,  we  have  to 
count  with  a  factor  of  still  greater  importance  in  the  directly 
utilitarian  advantage  which  military  nations  derive  from  histori- 
cal art.  Through  recounting  or  representing  the  exploits  of 
earlier  generations,  the  descendants  acquire  that  healthy  feeling 
of  pride  which  is  the  most  important  factor  of  success  in  all 
brutal  forms  of  the  struggle  for  life.  So  it  has  come  about  that 
historic  art  has  everywhere  reached  its  highest  state  of  develop- 
ment amongst  nations  who  have  had  to  hold  their  own  vi  et 
armis  against  neighbouring  tribes,  or  in  the  midst  of  which  an- 
tagonistic families  have  fought  for  supremacy.  The  more  the 
social  institutions  have  been  influenced  by  the  customs  of  war, 
the  more  important  is  usually  the  part  which  commemoration 
plays  in  public  life.  It  is  highly  prominent  in  semi-feudal  Poly- 
nesia, where  domestic  warfare  was  at  all  times  of  regular 
occurrence;  it  has  developed  to  some  extent  in  warlike  Fiji,  not- 
withstanding the  Melanesian  indifference  for  the  past;  and  it 
has  obtained  the  position  of  a  state  function  in  military  despo- 
tisms, such  as  the  barbaric  kingdoms  of  Central  and  South 
America  and  Western  Africa.  In  isolated  tribes,  on  the  other 
hand,  whose  whole  struggle  has  been  one  against  nature,  histori- 
cal art  is  generally  to  be  found  at  a  very  low  ebb. 

That  bygone  events  have  been  preserved  in  history  and  art 
chiefly  for  the  sake  of  their  effect  in  enhancing  the  national 
pride  can  also  be  concluded  from  the  way  in  which  humiliating 
incidents  are  treated.  There  are,  it  is  true,  a  few  isolated  and 
unhappy  tribes  which  keep  up  some  dim  traditions  of  their  in- 
glorious past.  Generally,  however,  defeats  are  totally  ignored 
in  the  earliest  chronicles.  If,  however,  an  unsuccessful  battle 
should  have  provoked  artistic  manifestations,  these  aim  at  mask- 
ing the  humiliation.  The  ancient  history  of  Greece  affords  the 
most  curious  examples  of  myths  and  inventions  by  means  of 
which  the  popular  imagination  contrived  to  conceal  disagreeable 
truths.  The  fate  of  Phrynichos,  who  was  fined  for  having  re- 


614  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

vived  the  memory  of  the  defeat  at  Miletus,  shows  that  Greece, 
even  at  a  much  later  period,  preserved  the  same  primitive  ideas 
as  to  the  raison  d'etre  of  historic  art.  It  is  needless  to  point  out 
to  how  great  an  extent  similar  conceptions  still  prevail  amongst 
all  warlike  nations,  civilised  and  barbarous  alike. 

We  must  not  overlook  the  fact,  however,  that  defeats  are 
often  represented  in  unmasked  form  for  the  purpose  of  stirring 
up  a  revengeful  spirit.  But  this  apparent  exception  only  proves 
the  rule.  By  appealing  to  the  wounded  dignity  of  the  people, 
poems  and  dramas  of  this  kind  serve  the  cravings  of  collective 
pride  as  effectively — although,  no  doubt,  indirectly — as  manifes- 
tations of  the  opposite  order.  An  increased  attention  to  the  past, 
with  a  corresponding  richness  of  traditional  art,  can  also  gener- 
ally be  found  in  nations  where  revenge  is  considered  as  a  sacred 
duty  bequeathed  to  descendants  by  their  ancestors 

ART    AND    WORK 

....  In  the  various  tribes,  with  their  differing  types  of  life, 
there  is  afforded  a  singular  opportunity  of  observing  the  con- 
nection between  play,  or  art,  and  the  serious  occupations  of  life. 
The  games  of  the  children,  as  well  as  the  dances  and  pantomimes 
of  the  full-grown,  almost  everywhere  correspond  to  the  prevail- 
ing activities  in  the  various  communities.  The  North  American 
Indians,  the  Malays,  the  Maoris,  the  tribes  of  Central  Asia,  and 
others,  all  furnish  instances  of  the  familiar  law  that  the  amuse- 
ments of  warlike  nations  mainly  consist  in  exercises  which  are 
preliminary  to,  or  reminiscent  of,  the  experiences  of  battle.  A 
war  dance  or  a  mimic  fight  is  the  traditional  type  not  only  of 
their  public  entertainments,  but  also  of  their  state  ceremonial. 
No  example  could  be  more  telling  than  that  of  the  Dahomey 
state  dances,  which,  however  they  may  begin,  always  seem  to 
end  with  an  imitation  of  the  greatest  social  action  in  the  country 
— decapitation.  Where  the  struggle  for  existence  is  a  contest 
with  nature  and  not  with  fellow-men,  a  hunting  or  fishing  panto- 
mime usually  takes  the  place  of  these  military  performances.  It 
is  true  that  such  representations  of  work  often  lose  their  im- 
portance in  national  art  when  the  conditions  of  life  grow  easier. 
Mr.  Taplin  thus  contrasts  the  rich  and  varied  entertainments  of 
the  Polynesians,  who  without  any  exertion  obtain  their  sub- 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  615 

sistence  from  their  bountiful  soil,  with  the  amusements  of  the 
poor  Narrinyeri,  who  even  in  their  dances  and  pantomimes  have 
always  practised  "those  arts  which  were  necessary  to  get  a 
living."  But  it  is  significant  that  even  the  inhabitants  of  these 
"happy  islands"  in  their  dramatic  performances  introduce  imita- 
tions of  rowing,  fighting,  and  other  kinds  of  common  work. 
And  at  still  higher  degrees  of  development,  where  the  division 
of  labour  has  given  rise  to  special  trades,  all  these  various  crafts 
will  often,  as  was  the  case  in  Dahomey,  in  ancient  Peru,  and  in 
mediaeval  Europe,  be  a  favourite  subject  for  pantomimic  repre- 
sentation. If  such  representations  have  been  of  no  especial  value 
as  exercise,  they  may  nevertheless,  by  bringing  about  an  associa- 
tion between  work  and  pleasure,  have  made  toil  and  labour  less 
repugnant.  The  exertions  called  forth  by  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence have  thus  at  all  stages  of  culture,  except  that  of  modern 
industrialism,  been  to  some  extent  facilitated  by  art. 

Perhaps  even  more  important  in  their  influences  than  the 
imitation  of  work  in  play  or  drama  are  the  artistic  activities 
which  accompany  the  actual  performance  of  work.  As  these 
kinds  of  dance  and  song  have  been  somewhat  overlooked  by 
Professor  Groos,  there  is  reason  to  make  them  the  subject  of  a 
closer  investigation. 

When  explaining  the  manifestations  of  art  which  can  thus, 
in  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word,  be  called  songs  and  dances 
of  action,  we  have  to  divide  our  attention  between  two  different 
points  of  view.  First,  the  need  of  stimulation  and  regulation  of 
the  work  of  the  individual,  and,  second,  the  need  of  co-operation 
in  the  work  of  different  individuals.  In  both  these  respects  art 
has  had  an  importance  among  primitive  tribes  which  can  scarcely 
be  overrated. 

It  is  well  known  that  at  a  lower  degree  of  mental  develop- 
ment the  power  of  instantaneous  muscular  exertion  is  far  less 
than  among  educated  men.  Broca's  experiments  showed  that 
artisans  with  somewhat  trained  intelligence  generally  reached 
higher  figures  on  a  dynamometer  than  working  men  who  were 
only  used  to  bodily  exertions.  And  the  Negroes,  whose  forces 
were  tested  by  Fere,  were  far  below  the  average  of  Europeans. 
As  in  these  experiments  the  natives  were  introduced  to  new  and 


6i6  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

unaccustomed  movements,  the  evidence  of  the  psychometric  ap- 
paratus must  be  considered  as  somewhat  extenuated  by  the  cir- 
cumstances. Broadly  speaking,  these  experiments  can,  however, 
be  taken  as  indications  of  a  general  psychological  law.  The 
experimental  evidence  is,  moreover,  corroborated  by  the  common 
complaints  of  Europeans  who  have  had  to  rely  on  natives.  The 
slowness  with  which  the  primitive  man  gets  into  swing  with 
his  work  has  no  doubt  been  referred  to  times  without  number 
by  slavekeepers  when  advocating  their  methods  of  treating  na- 
tives. Strange  to  say,  there  are  some  tribes  which  themselves 
candidly  admit  their  own  inertness,  and  voluntarily  submit  to 
whipping  in  order  to  get  "their  blood  a  little  agitated." 

The  slowness  and  the  insensibility  of  the  Guarani  are,  how- 
ever, as  appears  from  Mr.  Rengger's  description,  exceptional 
and  pathological.  But  it  seems  as  if  almost  all  tribes  had  invented 
some  means  of  inciting  themselves  to  work.  Only,  these  means 
are  seldom  such  as  Europeans  would  feel  inclined  to  avail  them- 
selves of  when  urging  on  their  workers.  That  they  can  never- 
theless be  as  effectual  as  even  the  slavekeeper's  whip  is  shown  by 
Signer  Salvado.  His  description  of  his  experiences  with  Aus- 
tralian natives  as  farm-labourers  is  delightful :  "How  often," 
says  he,  "have  I  not  used  their  dancing  songs  in  order  to  encour- 
age and  urge  them  on  in  their  work.  I  have  seen  them,  not  once, 
but  a  thousand  times  lying  on  the  ground  with  minds  and  bodies 
wearied  by  their  labour;  yet  as  soon  as  they  heard  me  singing 
the  Machielo-Machiele,  which  is  one  of  their  commonest  and 
favourite  dancing  songs,  they  would  yield  to  an  irresistible  im- 
pulse, and  rise  and  join  me  with  their  voices.  They  would  even 
begin  to  dance  joyfully  and  contentedly,  especially  when  they 
saw  me  singing  and  dancing  among  them,  like  any  other  savage. 
After  a  few  minutes  of  dancing  I  would  seize  the  opportunity 
to  cry  out  to  them  in  a  merry  voice,  Mingo!  Mingo!  a  word 
meaning  breast,  which  is  also  used  in  the  same  way  as  our  word 
courage.  After  such  an  exhortation  they  would  gradually  set 
to  work  again.  And  they  would  begin  afresh  with  such  good- 
will and  eagerness,  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  dance  of  Machielo 
had  communicated  to  them  new  courage  and  new  vigour." 

From  many  parts  of  the  world  there  may  be  quoted  examples 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  617 

of  savages  who  always  raise  a  chant  when  compelled  to  overcome 
their  natural  laziness.  In  many  cases  they  seem,  as  in  Salvado's 
anecdote,  to  avail  themselves  of  words  and  melodies  which  per- 
haps were  originally  intended  only  for  amusement.  But  it  is 
also  well  known  that  working  men  everywhere  stimulate  them- 
selves by  special  songs  of  exhortation.  And  when  employed  in 
prolonged  and  monotonous  work  they  everywhere  seem  to  know 
that  toil  may  be  relieved  by  song.  The  majority  of  these  work 
poems  may  perhaps  be  of  no  great  poetical  or  musical  merit,  but 
that  does  not  affect  their  great  evolutionistic  importance. 
Whether  Noire  is  right  or  not  in  his  theory  that  language  has 
developed  from  the  work  cries  of  primitive  men,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  some  of  the  simplest  and  perhaps  earliest  specimens  of  poetry 
are  to  be  found  among  the  short  ditties  sung  by  labourers  during 
their  work.  The  stimulus  which  is  provided  by  such  songs  is 
easily  understood  without  any  explanation.  But  their  invigorat- 
ing power  will  be  perceived  more  clearly  when  we  take  into 
account  that  emotional  susceptibility  to  musical  impressions 
which  has  been  remarked  in  so  many  primitive  tribes.  Besides 
these  invigorating  effects,  every  musical  accompaniment  will  also, 
by  virtue  of  its  rhythmic  elements,  regulate  the  movements  of 
work,  and  thereby  produce  a  saving  of  force  deployed. 

When  the  words  of  the  work-songs  refer  to  the  action  itself, 
the  effect  will  be  strengthened  by  verbal  suggestion.  It  is  true 
that  many  of  the  songs  which  are  sung  during  the  manufacture 
of  weapons  and  utensils,  during  boat-building  and  such-like,  are 
magical  in  their  intention.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  ideas 
of  poetical  magic  are  to  a  great  extent  derived  from  a  psycho- 
logical experience  of  the  suggestive  power  of  words.  Without 
committing  ourselves  to  any  superstition,  we  can  easily  believe 
that — in  Polynesia  as  well  as  in  ancient  Finland — canoes  were 
better  built  when  the  "boat-building"  song  was  properly  recited 
by  the  builder.  Only  we  prefer  to  think  that  the  magic  operated 
on  the  workman  and  not  on  his  material. 

The  psychological  influence  of  the  work  dances  is  still  easier 
to  understand.  Preliminary  movements,  even  when  undirected, 
always  make  the  subsequent  action  more  effective;  witness  a 
golfer's  flourish  before  driving.  As  Lagrange  has  pointed  out, 


618  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

their  effect  will  be  to  develop  that  amount  of  animal  heat  which 
is  necessary  for  every  muscular  contraction.  When,  moreover, 
they  are  fixed  and  differentiated  in  their  form,  the  influence  will 
of  course  be  all  the  greater.  By  every  attempt  to  execute  a 
special  movement,  the  idea  of  such  movement  is  made  more  and 
more  distinct.  And  as  hereby  the  ideomotor  force  of  this  rep- 
resentation is  increased,  the  final  action  must  be  executed  with 
greater  ease  and  greater  efficacy.  The  validity  of  this  law  may 
be  easily  proved  by  experimental  psychology.  Fere  has  in  his 
dynamometrical  tests  observed  that  the  second  pressure  always 
attains  a  higher  figure  than  the  first  one.  "La  premiere  pression 
a  pour  effet  de  ren forcer  la  representation  mentale  du  mouve- 
ment."  Without  any  theoretical  knowledge  of  these  psychological 
facts,  the  common  man  has  always  been  able  to  avail  himself  of 
the  beneficial  effects  which  are  to  be  derived  from  preliminary 
imitations  of  any  difficult  movement.  Hence  the  curious  panto- 
mimes of  experimentation  which  we  may  always  observe  in  the 
artisan  who  has  to  give  a  finishing  touch  to  his  work,  or  in  the 
athlete  who  tries  to  perform  a  new  and  unaccustomed  exercise. 

The  psychology  of  movement-perception,  as  we  have  described 
it  in  the  foregoing,  makes  it  evident  that  a  similar  prompting 
influence  may  be  exercised  by  the  actions  of  others.  This  is  an 
experience  which  must  have  occurred,  we  should  imagine,  to 
every  one  who  has  been  coached  in  golf  by  a  professional.  When 
concentrating  his  attention  upon  each  successive  movement  in 
the  instructor's  model  performance,  the  beginner  in  sports  and 
gymnastics  receives  with  his  whole  body,  so  to  speak,  an  im- 
pression of  the  exercise  he  has  to  go  through.  The  representa- 
tion thus  gains  in  distinctness  as  well  as  in  motor  force,  and  the 
subsequent  movement  is  executed  in  an  almost  automatic  way. 

These  familiar  facts  from  the  psychology  of  every-day  life 
will  explain  why  among  the  savage  tribes  we  so  often  meet  with 
the  institution  of  the  praesul.  When  any  labour  is  to  be  per- 
formed which  requires  the  co-operation  of  many  hands,  such  as 
the  harvest  or  rowing,  the  praesul  demonstrates  in  da"nce  or  panto- 
mime the  sequence  of  movements  which  the  others  have  to  go 
through.  By  the  suggestive  influence  of  his  performance  all 
the  individual  workers  are  stimulated  in  their  exertions.  More 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  619 

important,  however,  than  this  stimulation  is  the  co-ordination  of 
labour  which  is  effected  by  the  element  of  rhythm  in  song  and 
dance. 

We  have  in  a  previous  chapter  spoken  at  sufficient  length  of 
the  incalculable  aesthetic  importance  of  rhythm  as  a  means  of 
producing  emotional  community  between  different  individuals. 
In  this  connection  we  have  still  to  point  out  that  a  fixed  time- 
division  must  in  the  same  way  facilitate  common  activity.  From 
the  historical  point  of  view  this  practical  aspect  is  undoubtedly 
the  more  important.  However  fundamental  and  primordial  the 
aesthetic  function  of  the  perception  of  rhythm  may  seem  for  the 
theorist,  it  is  most  probable  that  the  development  of  this  faculty 
has  been  chiefly  furthered  by  its  utilitarian  advantages.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  even  the  most  primitive  man  may  feel  the  want 
of  associating  his  fellow-men  in  his  emotions,  and  that  for  this 
purpose  he  may  be  able  to  give  the  impression  of  them  a  fixed 
rhythmical  form.  But  the  power  of  perceiving  this  time-division 
as  a  rhythm,  and  of  obeying  it  closely  in  song  and  dance,  would, 
as  Dr.  Wallaschek  has  shown,  certainly  not  have  attained  so  high 
a  degree  of  development  if  this  power  had  not,  by  facilitating 
common  activity,  been  of  such  immense  advantage  for  the  main- 
tenance of  species.  It  goes  without  saying  that  any  work  which 
necessitates  the  co-operation  of  several  workers  must  be  executed 
with  greater  efficiency  the  more  closely  the  individuals  follow  to 
a  common  rhythm. 

There  is  no  doubt,  therefore,  that,  as  Spencer  remarks,  the 
incompetence  of  the  Arab  and  Nubian  boatmen  on  the  Nile  is 
chiefly  a  result  of  their  inability  to  act  together.  As  an  Arab 
dragoman  is  reported  to  have  said,  a  few  Europeans  would,  by 
virtue  only  of  their  superior  powers  of  co-operation,  do  in  a 
few  minutes  what  now  occupies  hundreds  of  men.  Such  an  in- 
capacity for  concerted  action  is,  however,  quite  exceptional  among 
the  lower  tribes  of  men.  Some  tribes,  as  e.  g.  the  farmer  Negroes 
in  West  Africa  and  the  Malay  and  Polynesian  boatmen,  are  even 
famous  for  the  wonderful  regularity  of  their  work.  This  regu- 
larity, on  the  other  hand,  has  been  explained  by  all  travellers 
as  a  result  of  the  rhythmical  songs  by  which  their  work  is 
accompanied. 


620  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

It  is  significant  that  the  most  typical  specimens  of  working 
songs  and  dances  should  be  met  with  in  the  tribes  of  Oceania. 
The  insular  life,  which  even  in  other  respects  has  been  so  favour- 
able to  the  development  of  art,  has  necessitated  a  most  intimate 
co-operation  between  individuals.  Hence  the  development  of 
canoe  dances  and  boating  songs,  by  help  of  which  the  movements 
of  the  rowers  are  adjusted  according  to  common  and  fixed 
rhythms.  The  same  necessity  has  of  course  produced  similar 
results,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  in  every  community  where 
the  type  of  life  makes  collective  action  needful.  It  has  not  given 
rise  to  any  important  manifestations  of  art  among  the  pastoral 
tribes,  in  which  individuals  can  do  well  enough  without  help  from 
each  other.  In  agricultural  societies,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has 
called  forth  those  sowing  and  harvest  dances  or  songs  which  are 
so  familiar  in  the  folklore  of  the  civilised  nations.  And,  more 
than  any  other  of  life's  occupations,  war  has  required  an  active 
coherence  between  the  individual  members  of  the  tribe.  The 
influence  of  military  institutions  on  art  is,  however,  in  more  than 
one  respect  so  important  that  its  treatment  must  be  reserved  for 
a  special  chapter. 

ART   AND    WAR 

....  We  ....  meet  with  highly  developed  choral  dances 
in  those  nations  in  whose  life  war  is  a  customary  occurrence.  The 
North  American  Indians,  as  well  as  the  Dahomeyans,  are  noted 
for  the  soldier-like  regularity  of  their  dances.  But  nowhere 
among  the  lower  tribes  of  mankind  is  the  time-sense  so  refined  as 
among  the  pre-eminently  warlike  Maori.  Notwithstanding  the 
furious  movements  in  their  war  dances,  the  gesticulation  of  all  the 
participants  is  always  uniform  and  regular.  According  to  Cruise 
the  very  slightest  motions  of  their  fingers  are  simultaneous;  and, 
if  we  are  to  believe  Mr.  Bid  well,  even  their  eyes  all  move  together. 
Highly  accomplished  dancers  as  are  certain  other  Polynesian  tribes 
less  warlike  than  the  Maori,  it  will  be  admitted  that  such  a  pitch 
of  more  than  Prussian  precision  would  never  have  been  attained 
if  it  were  not  for  its  military  advantages.  To  the  same  cause  one 
is  also  tempted  to  ascribe  the  regularity  of  the  Kaffir  dances,  which 
by  their  choral  character  stand  in  so  marked  a  contrast  to  the 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  621 

amusements  of  the  neighbour  tribe,  the  peaceful  Hottentots, 
among  whom  every  dancer  acts  "separately  for  himself." 

It  is  evident  that  a  regular  co-operation  in  fighting  is  effectually 
promoted  by  rhythmical  music.  And  we  do  in  fact  find  that  music, 
especially  instrumental  music  at  the  lower  stages  of  development, 
is  closely  connected  with  war.  It  is,  however,  more  natural  to 
assume  that  military  music,  and  similarly  military  poetry  and 
dance,  have  had  their  chief  importance  not  as  regulating  but  as 
stimulating  influences.  There  are  many  tribes  which  seem  quite 
unable  to  observe  any  kind  of  military  discipline.  But  even  in  the 
undeveloped  and  unmethodical  warfare  of  the  lowest  savages, 
music,  songs,  and  dances  have  been  used  as  means  of  infusing 
courage  and  strength.  The  psychology  of  these  military  stimuli 
is  of  course  the  same  as  that  of  industrial  art.  But  the  general 
principles  appear  with  far  greater  clearness  when  applied  to  this 
peculiar  kind  of  activity. 

First  of  all,  the  need  of  stimulation  is  never  so  great  as  when 
a  man  has  to  risk  his  life  in  an  open  battle.  If  in  work  he  has 
to  overcome  his  natural  inertia,  laziness,  he  has  here  to  overcome 
the  still  stronger  obstacle  of  fear.  Contrary  to  the  romantic 
notions  of  popular  literature,  primitive  man  seems  to  be  timorous 
rather  than  brave  when  not  encouraged  by  adventitious  excite- 
ment. This  cowardice  can,  however,  to  a  great  extent  be  ex- 
plained by  defective  military  organisation.  Where  the  mutual 
support  which  the  well-drilled  soldiers  of  a  regular  army  render 
each  other  is  lacking,  the  need  of  personal  courage  is  of  course 
so  much  the  greater.  Civilised  warfare  tries  to  avoid  the  conflict 
between  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  and  of  a  soldier's  duty 
by  the  pressure  of  strict  discipline ;  savage  warfare,  which  cannot 
count  on  the  same  forces  of  submission  and  mental  control,  is 
compelled  to  minimise  this  conflict  by  deadening  the  consciousness 
of  peril.  Hence  the  indispensability  of  some  means  of  producing 
violent  excitement  by  which  the  necessary  forgetfulness  of  danger 
and  death  may  be  attained. 

Apart  from  the  influence  of  fear,  the  task  of  slaughter  is  one 
which,  from  its  very  nature,  cannot  be  performed  in  cold  blood. 
Even  where  the  element  of  danger  is  absent,  as  when  unarmed 
foes  are  killed  or  tortured,  the  savage  executioners  do  not  gener- 


622  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

ally  get  to  work  straight  away.  As  soon  as  a  beginning  has  been 
made,  a  sort  of  intoxication  will  indeed  be  produced  by  mental 
as  well  as  physical  agencies,  such  as  the  sight  of  blood  or  the 
pride  of  conquest.  But  this  intoxication,  so  eagerly  desired  by 
savages  in  civilised  as  well  as  in  primitive  communities,  cannot 
be  produced  even  in  the  lowest  tribes  of  man  without  a  prelimi- 
nary working  up.  The  passion  of  cruelty,  like  that  of  love,  is,  in 
its  higher  and  more  ecstatic  forms,  too  overwhelming  in  its 
mental  effects  to  be  attained  without  an  artificial  enhancement  of 
psychical  capacity.  But  whereas  the  erotic  feelings  tend  with 
growing  development  to  become  more  and  more  a  private  matter, 
cruelty  is  among  warlike  tribes  an  emotion  of  national  impor- 
tance. The  incitement  to  slaughter  is  therefore  apt  to  become 
social — that  is,  common  to  several  individuals  at  once.  This  is 
one  of  the  reasons  why  war  is  of  so  much  greater  importance 
than  love  as  a  motive  for  tribal  art. 

There  are  some  tribes  in  which  the  soldiers  try  to  acquire 
courage  and  thirst  for  blood  by  magical  expedients,  such  as 
smearing  themselves  with  some  powerful  unguent,  or  eating  the 
raw  meat  of  a  newly  slaughtered  ox.  Sometimes  a  joint  tattoo- 
ing of  the  whole  corps  with  a  common  pattern  is  undertaken,  most 
probably  for  the  same  magical  purpose.  But  however  effectually 
such  ceremonies  may  be  supposed  to  operate,  savages  do  not 
generally  put  so  much  trust  in  them  as  to  give  up  their  favourite 
means  of  stimulation — music  and  dancing.  In  people  who  sin- 
cerely believe  in  their  own  magic  any  rite  will  of  course  arouse 
increased  confidence  and  courage.  But  this  suggestive  influence 
is  only  indirect  in  comparison  with  the  immediate  psychological 
effects  of  inciting  dances. 

Popular  novels  have  familiarised  us  all  with  the  wierd  war 
dances  which  play  such  an  important  part  in  the  warfare  of  the 
North  American  Indians.  In  its  main  features  this  type  of  panto- 
mimic incitement  is  the  same  everywhere — among  the  African 
and  Oceanic  tribes  as  well  as  among  the  savage  nations  described 
in  classic  literature.  By  imitating  the  movements  of  a  real  fight, 
by  exulting  cries,  deafening  noise,  and  brandishing  of  weapons, 
the  dancers  work  themselves  up  to  a  pitch  of  frenzy  which  cannot 
be  compared  to  anything  but  a  transient  madness.  Especially 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  623 

among  the  nations  of  Africa  war  dances  often  arouse  so  much 
excitement,  even  when  performed  during  times  of  perfect  peace, 
that  they  become  dangerous  to  friendly  and  peaceful  onlookers. 
Here  also — just  as  in  the  Hungarian  "Enlistment" — dancing  is 
used  as  a  means  of  enticing  men  to  join  the  ranks  of  the  war  chief 
who  wants  recruits  for  some  war-aicpedition. 

It  is  evident  that  the  influence  of  such  pantomimes  is  not 
restricted  to  a  generalised  stimulation  and  encouragement.  These 
sham  fights,  just  as  the  sportive  imitations  of  work,  must  facili- 
tate the  execution  of  those  movements  which  they  imitate.  And 
even  those  who  do  not  join  the  dance  will  profit  by  watching  the 
evolutions  which  they  themselves  will  afterwards  be  called  on  to 
perform  in  reality.  Thus  there  may  originally  have  been  a  very 
utilitarian  reason  for  the  curious  warfare  of  the  Headhunters 
of  Ceram,  who  always  have  the  Jakalele  dance  performed  in 
front  of  their  fighting  line.  It  is  pathetic  to  read  that  even  in 
their  wars  with  the  Dutchmen  a  few  fantastically  dressed  dancers 
head  the  advance  against  the  repeating  guns  of  the  European 
force. 

This  fact,  which  is  certainly  not  without  its  parallels  in  other 
savage  tribes,  gives  the  most  convincing  proof  of  the  indispensa- 
bility  of  pantomimic  stimulation  to  savage  warfare.  Although 
less  intimately  connected  with  fighting  itself,  poetry  has  had  for 
war  an  importance  which  can  scarcely  be  estimated  at  a  much 
lower  rate.  Words,  of  course,  can  never  provoke  such  a  direct 
and  almost  physiological  stimulation  as  the  imitation  of  actions. 
But  words,  on  the  other  hand,  have  a  greater  effect  on  the  mind. 
The  suggestive  power  of  the  war  songs  is  also  attested  by  the 
descriptions  of  travellers  among  various  tribes.  In  Australia,  for 
instance,  four  or  five  mischievously  inclined  old  women  can  soon 
stir  up  forty  or  fifty  men  to  any  deed  of  blood  by  means  of  their 
chants,  which  are  accompanied  by  tears  and  groans,  until  the 
men  are  worked  into  a  perfect  state  of  frenzy.  "The  savage 
blood  of  the  Ahts  always  boiled  when  the  war  songs  were  recited, 
their  fingers  worked  convulsively  on  the  paddles,  and  their  eyes 
gleamed  ferociously ;  altogether  they  were  two  hundred  murder- 
ous-looking villains."  In  Ashanti  and  in  New  Zealand — in  short, 
amongst  all  the  most  warlike  tribes — the  military  singers  are  able 


624  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

to  bring  themselves  and  their  audience  up  to  a  pitch  of  frenzy 
which  is  almost  equal  to  that  produced  by  the  dances. 

In  one  of  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  already  pointed 
out  how  invaluable  a  support  historic  art  has  given  to  national 
pride.  This  feeling,  on  the  other  hand,  is  never  so  indispensable 
as  in  time  of  war.  Wherever  a  tribe  has  any  traditions  of  its 
past  history,  such  traditions  are  always  revived  and  recited  to 
the  soldiers  before  and  during  the  battles.  And  if  a  people  has 
no  glorious  ancestors  to  boast  of,  it  can  none  the  less  gain  the 
necessary  confidence  by  glorifying  its  own  valour  and  reviling 
its  enemies.  Even  tribes  like  the  Bakairis,  for  example,  are  thus 
able  to  "sing  themselves  full  of  courage"  in  boasting  and  defiant 
exultation. 

According  to  competent  observers,  such  songs  are  more  par- 
ticularly employed  when  the  natives  are  afraid.  The  expression 
of  bravery,  even  if  originally  affected,  must  necessarily  awaken 
some  real  feeling  of  pride  or  confidence.  Contempt,  on  the  other 
hand,  however  laboriously  worked  up,  is  the  most  effectual  means 
of  preserving  equanimity  under  the  stress  of  depressing  feelings, 
admiration,  envy,  or  fear.  Songs  and  pantomimes,  such  as,  for 
instance,  those  with  which  the  Polynesians  invariably  begin  their 
battles,  must  therefore  have  a  great  power  of  emboldening  the 
warriors.  And  while  such  outward  shows  of  valour  enable  the 
performers  to  reconquer  their  courage,  the  enemy  is  intimidated 
by  these  manifestations  of  a  feeling  which  is  as  yet  incipient 
within  themselves.  In  warfare,  where  the  hostile  armies  stand 
within  sight  and  hearing  of  each  other,  this  consideration  must 
of  course  be  of  extreme  importance. 

It  seems,  indeed,  as  if  natural  selection  had  developed  in  man 
an  almost  instinctive  tendency  to  overcome  fear  by  simulating 
the  expressions  proper  to  valour  and  menace.  Just  as  animals, 
when  frightened,  make  themselves  bigger  and  more  formidable 
to  their  enemies,  whether  from  fear  or  anger  we  know  not,  so 
man  tries  to  awaken  fear  in  the  enemy  confronting  him  at  the 
same  time,  and  by  the  same  means,  as  he  vanquishes  his  own 
fear.  This  appears  with  especial  clearness  in  wars  between 
savage  races,  where  both  sides  often  seem  to  be  as  timid  as  they 
try  to  appear  formidable  and  courageous.  Their  threats  and 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  625 

boastings  are  terrifying  enough,  but  the  real  fights  are  very 
bloodless  and  free  from  danger.  Among  the  Gammas  "the  words 
really  seem  to  do  more  damage  than  the  blows."  The  gallant 
game  of  bluff  is  in  primitive  politics  not  restricted  to  diplomatic 
negotiations;  it  plays  an  important  part  in  the  actual  fighting. 
This  remains  true  even  with  regard  to  tribes  which  are  capable 
of  real  courage,  not  only  in  stealthy  assault,  but  also  in  open 
battle.  The  Maorian  military  pantomimes  afford  the  best  example 
of  such  a  manifestation,  which  not  only  stimulates  the  warriors 
to  fight  and  regulates  their  movements  in  the  battle,  but  also,  as 
a  European  traveller  has  been  compelled  to  admit,  "strikes 
terror  into  the  heart  of  any  man."  In  this  case  the  terrible  effect 
is  further  strengthened  by  the  hideous  grimaces,  rolling  of  the 
eyes,  protruding  of  the  tongue,  and  so  on,  with  which  the 
warriors  accompany  their  dance.  So  important  is  this  distortion 
of  the  countenance  considered  by  the  Maoris,  that  instruction 
in  the  art  of  grimacing  forms  a  part  in  their  military  education. 
The  most  warlike  of  savage  tribes  thus  does  not  despise  the  naive 
expedient  which  constitutes  almost  the  sole  means  of  self-defence 
among  peaceful  Eskimos.  And  so  highly  do  the  Maoris  appreci- 
ate the  terrifying  effects  of  the  protruded  tongue,  that  they  carve 
the  grimace  upon  their  spears,  the  "hanis,"  evidently  in  the  belief 
that  such  representations  will — perhaps  by  some  magic  power 
— demoralise  the  enemy. 

It  thus  appears  that  ornaments,  painting,  and  sculpture  have 
been  of  no  small  influence  in  enhancing  the  fighting  powers  of 
warlike  nations.  Among  the  lower  tribes  of  man  these  arts  are, 
however,  on  the  whole  much  more  appreciated  as  means  of 
frightening  the  enemy.  As  was  mentioned  in  a  preceding 
chapter,  some  bodily  deformations  are,  if  we  may  believe  the 
natives,  undertaken  solely  for  this  purpose.  Other  warlike  tribes 
endeavour  to  make  themselves  dreaded  by  their  enemies  by 
staining  their  bodies  with  ghastly  colours,  blood-red,  azure,  or 
black.  Tatooing  may,  of  course,  often  aim  at  the  same  end. 
And  among  the  detached  ornaments  there  is  an  especial  class — 
for  which  the  German  ethnologists  have  invented  the  characteris- 
tic designation  "Schreckschmuck" — which  are  only  worn  in  order 
to  make  the  appearance  more  frightful.  The  war  helmets  of 


626  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  Thlinkeets  and  the  curious  tooth  masks  of  the  Papuas  are 
the  most  typical  specimens  of  this  pre-eminently  warlike  decora- 
tion  

ART  AND   MAGIC 

....  To  how  great  an  extent  works  of  art  derive  their  ma- 
terial from  old  magical  practices,  the  real  meaning  of  which  has 
gradually  fallen  into  oblivion,  may  be  shown  in  all  the  various 
departments  of  art.  There  is  not  a  single  form  of  imitation 
which  has  not  been  more  or  less  influenced  by  this  principle. 
Pantomimic  representation,  which  for  us  is  of  value  only  in 
virtue  of  its  intellectual  or  emotional  expressiveness,  was  in 
lower  stages  of  culture  used  as  a  magical  expedient.  Even  a 
single  gesture  may,  according  to  primitive  notions,  bring  about 
effects  corresponding  to  its  import,  and  a  complete  drama  is 
sincerely  believed  to  cause  the  actual  occurrence  of  the  action 
which  it  represents.  Students  of  folklore  know  that  there  is 
practically  no  limits  to  the  effects  which  primitive  man  claims  to 
produce  by  magical  imitation.  He  draws  the  rain  from  heaven 
by  representing  in  dance  and  drama  the  appropriate  meteoro- 
logical phenomena.  He  regulates  the  movements  of  the  sun  and 
encourages  it  in  the  labour  of  its  wanderings  by  his  dramatic 
sun-rituals ;  and  he  may  even  influence  the  change  of  the  seasons 
by  dramas  in  which  he  drives  winter  away  and  brings  summer  in. 
By  those  phallic  rites  to  which  we  have  already  referred  in  the 
chapter  on  erotic  art,  he  tries  in  the  same  way  to  act  upon  the 
great  biological  phenomena  of  human  life.  And  again,  when 
sickness  is  to  be  cured,  he  tries  to  subdue  the  demons  of  disease 
— to  neutralise  their  action  or  to  entice  them  out  of  the  body 
of  the  patient — by  imitating  in  pantomime  the  symptoms  of  the 
particular  complaint.  Finally,  when  the  assistance  of  a  divine 
power  is  required,  the  god  himself  may  be  conjured  to  take  his 
abode  in  the  body  of  the  performer,  who  imitates  what  is  believed 
to  be  his  appearance,  movements,  and  behaviour.  Thus  the  belief 
in  the  effectual  power  of  imitation  has  all  over  the  world  given 
rise  to  common  dramatic  motives  as  universal  as  the  belief  itself, 
and  uniform  as  the  chief  requirements  of  mankind. 

"  There  are,  no  doubt,  many  instances  of  dramatic  ritual  the 
purpose  of  which  is  as  yet  a  matter  of  discussion.    With  regard 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  627 

to  some  of  the  symbolic  dances  representing  hunting  or  fishing 
or  the  movements  of  game-animals,  much  may  be  said  in  favour 
of  Mr.  Farrer's  view  that  the  object  of  the  pantomime  is  to 
make  clearer  to  the  deity  a  prayer  regarding  the  things  imitated. 
Similarly  it  is  open  to  doubt  whether  the  dramatic  performances 
at  initiation  ceremonies,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  kangaroo  dance 
described  by  Collins,  are  meant  to  impart  instruction  concerning 
the  customs  of  the  animals  to  the  novitiates,  or  to  confer  upon 
them  a  magic  power  over  the  game.  In  the  therapeutic  practices 
of  primitive  tribes  we  may  find  still  more  puzzling  points  of 
controversy.  The  sucking  cure,  for  instance,  by  which  the  medi- 
cine-man pretends  to  extract  from  the  patient  the  cause  of  his 
illness  in  the  form  of  some  small  object — a  pebble,  a  tuft  of  hair, 
or  the  like — may  be,  as  Professor  Tylor  thinks,  a  mere  "knavish 
trick."  But  it  is  also  possible,  we  believe,  that,  at  least,  originally, 
it  may  have  been  performed  as  a  bona  fide  magic,  based  upon 
the  notion  of  the  efficacy  of  vehicles  and  symbolic  action.  The 
method  of  restoring  sick  people  and  sick  cattle  to  health  by  pull- 
ing them  through  a  narrow  opening,  for  instance,  in  a  tree, 
which  has  been  explained  by  most  authors  as  a  case  of  magical 
transference  by  contact — i.  e.  transference  of  the  disease  from  the 
patient  and  of  the  vital  power  represented  by  the  tree  to  him — 
ought,  according  to  the  brilliant  hypothesis  of  Professor  Nyrop, 
to  be  considered  as  a  magically  symbolic  representation  of  re- 
generation. 

While  leaving  undecided  all  these  subtile  questions,  each  of 
which  would  require  a  chapter  of  its  own  in  order  to  be  definitely 
treated,  we  have  only  to  maintain  the  great  probability  which 
stands  on  the  side  of  the  dramatic  interpretation.  However  fan- 
tastic the  belief  in  a  magical  connection  between  similar  things 
may  appear  at  the  outset,  a  continued  ethnological  study  must 
needs  convince  every  one  of  its  incalculable  importance  in  the 
life  of  primitive  man.  And  such  a  conviction  can  only  become 
confirmed  by  an  examination  of  the  influence  which  this  supersti- 
tion has  exercised  on  the  formative  arts. 

The  belief  in  picture  magic  is  evinced  by  its  negative  as  well 
as  by  its  positive  results.  All  over  the  world  we  meet  with  the 
fear  of  being  depicted.  In  so  far  as  this  superstition  has  given 


628  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

rise  to  a  prohibition  of  painting  and  sculpture,  it  has  thus 
seriously  arrested  the  development  of  art.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  same  notion  has  commonly  called  forth  pictorial  repre- 
sentation, the  aim  of  which  is  to  gain  a  power  over  the  things 
and  beings  represented.  Most  frequent,  perhaps,  of  all  these 
specimens  of  magical  art  are  the  volts,  i.  e.  those  dolls  and  draw- 
ings used  for  bewitching,  which  are  spoken  of  as  early  as  in 
the  ancient  Chaldean  incantations,  which  are  used  by  the  majority 
of  savage  tribes,  and  which  may  incidentally  be  found  even  now 
among  the  European  nations.  But  owing  to  their  necessarily 
clandestine  character  these  charms  have  never  exercised  any 
important  influence  on  the  pictorial  art.  More  important,  from 
the  historical  point  of  view,  than  these  black  and  cryptic  arts 
is  the  white  magic  by  which  social  benefits  are  pursued.  Just  as 
the  principal  forms  of  magical  drama  correspond  to  the  chief 
requirements  of  mankind,  so  the  most  important  magical  sculp- 
tures and  paintings  are  found  in  connection  with  agricultural 
rites,  the  observances  of  hunting  and  fishing,  medical  practices, 
and  ceremonies  for  removing  sterility.  And  in  the  same  way 
as  dramatic  representation,  but  with  far  greater  efficacy,  pictorial 
representation  has  been  able  to  satisfy  the  highest  material  as 
well  as  spiritual  requirement  by  bringing  the  deity  in  concrete 
relation  with  man  through  the  sympathetic  force  of  the  image. 
The  art  of  conjuring  a  spirit  to  take  its  abode  in  what  is  believed 
to  be  a  counterfeit  of  its  corresponding  body  has  thus  given  rise 
to  the  fashioning  of  idols  and  the  subsequent  adoring  of  them. 
Although  essentially  the  same  as  in  the  simple  medical  cures  and 
the  practices  of  sorcery,  pictorial  magic  has  in  these  cases  of  idol- 
making  exercised  a  more  far-reaching  and  thorough  influence 

on  mankind  than  in  any  of  its  other  manifestations 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  civilised  observer  the  above- 
quoted  examples  of  dramatic,  pictorial,  and  poetic  magic  may 
seem  to  have  an  obvious  and  ready  explanation.  A  work  of  art 
always  gives  to  the  spectator,  and  no  doubt  also  to  the  creator,  an 
illusion  of  reality.  As,  moreover,  primitive  man  is  notoriously 
unable  to  distinguish  between  subjective  and  objective  reality, 
it  seems  natural  to  assume  that  it  is  the  mental  illusion  created  by 
his  work  which  makes  the  magician  believe  that  he  has  acquired 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  629 

a  power  over  the  things  represented  by  it.  And  this  assumption 
is  all  the  more  tempting  because  even  to  civilised,  enlightened 
man  there  is  something  magical  in  the  momentary  satisfaction 
which  art  affords  to  all  our  unfulfilled  longings  by  its  semblance 
of  reality.  Strong  desire  always  creates  for  itself  an  imaginary 
gratification  which  easily  leads  the  uncritical  mind  to  a  belief 
in.  the  power  of  will  over  the  external  world.  The  whole  of 
art-creation  may  thus  be  looked  upon  as  an  embodiment  of  the 
greatest  wishes  of  mankind,  which  have  sought  the  most  con- 
vincing appearance  of  their  fulfilment  in  the  form  and  shape  of 
objective  works.  What  is  in  us  a  conscious  and  intentional  self- 
deception,  may  be  in  the  unsophisticated  man  a  real  illusion.  The 
main  psychological  aspects  of  the  activity  could  not  be  changed 
by  these  different  subjective  attitudes  on  the  part  of  the  producer. 
The  essential  point  is  that  in  both  cases  the  greatest  possible 
resemblance  to  the  original  would  be  sought  for  in  order  to  in- 
crease in  the  one  case  the  magical  efficacy  of  the  work,  in  the 
other  the  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  the  illusion.  The  belief 
in  a  magical  connection  between  similar  things  would  thus  exer- 
cise an  incalculable  influence  on  the  growth  of  realism  in  art. 
But,  unfortunately,  this  easy  explanation  is  not  corroborated  by 
an  impartial  examination  of  the  lower  stages  of  art-development. 
The  statement  of  M.  Guaita  as  to  the  volt,  Plus  la  resemblance 
est  complete  plus  le  malefice  a  chance  de  reussir,  does  not  appear 
to  be  borne  out  by  the  evidence.  The  only  instance  we  know  of 
in  which  greater  or  less  resemblance  to  the  model  is  thought  of 
as  bearing  on  the  magical  efficacy  of  a  painting  is  that  of  the 
East  Indian  artists.  We  are  told  that  it  was  in  order  to  evade 
the  Mohammedan  prohibition  of  painting  that  they  resorted  to 
that  style  of  treating  nature,  bordering  on  caricature,  which  is 
so  characteristic  of,  say,  Javanese  art.  Similarly  it  is  by  an 
appeal  to  their  virtue  of  non-resemblance  that  artists  among  the 
Laos  defend  their  pictures  as  being  harmless  and  innocent.  But 
such  references  to  barbaric  or  semi-barbaric-  art  do  not  tell  us 
much  about  the  conditions  prevailing  at  the  beginning  of  art- 
development.  The  primitive  man  who  avails  himself  of  dolls 
and  drawings  in  order  to  bewitch  is  generally  quite  indifferent 
to  the  life-like  character  of  his  magical  instruments.  The  typical 


630  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

volt  gives  only  a  crude  outline  of  the  human  body,  and,  which 
is  most  remarkable,  it  does  not  display  any  likeness  to  the  man 
who  is  to  be  bewitched.  As  a  rule  the  same  vagueness  can  also 
be  noticed  in  the  paintings  and  sculptures  which  serve  the  aims 
of  medical  cure  and  religious  cultus.  With  due  allowance  for 
the  deficient  technical  ability  and  the  naive  suggestibility  of 
primitive  man,  it  seems  hard  to  believe  that  illusion  could  have 
been  either  intended  or  effected  by  the  rude  works  of  pictorial 
magic.  Thus  it  becomes  doubtful  whether  the  belief  in  the 
magical  power  of  painting  and  sculpture  can  have  been  based 
upon  a  confusion  between  subjective  and  objective  reality. 

This  doubt  can  only  be  increased  when  we  see  how  little  confi- 
dence primitive  men  themselves  put  in  the  mere  likeness  as  such. 
When  M.  Rochas  produced  his  modern  imitations  of  the  volt,  he 
was  always  anxious  to  have  his  wax  dolls  sufficiently  saturated 
by  contact  with  the  person  over  whom  they  were  intended  to  give 
him  power.  And  in  this  he  closely  followed  the  methods  of  the 
native  sorcerers,  who  generally  tried  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
their  magical  instruments  by  attaching  to  them  such  objects  as 
nail-cuttings,  locks  of  hair,  or  pieces  of  cloth  belonging  to  the 
man  to  be  bewitched.  In  the  making  of  idols  we  can  often 
observe  the  same  principle.  The  statue  itself  is  not  sacred  by 
virtue  of  its  form;  it  acquires  divine  power  only  by  being  put 
in  material  connection  with  the  deity.  The  most  obvious  example 
is  that  of  the  West  African  Negroes,  who,  when  they  wish  to 
transplant  the  wood  deity  from  his  original  home  to  their  towns 
and  villages,  build  up  a  wooden  doll  of  branches  taken  from  the 
tree  in  which  he  lives.  The  god  is  certainly  supposed  to  feel  a 
special  temptation  to  take  up  his  abode  in  the  idol  made  in  his 
own  likeness ;  but  it  is  evident  that  the  material  link  established 
by  the  choice  of  the  wood  is  thought  of  as  being  of  no  less, 
perhaps  even  of  greater,  importance  than  the  resemblance.  The 
same  close  and  inseparable  combination  of  magic  by  connection 
and  magic  by  similarity  meets  us  in  the  ancestor  statues  of  New 
Guinea,  which  contain  the  skull  of  the  dead  in  hollows  inside 
their  head.  And  although  the  procedure  is  more  indirect,  the 
underlying  thought  is  nevertheless  the  same  in  the  curious  prac- 
tices found,  e.  g.,  on  the  island  of  Nias.  The  spirit  of  the 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  631 

deceased  is  here  conducted  to  his  statue  by  means  of  some  small 
animal  which  has  been  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  grave. 
In  none  of  these  examples — which  might  be  supplemented  by 
analogous  instances  from  various  tribes — do  we  see  any  hint  of 
that  manner  of  regarding  statues  and  paintings  which  prevails 
among  civilised  men.  While  with  us  the  mental  impression  on 
the  spectator  constitutes,  so  to  speak,  the  object  and  the  essential 
purport  of  the  work  of  art,  the  magicians  and  the  idolaters  seem 
to  look  chiefly  for  material  power  and  influence  in  their  simulacra. 

The  way  in  which  pictorial  art  is  used  for  curative  purposes 
affords  us — if  further  proofs  are  wanted — a  still  more  telling 
example  of  the  difference  between  the  magical  and  the  aesthetic 
points  of  view.  Nothing  could  be  more  crude  and  primitive  than 
the  notions  held  by  the  Navajo  with  regard  to  the  salutary  influ- 
ences of  their  famous  sand-paintings.  The  cure  is  effected,  they 
believe,  not  by  the  patient's  looking  at  the  represented  figures, 
but  by  his  rolling  himself  on  them,  or  having  the  pigments  of 
the  mosaic  applied  to  the  corresponding  parts  of  his  own  body. 
The  more  of  the  sacred  sand  he  can  thus  attach  to  his  body,  the 
more  complete  is  his  recovery.  Among  other  tribes  at  the  same 
stage  of  development  as  the  Navajos  the  prevailing  views  are 
almost  equally  materialistic.  And  even  among  the  barbaric  and 
semi-civilised  peoples,  although  we  do  not  meet  with  quite  as 
gross  superstitions,  the  fundamental  idea  of  pictorial  magic 
appears  often  to  be  the  same.  The  power  of  a  painting  or  a 
sculpture  is  thought  of  as  something  which  is  quite  independent 
of  its  mental  effects  upon  the  spectator.  That  interpretation  of 
sympathetic  magic,  therefore,  which  to  us  seemed  most  natural, 
cannot  possibly  be  applied  to  its  lower  forms. 

As  the  concepts  by  which  primitive  man  justifies  to  himself 
his  beliefs  and  practices  are  naturally  vague  and  hazy,  it  may 
seem  futile  to  attempt  to  reconstruct  his  reasoning.  Nothing 
final  or  definite  can  be  asserted  on  so  obscure  a  topic.  But  we 
may  legitimately  discuss  the  most  consistent  and  most  probable 
way  in  which  to  account  for  the  various  forms  of  sympathetic 
magic.  And  with  regard  to  this  question  of  probabilities  we  may 
rely  to  some  extent  upon  the  illustrative  and  suggestive  analogies 
to  primitive  thought  which  can  be  found  in  scientific  philosophies. 


632  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

For  it  is  evident  that  a  philosophical  doctrine,  if  it  fits  in  with 
the  facts  of  primitive  superstition,  may  be  explanatory  of  those 
vague  and  latent  notions  which,  without  logical  justification  or 
systematical  arrangement,  lie  in  the  mind  of  the  magician  and  the 
idolater.  Such  a  doctrine  is  presented  to  us  in  the  familiar 
emanation-theories,  according  to  which  every  image  of  a  thing 
constitutes  a  concrete  part  of  that  thing  itself.  According  to  the 
clear  and  systematic  statement  of  this  doctrine  given  by  the  old 
Epicurean  philosophers,  shadows,  reflections  in  a  mirror,  visions, 
and  even  mental  representations  of  distant  objects,  are  all  caused 
by  thin  membranes,  which  continually  detach  themselves  from 
the  surface  of  all  bodies  and  move  onward  in  all  directions 
through  space.  If  there  are  such  things  as  necessary  misconcep- 
tions, this  is  certainly  one.  Such  general  facts  of  sensuous  ex- 
perience as  reflection,  shadow,  and  mirage  will  naturally  appear 
as  the  result  of  a  purely  material  decortication — as  in  a  transfer 
picture.  How  near  at  hand  this  theory  may  lie  even  to  the 
modern  mind  appears  from  the  curious  fact  that  such  a  man  as 
Balzac  fell  back  upon  it  when  attempting  to  explain  the  newly- 
invented  daguerreotype,  that  most  marvellous  of  all  image- 
phenomena. 

To  the  primitive  mind  it  is  only  natural  to  apply  this  reason- 
ing even  to  artificial  images.  Whether  the  likeness  of  a  thing 
is  fashioned  by  nature  in  water  or  air,  or  whether  it  be  made  by 
man,  it  is  in  both  cases  thought  of  as  depriving  the  thing  itself 
of  some  part  of  its  substance.  Such  a  notion,  which  cannot  sur- 
prise us  when  met  with  among  the  lower  savages,  seems  to  have 
been  at  the  bottom  of  even  the  Mohammedan  prohibition  of  the 
formative  arts.  It  is  evident  that,  wherever  images  are  explained 
in  this  crude  manner,  magic  by  similarity  in  reality  becomes 
merely  a  case  of  magic  by  contiguity. 

The  materialistic  thought  which  lies  behind  the  belief  in  a 
solidarity  between  similar  things  appears  nowhere  so  clearly  as 
within  the  department  of  pictorial  magic.  But  we  believe  that 
its  influence  can  also  be  traced  in  all  the  other  superstitions 
regarding  sympathetic  causation.  In  spite  of  that  feeling  of 
superiority  so  common  in  nations  which  have  no  leaning  towards 
formative  arts,  poetical  and  musical  magic  in  its  lower  forms  is 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  633 

founded  on  quite  as  crude  a  conception  as  any  idolatry  or  pic- 
torial sorcery.  It  would  indeed  be  unnatural  if  the  theory  of 
corporeal  emanations  had  not  been  applied  to  acoustic  as  well 
as  to  optical  phenomena.  To  the  unscientific  mind  sounds  and 
reverberations  are  something  quite  synonymous  with  sights  and 
reflections.  The  sounds  connected  with  the  impression  of  a 
being,  thing,  or  phenomenon  will  therefore  be  conceived  as  being 
a  part  of  the  being,  thing,  or  phenomenon  itself.  To  these  easily- 
explained  notions  there  are  to  be  added  the  peculiar  superstitions 
entertained  with  regard  to  a  class  of  sounds  which  are  only 
associated  with  things,  viz.  their  names.  To  the  primitive  man 
a  name  literally  constitutes  a  part  of  the  object  it  denotes.  The 
magician  may  therefore  get  the  mastery  over  the  spirits  he  in- 
vokes and  the  men  he  bewitches  by  merely  mentioning  their 
names.  In  many  cases  a  most  potent  spell  consists  of  unintel- 
ligible words,  which  to  the  conjurer  himself  has  no  meaning  at 
all.  In  other  cases,  although  the  words  really  have  a  sense,  we 
can  easily  observe  that  they  are  not  used  for  the  purpose  of  creat- 
ing an  illusion  of  reality.  The  typical  incantation  may  indeed 
in  a  manner  be  called  descriptive.  The  singer  is  anxious  not 
to  pass  by  any  detail,  the  omitting  of  which  may  be  injurious  to 
the  potency  of  his  magic.  But  the  result  is  only  a  sort  of  in- 
ventory, which  seldom  suggests  a  full  and  vivid  mental  picture. 
Many  of  the  Shaman  prayers  and  songs  show  us  by  their  whole 
character  that  in  their  case  at  least  poetical  illusion  has  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  belief  in  the  power  of  words  over  things. 
Thus,  according  to  the  magical-world  view,  a  system  of 
material  connections  links  together  in  close  solidarity  things  and 
their  images,  sounds,  or  names.  But  this  network  of  connec- 
tions may  even,  we  believe,  extend  further,  so  as  to  bring  into 
its  chain  of  causation  qualities  and  actions,  in  short,  abstract 
notions,  which  cannot  be  considered  as  material  objects  possess- 
ing material  parts.  Just  as  an  image  which  presents  the  figure 
and  shape  of  a  given  thing  is  conceived  as  a  part  of  that  thing 
itself,  so  all  things  which  Have  distinctive  qualities  in  common 
may  be  thought  of  as  being  parts  of  a  common  whole.  As  a 
fantastic  but  still  natural  product  of  the  primitive  mind,  there 
may  thus  appear  the  idea  of  an  invisible  connection,  which  binds 


634  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

together  all  things  similar  and  draws  them  to  each  other. 
Vaguely  and  dimly  even  savages  may  have  been  able  to  anticipate 
in  some  measure  those  imposing  thoughts  which  received  an 
organised  and  consistent  statement  in  the  doctrine  of  universal 
ideas.  But  to  primitive  man  these  "ideas"  must  appear  as  con- 
crete objects  and  beings,  exercising  their  influence  on  phenomena 
in  a  quite  material  manner. 

To  those  who  are  familiar  with  that  peculiar  combination  of 
spiritual  conceptions  of  the  world  and  material  conceptions  of 
the  spirit  which  makes  up  the  primitive  cosmology,  this  explana- 
tion will  not  appear  far-fetched  or  strained.  But  it  is  to  be 
admitted  that  in  many  cases  ?t  may  be  difficult,  or  even  impossible, 
to  lay  one's  finger  on  the  elements  of  magic  by  contiguity  which 
lie  at  the  root  of  a  given  instance  of  imitative  witchcraft.  No 
doubt  the  mental  effects  produced  by  the  imitation  on  its  creator 
and  spectators  will  in  many  cases  contribute  to  the  belief  in  its 
power.  In  the  more  artistic  forms  of  poetic  magic  the  suggestive 
power  of  the  words  replaces  the  brute  force  of  their  sound.  And 
in  dramatic  magic  an  illusion,  whether  intended  or  unintended, 
must  necessarily  affect  the  performers  as  well  as  their  audience. 
Therefore,  however  the  psychological  basis  of  magic  may  be 
explained,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  some  of  its  developments 
magic  has  become  closely  connected  with  art.  The  self-deceit 
by  which  we  enjoy  in  art  the  confusion  between  real  and  unreal 
is  indeed,  by  its  intentional  character,  distinct  from  the  illusion 
to  which  primitive  man  is  led,  more  perhaps  by  his  deficient 
powers  of  observation  than  by  any  strength  of  imaginative 
faculty.  But  still  there  exists  a  kinship,  and  that  belief  in  an 
overlapping  of  the  tangible  and  intangible  life  which  is  fostered 
by  magic  in  the  lower  art  affords,  as  it  were,  a  premonition  of 
the  effects  produced  by  imagination  in  the  higher. — YRJO  HIRN, 
The  Origins  of  Art,  157-63,  173-81,  250-60,  261-72,  283-97 
(Macmillan,  1900). 


The  papers  on  "Indian  Mythologies"  and  "The 
Medicine-Man  and  the  Occupations,"  in  Part  II,  and 
Frazer's  paper  on  magic  in  Part  VI  are  closely  related 
to  art. 

While  I  have  classed  "myth,"  in  Part  VI,  along  with 
religion,  the  mythology  of  a  people  may  equally  be  con- 
sidered as  artistic  material.  No  systematic  study  of 
myth  from  the  standpoint  of  art  has  been  made.  Some 
materials  for  such  a  study  will  be  found  in  the  bibliog- 
raphy of  Part  VI. 

The  interesting  results  presented  by  Holmes  on  the 
origin  of  form  in  the  plastic  arts  should  be  followed 
up  in  other  papers  by  the  same  writer  indicated  in  the 
bibliography,  and  in  Haddon's  Evolution  in  Art. 
Ornamental  and  decorative  art  have  the  advantage  of 
being  profuse,  visible,  and  relatively  permanent,  corre- 
sponding somewhat  to  our  written  records,  and  the 
eminent  Swedish  student  Stolpe  reached  the  view  that 
"one  real  key  to  a  scientific  treatment  of  ethnographic 
objects  is  found  in  the  comparative  study  of  ornamen- 
tal art." 

Art  has  also  an  element  in  common  with  religion. 
Both  religion  and  art  are  characterized  by  high  states 
of  emotion,  resulting  in  change  of  habit.  In  religion 
this  is  called  conversion,  and  is  conspicuously  associated 
with  the  generation  of  a  fund  of  emotion  through  large 
assemblies  of  people  and  the  operation  of  mass  sugges- 
tion. In  the  same  connection  the  student  should  con- 
sider the  periodic  assemblies  of  primitive  societies, 
particularly  the  orgiastic  practices  and  states  of  mind 
there  developed,  as  leading  to  later  artistic  representa- 
tion. Consult  the  bibliographies  of  Parts  VI  and  VII. 

635 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  5 

I.  ANDREE,  R.  Ethnographische  Parallelen  und  Vergleiche,  "Das  Zeich- 
nen  bei  den  Naturvolkern,"  56-73;  "Spiele,"  86-106;  "Masken," 
107-65. 

*2  ANGELL,  J.  R.,  AND  THOMPSON,  H.  B.  "A  Study  of  the  Relations 
between  Certain  Organic  Processes  and  Consciousness,"  Psych. 
Rev.,  6:  32-69. 

[Important    for   the   psychology   of   art.] 

3  ASTON,  W.  G.    "An  Ancient  Japanese  Classic,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan, 
Trans.,  3,  Pt.  2:109-17. 

4  AVELOT,  R.    "La  musique  chez  les  Pahouins,"  L'anth.,  16:287-93. 

5  BAKER,   W.   B.     "On   Maori   Popular   Poetry,"   Ethn.   Soc.    Trans., 
N.  S.,  i:44-59. 

*6  BALFOUR,  H.     The  Evolution  of  Decorative  Art.    New  York,  1893. 

7  BALFOUR,  H.    "The  Goura,  a  Stringed-Wind  Musical  Instrument  of 
the  Bushmen  and  Hottentots,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  32:156-76. 

8  BALFOUR,  H.    "The  Friction  Drum,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:67-92. 

*9  BALFOUR,  H.     The  Natural  History  of  the  Musical  Bow.     Oxford, 

1899. 
90  BARRETT,  S.  A.     "Porno  Indian   Basketry,"    Univ.   of  Cat.  Pub.  in 

Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  7 : 134-265. 
10  BARTON,  F.  R.     "Children's  Games  in  British  New  Guinea,"  Jour. 

Anth.  Inst.,  38:259-79. 

*ii  BOAS,  F.  "The  Decorative  Art  of  the  Indians  of  the  N.  W.  Pacific- 
Coast,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Bui,  g:  123-76. 

*i2  BOAS,  F.  "The  Use  of  Masks  and  Head  Ornaments  on  the  North- 
West  Coast  of  America,"  Internationales  Archiv  fiir  Ethnog.,  3 : 
7-15- 

*I3  BOAS,  F.  "Facial  Paintings  of  the  Indians  of  Northern  British 
Columbia,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  2 : 13-24. 

14  BOAS,  F.    "Chinook  Songs,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  3:220-26. 

140  BOAS,  F.  "The  Houses  of  the  Kwakiutl  Indians,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus., 
Proc.,  1888:197-213. 

15  BOURKE,  J.  G.     The  Snake-Dance  of  the  Moquis  of  Arizona.     New 
York,  1884. 

636 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  637 

16  BRASS,   M.     "Beitrage  zur   Kenntniss   d-er   kiinstlichen   Schadelver- 
bildungen,"  Vercin  fur  Erdkunde,  Mitth.,  1886: 131-80. 

*i6a  BRIGHAM,    W.    T.     "Hawaiian    Feather    Work,"    Bernice    Pauahi 
Bishop  Mus.,  Mem.,  i :  1-81. 

*i6&  BRIGHAM,    W.    T.     "Mat    and    Basket    Weaving   of    the    Ancient 
Hawaiians,"  Bernice  Pauahi  Bishop  Mus.,  Mem.,  2 : 1-105. 

*i6c  BRIGHAM,    W.    T.      "The    Ancient    Hawaiian     House,"    Bernice 
Pauahi  Bishop  Mus.,  Mem.,  2 : 1-194. 

*I7  BRINTON,   D.   G.     Essays  of  an  Americanist,  "The   Conception   of 
Love  in  Some  American  Languages,"  410-32. 

18  BRINTON,  D.  G.     "Native  American  Stringed  Musical  Instruments," 

Am.  Antiq.,  19:19,  20. 

180  BRINTON,  D.  G.    Ancient  Nahuatl  Poetry.     Philadelphia,  1899. 
*I9  BUCHER,  K.    Arbeit  und  Rhythmus.    Leipzig,  1902. 

[Valuable,  but  attaches  too  much  importance  to  the  origin  of  poetry  in  labor 

songs.] 

20  BUCKLAND,  A.  W.    "On  Tattooing,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  17:318-27. 

21  CAPUS,  G.    "La  musique  chez  les  Khirghizes  et  les  Sartes  de  1'Asie 
centrale,"  Rev.  d'ethnog.,  3:97-119. 

210  CARR,   L.     Dress   and   Ornaments   of   Certain   American   Indians. 
Worcester,  1897. 

22  CHAMBERLAIN,  B.  H.    "Basho  and  the  Japanese  Poetical  Epigram," 
Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  30:243-362. 

23  CHAMBERLAIN,  B.  H.     "On  the  Use  of  'Pillow  Words'  and  Plays 
upon  Words  in  Japanese  Poetry,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  5, 
Pt.  1:79-88. 

24  CULIN,  S.     "Chess  and  Playing-Cards,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Rep.  for 
1896:679-972. 

25  CULIN,  S.     "Chinese  Games  with  Dice  and  Dominoes,"  U.  S.  Nat. 
Mus.,  Rep.  for  1893 : 489-537. 

*26  CULIN,   S.     "Games   of   the   North   American   Indians,"   Bur.   Am. 
Ethn.,  Rep.,  24:3-809. 

27  CULIN,  S.    "American  Indian  Games,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  5:58-64. 
*28  CULIN,  S.  Korean  Games,  with  Notes  on  the  Corresponding  Games 

of  China  and  Japan.     Philadelphia,  1895. 

29  CULIN,  S.     "Hawaiian  Games,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.   S.,   1:201-47. 
*30  GUSHING,  F.  H.    "A  Study  of  Pueblo  Pottery  as  Illustrative  of  Zufii 
Culture-Growth,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  4:473-521. 


638  SOCIAL  ORIGINS  _ 

31  DALE,  W.  H.     "On   Masks,  Labrets,  and  Certain  Aboriginal   Cus- 
toms," Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  3:67-202. 

310  DAMES,  M.  L.    Popular  Poetry  of  the  Baloches.    L.,  1907.     (Folk- 
Lore  Society  Pub.,  59.) 

32  DENSMORE,  F.     "The   Music  of  the  Filipinos,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.   S., 
8:611-32. 

*33  DEWEY,  J.     "The  Theory  of  Emotion,"  Psych.  Rev.,   1:553-69;  2: 

13-32. 

[Best  papers  on  emotion.] 
*34  DIMITROFF,  Z.     Die  Geringschdtzung  des  menschlichen  Lebens,  und 

ihre  Ursache  bei  den  Naturvolkern.     Leipzig,  1891. 

35  DIXON,    R.    B.      "Basketry    Designs    of    the    Indians    of    Northern 
California,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Bui,  17:1-32 

36  DORSEY,   G.  A.     "An   Arikara  Story-Telling  Contest,"   Am.   Anth., 
N.  S.,  6:240-43. 

*37  DORSEY,  J.  O.     "Omaha  Sociology,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  3:334- 
55.     [Amusements.] 

38  DORSEY,  J.   O.     "Omaha  Clothing  and   Personal   Ornaments,"   Am. 
Anth.,  3:  71-78. 

39  DZIEDUSZYCKI,  A.     Das  Gemiit:    Einc  Erdrterung  der  Grundlagcn 
der  Aesthetik.    Wien,  1905. 

40  ELLIS  H.     "The   Psychology  of  Red,"  Pop.   Sci.  Monthly,  57:365- 
75;  517-26. 

41  EMERSON,  E.  R.    Masks,  Heads  and  Faces.    London,  1892. 

*42  EMMONS,    G.    T.      "The    Chilkat    Blanket,"    Am.    Mus.    Nat.    Hist., 

Mem.,  3:329-400. 

420  EMMONS,  G.  T.     "The  Basketry  of  the  Tlingit,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat. 
Hist.,  Mem.,  3:229-77. 

43  EPHRAIM,  H.     Ueber  die  Entwickelung  der   Webetechnik  and  ihre 
Verbreitung  ausserhalb  Europas.    Leipzig,  1905. 

44  FARRAND,  L.     "Basketry  Designs  of  the  Salish  Indians,"  Am.  Mus. 
Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  2:391-400. 

45  FERREE,  B.    "The  Element  of  Terror  in  Primitive  Art,"  Am.  Antiq., 
11:332-48. 

46  FEWKES,  J.   W.     "Archaeological   Expedition   to   Arizona   in    1895," 
Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  17:517-744. 

*47  FEWKES,  J.  W.     "The  Feather  Symbol  in  Ancient   Hopi  Designs," 
Am.  Anth.,  n  -.1-14. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  639 

*49  FILLMORE,  J.  C.     "The  Harmonic  Structure  of  Indian  Music,"  Am. 

Anth.,  N.  S.,  I  1297-318. 
*5o  FILLMORE,  J.  C.     "Primitive  Scales  and  Rhythms,"  Internal.  Cong. 

of  Anth.,  Mem.,  158-75. 
51  FISHER,    K.      Ueber   die   Entstehung   und   die   Entwicklungsformcn 

des  Witzes.     Heidelberg,  1871. 
*52  FITE,   W.     "Art,   Industry   and    Science :     A    Suggestion    toward   a 

Psychological  Definition  of  Art,"  Psych.  Rev.,  8 : 128-44. 
*53  FLETCHER,  ALICE  C.     Indian  Story  and  Song  from  North  America. 

Boston,  1900. 

54  FLETCHER,  A.  C.    "Indian  Songs  and  Music,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore, 
i i : 85-104. 

55  FLETCHER,  A.   C.     "Love  Songs  of  the  Omaha   Indians,"  Internal. 
Cong,  of  Anth.,  Mem.,  153-57. 

*56  FLETCHER,  A.  C.  "A  Study  of  Omaha  Indian  Music"  (with  a  report 
on  the  "Structural  Peculiarities  of  the  Music,"  by  J.  C.  Fillmore), 
Peabody  Mus.,  Arch,  and  Ethn.  Papers,  I,  No.  5  •  1-77. 

57  FOLNESICS,  J.     "Die  Anfange  des  Schmuckes,"  K.  K.   Oesterrcichi- 
sches  Mus.  fiir  Kunst  und  Industrie,  Mitth.,  N.  F.,  1 1 : 45-56. 

58  FOWKE,  G.    "Stone  Art,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  13:47-178. 

580  FOY,  W.    "Tanzobjekte  vom  Bismarck  Archipel,  Nissan  und  Buka," 
Dresden  K.  Ethnog.  Mus.,  Pub.,  13,  vii+4O  pp. 

59  FRIEDERICI,  G.    "Der  Tranengruss  der  Indianer,"  Globus,  89:30-34. 
*6o  FROBENIUS,  L.    "Die  bildende  Kunst  der  Afrikaner,"  Anth.  Gesellsch. 

in  Wicn,  Mitth.,  27 : 1-17. 

61  GARNIER,   H.   C,   AND  AMMAN,   A.     U habitation   humaine.     Paris, 
1892. 

62  GATSCHET,  A.  S.     "Songs  of  the  Modoc  Indians,"  Am.  Anth.,  7: 
26-31. 

63  GILMORE,  B.  J.     "Zuni   Melodies,"  Jour.  Am.  Ethn.  and  Arch.,   I : 
63-91. 

64  GOBLET  D'ALVIELLA,  E.     The  Migration  of  Symbols.     Westminster, 
1894- 

65  GOMME,  A.   B.  The   Traditional  Games  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland London,  1898. 

650  GOMME,  G.  L.     "Labour  Songs  and  Cries,"  The  Antiq.,  12:145-49. 

66  GREIFSWALD,  G.  J.     "Das   Beduinenleben   im  Lichte  der  Beduinen- 
poesie,"  Globus,  64:353-56;  375~78. 


640  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

67  GRINNELL,    G.    B.     "The    Lodges    of    the    Blackfoot,"   Am.    Anth., 
N.  S.,  3:650-68. 

68  GRINNELL,  G.   B.     "Notes  on  Some  Cheyenne   Songs,"  Am.  Anth, 
N.  S.,  5:312-22. 

*69  GROOS,  K.     The  Play  of  Animals.     (Tr.  by  E.  L.  Baldwin.)     New 

York,  1908. 
*/o  GROOS,  K.    The  Play  of  Man.     (Tr.  by  E.  L.  Baldwin.)  New  York, 

1901. 
*7i  GROSSE,  E.     The  Beginnings  of  Art.     (Translation.)     New  York, 

1897- 

[The  best  general  popular  description  of  primitive   art.] 

72  GROSSE,  E.     "Ethnologic  und  Aesthetik,"  Viertelsjahrssch.  fiir  wiss. 
P  kilos.,  15:392-417. 

73  HAAST,  J.  VON.     "Ancient  Rock  Paintings  in  New  Zealand,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  8:  50-61. 

74  HADDON,  A.  C.    "Decorative  Art  of  British  New  Guinea,"  Roy.  Irish 
Acad.,  Cunningham  Mem.,  No.  10. 

*75  HADDON,  A.  C.    Evolution  in  Art.    New  York,  1895. 
[The  best  work  on  decorative  art.] 

76  HADDON,   E.   B.     "The  Dog-Motive  in   Bornean  Art,"  Jour.   Anth. 
Inst.,  35:ii3-25- 

77  HADDON,  A.   C.     "The   Secular  and   Ceremonial  Dances  of  Torres 
Straits,"  Internal.  Archiv  f.  Ethnog.,  6:131-62. 

78  HADDON,  A.  C.    "Notes  on  Children's  Games  in  British  New  Guinea," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  38:289-97. 

79  HAGEN,  K.     Ueber  die  Musik  einiger  Naturvdlker  (Australier,  Me- 
lanesier,  Polynesier}.     Hamburg,  1892. 

80  HALES,  H.     "Prehistoric  New  Mexican  Pottery,"  Smithsonian  Inst., 
Rep.  for  1892:535-54. 

82  HAMILTON,  A.     The  Art  of  Workmanship  of  the  Maori  Race  of 
New  Zealand.     Dunedin,  1900. 

*&o  HAULLEVILLE,  A.  DE,  ET  COART.    "Les  beaux-arts  chez  les  Congolais," 

Ann.  du  Musee  du  Congo,  3  ser.,  1:5-136. 
*82&  HAULLEVILLE,  A.  DE,  ET  COART.    "La  ceramique  chez  les  Congolais," 

Ann.  du  Musee  du  Congo,  3  ser.,  2:1-194. 

83  HEARN,   L.     "Three   Popular    [Japanese]    Ballads,"   Asiat.   Soc.   of 
Japan,  Trans.,  22:285-336. 

*84  HEIN,  W.    "Die  Verwendung  der  Menschengestalt  in  Flechtwerken," 
Anth.  Gesellsch.  in  Wien,  Mitth.,  21:45-56. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  641 

*84o  HEIN,   A.    R.     Malerci  und   technische   Kiinste   bei   den   Dayaks. 

Vienna,  1889. 
*84&  HEIN,  A.  R.  Die  bildenden  Kiinste  bei  den  Dayaks  auf  Borneo. 

Vienna,  1890. 
*8$  HEIN,  W.  Zur  Entwickclungsgeschichte  des  Ornamentes  bei  den 

Dajaks.    Vienna,  1895. 

86  HENSHAW,   H.   W.     "Animal   Carvings    from   the   Mounds   of   the 
Mississippi  Valley,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  2:117-66. 

87  HERVEY,  D.  F.  A.     "Malay  Games,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  33:284-94. 

88  HILDEBRANDT,    P.     Das   Spielseug   im    Leben   des   Kindes.     Berlin, 
1904. 

*8g  HIRN,  Y.    Origins  of  Art,  a  Psychological  and  Sociological  Inquiry. 
London,  1900. 

[The   best    attempt   at   psychological   interpretation.] 
90  HODSON,  T.  C.     "The  'Genna'  amongst  the  Tribes  of  Assam,"  Jour. 

Anth.  Inst.,  36:92-103. 
*9i  HOFFMAN,  W.  J.     "The  Graphic  Art  of  the  Eskimos,"   U.  S.  Nat. 

Mus.,  Rep.  for  1895:739-968. 
*92  HOLDEN,   E.   S.     "Studies   in   Central   Am.    Picture   Writing,"   Bui: 

Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  i :  205-45. 
920  HOLMES,  H.     "Notes  on  the  Toys  and  Games  of  Elemt,   Papuan 

Gulf,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  38:280-88. 
93  HOLMES,   W.    H.     "Evolution   of   the   Aesthetic,"   Am.   Assoc.   for 

Adv.  of  Set.,  Prof.,  41 :  239-55. 
*94  HOLMES,   W.   H.     "On   the   Evolution   of   Ornament,"   Am.   Anth., 

3 : 137-46. 
*95  HOLMES,   W.    H.      "Studies    in    Aboriginal    Decorative    Art,"    Am. 

Anth.,  5:67-72;  149-52. 
*96  HOLMES,  W.  H.     "On  trie  Evolution  of  Ornament — An  American 

Lesson,"  Am.  Anth.,  3:137-46. 

*97  HOLMES,  W.  H.    "Ancient  Art  of  the  Province  of  Chiriqui,  Colom- 
bia," Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  6:3-187. 

*97«  HOLMES,    W.    H.      "Archaeological     Studies    among    the    Ancient 
Cities  of  Mexico,"  Field  Mus.  Pub.,  Anth.  Ser.,  1:1-338. 
[First  class  on   Mexican   architecture.] 

*o8  HOLMES,    W.    H.      "Pottery    of    the    Ancient    Pueblos,"    Bur.    Am. 

Ethn.,  Rep.,  4:257-360. 
*99  HOLMES,  W.  H.    "Ancient  Pottery  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  Bur. 

Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  4:361-436. 


642  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*ioo  HOLMES,  W.  H.    "Aboriginal  Pottery  of  the  Eastern  United  States," 

Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  20:1-201. 
*ioi  HOLMES,  W.  H.    "Prehistoric  Textile  Fabrics  of  the  United  States 

Derived  from  Impressions  on  Pottery,"  Bur.  Ant.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  3: 

393-425. 
*I02  HOLMES,   W.   H.     "The   Use  of   Textiles   in   Pottery   Making   and 

Embellishment,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  3:397-403. 
*I03  HOLMES,  W.  H.     "A  Study  of  the  Textile  Art  in  Its  Relation  to 

the  Development  of  Form  and  Ornament,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  6: 

189-252. 
*I04  HOLMES,  W.   H.     "Prehistoric  Textile  Art  of   the  Eastern  United 

States,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  13:3-46. 
*io5  HOLMES,  W.   H.     "Art  in  Shell  of  the  Ancient  Americans,"  Bur. 

Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  2:179-305. 

106  HOSE,  C,  AND  SHELFORD,  R.     "Materials   for  a  Study  of  Tatu  in 
Borneo,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  36:60-91. 

107  Howrrr,  A.  W.     "Notes  on  Songs  and  Songmakers  of  Some  Aus- 
tralian Tribes,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:327-35. 

108  IHERING,  H.  VON.     ''Die  kunstliche  Deformirung  der  Zahne,"  Zcits. 
f.  Ethn.,  14:213-62. 

log  JAYNE,  C.    String-Figures.     New  York,  1906. 

1090  KANDT,  R.     "Gewerbe  in  Ruanda,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  36:329-72. 

no  KARUTZ,   DR.     "Zur  westafrikanischen   Maskenkunde,"   Globus,  79: 

361-68. 

in  KOCH-GRUNBERG,  T.    Anfange  der  Kunst  im  Urwald.     Berlin,  1906. 
ma  KOCH-GRUNBERG,   T.      Sudamerikanische   Felsscichnungen.      Berlin, 

1907. 

112  KRAMER,  A.    "Die  Ornamentik  der  Kleidmatten  und  der  Tatamerung 
auf  den  Marshallinseln  ....,"  Archiv  f.  Anth.,  30:1-28. 

113  KRAEPLIN,  E.     "Zur  Psychologic  des  Komischens,"   Wundt's  Psych. 
Studien,  2:128-61;  327-62. 

*H4  KROEBER,   A.    L.     "Decorative    Symbolism    of    the    Arapaho,"    Am. 
Anth.,  N.  S.,  3:308-36. 

115  KROEBER,  A.  L.     "Basket  Designs  of  the  Indians  of  Northwestern 
California,"  Univ.  of  Col.  Pub.  in  Aw*.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  2 : 105-64. 

116  KUSKE,  B.     "Der  Stand  der   Ornamentikfrage,"  Globus,  82:149-55. 

117  LASCH,  R.     "Der  Selbstmord  aus  erotischen  Motiven  bei  den  primi- 
tiven  Volkern,"  Zeits.  f.  Socialwissenschaft,  2:  578-85. 


ART,  ORNAMENT,  AND  DECORATION  627 

to  some  of  the  symbolic  dances  representing  hunting  or  fishing 
or  the  movements  of  game-animals,  much  may  be  said  in  favour 
of  Mr.  Farrer's  view  that  the  object  of  the  pantomime  is  to 
make  clearer  to  the  deity  a  prayer  regarding  the  things  imitated. 
Similarly  it  is  open  to  doubt  whether  the  dramatic  performances 
at  initiation  ceremonies,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  kangaroo  dance 
described  by  Collins,  are  meant  to  impart  instruction  concerning 
the  customs  of  the  animals  to  the  novitiates,  or  to  confer  upon 
them  a  magic  power  over  the  game.  In  the  therapeutic  practices 
of  primitive  tribes  we  may  find  still  more  puzzling  points  of 
controversy.  The  sucking  cure,  for  instance,  by  which  the  medi- 
cine-man pretends  to  extract  from  the  patient  the  cause  of  his 
illness  in  the  form  of  some  small  object — a  pebble,  a  tuft  of  hair, 
or  the  like — may  be,  as  Professor  Tylor  thinks,  a  mere  "knavish 
trick."  But  it  is  also  possible,  we  believe,  that,  at  least,  originally, 
it  may  have  been  performed  as  a  bona  fide  magic,  based  upon 
the  notion  of  the  efficacy  of  vehicles  and  symbolic  action.  The 
method  of  restoring  sick  people  and  sick  cattle  to  health  by  pull- 
ing them  through  a  narrow  opening,  for  instance,  in  a  tree, 
which  has  been  explained  by  most  authors  as  a  case  of  magical 
transference  by  contact — i.  e.  transference  of  the  disease  from  the 
patient  and  of  the  vital  power  represented  by  the  tree  to  him — 
ought,  according  to  the  brilliant  hypothesis  of  Professor  Nyrop, 
to  be  considered  as  a  magically  symbolic  representation  of  re- 
generation. 

While  leaving  undecided  all  these  subtile  questions,  each  of 
which  would  require  a  chapter  of  its  own  in  order  to  be  definitely 
treated,  we  have  only  to  maintain  the  great  probability  which 
stands  on  the  side  of  the  dramatic  interpretation.  However  fan- 
tastic the  belief  in  a  magical  connection  between  similar  things 
may  appear  at  the  outset,  a  continued  ethnological  study  must 
needs  convince  every  one  of  its  incalculable  importance  in  the 
life  of  primitive  man.  And  such  a  conviction  can  only  become 
confirmed  by  an  examination  of  the  influence  which  this  supersti- 
tion has  exercised  on  the  formative  arts. 

The  belief  in  picture  magic  is  evinced  by  its  negative  as  well 
as  by  its  positive  results.  All  over  the  world  we  meet  with  the 
fear  of  being  depicted.  In  so  far  as  this  superstition  has  given 


644  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

132  MATHEWS,  R.   H.     "Australian  Ground  and  Tree  Drawings,"  Am. 
Anth.,  9:33-49. 

133  MATHEWS,  R.  H.     "The  Rock  Paintings  and  Carvings  of  the  Aus- 
tralian Aborigines,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  25:145-63;  27:532-41. 

*I34  MATTHEWS,  W.     "The  Earth  Lodge  in  Art,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  4: 

I-I2. 

135  MATTHEWS,  W.     "Navajo  Gambling  Songs,"  Am.  Anth.,  2:19. 

136  MATTHEWS,  W.     "Navajo  Silversmiths,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  2: 
167-78. 

137  MATTHEWS,    W.      "Navajo    Weavers,"    Bur.   Am.   Ethn.,   Rep.,   3 : 
37I-9I- 

1370  MEYER,  A.  B.    "Masken  von  Neu  Guinea  und  dem  Bismarck  Archi- 

pel,"  Dresden  K.  Ethnog.  Mus.,  Pub.,  7:1-14. 

I37&  MEYER,  A.  B.,  UND  PARKINSON,  R.  "Schnitzereien  und  Masken 
vom  Bismarck  Archipel  und  Neu  Guinea,"  Dresden  K.  Ethnog. 
Mus.,  Pub.,  10:1-28. 

137^  MEYER,  A.  B.,  UND  RICHTER,  O.  "Ornamentik  von  Celebes,"  Dres- 
den K.  Ethnog.  Mus.,  Pub.,  14 : 1-140. 

*I37</  MYERS,  C.  S.     "The  Ethnological  Study  of  Music,"  in  Anthropo- 
logical Essays  Presented  to  E.  B.  Tylor,  235-53. 
*I38  MINDELEFF,  C.     "Navaho  Houses,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  17:475- 

Si7. 
139  MINDELEFF,    C.      "Aboriginal    Architecture    in    the    United    States," 

Jour.  Am.  Geog.  Soc.,  30:  414-27. 
*I4O  MINDELEFF,   V.     "A    Study   of    Pueblo    Architecture,    Tusayan    and 

Cibola,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  8:13-228. 

*I4I  MORGAN,  L.    H.     The  League   of  the  Iroquois,  "Dances — Games," 
249-304. 

142  NORDENSKIOLD,  G.     The  Cliff-Dwellers  of  the  Mesa   Verde,  South- 
westcrr   Colorado:   Their  Pottery  and  Implements.     (Tr.  by  D.  L. 
Morgan.)     Chicago,  1893. 

1420  PLEYTE,   C.    M.     Indonesian  AM:    Selected   Specimens The 

Hague,  1901  ff. 

143  POWELL,  J.  W.     "Esthetology,  or  the  Science  of  Activities  Designed 
to  Give   Pleasure,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  I9:lv-xcii;   Am.  Anth., 
N.  S.,  i :  1-40. 

144  POWELL,  J.  W.    "Stone  Art  in  America,"  Am.  Anth.,  8:1-7. 

145  PREUSS,  K.  T.     "Phallische  Fruchtbarkeitsdamonen  als  Trager  des 
mexikanischen  Dramas,"  Arch.  f.  Anth.,  N.  F.,  29:129-38. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  645 

*i46  PREUSS,  K.  T.  "Der  Ursprung  der  Religion  und  Kunst,"  Globus, 
85:321-25;  86:321-27;  355-63;  388-92;  87:333-37;  347-50;  380-84; 
394-400;  413-19- 

147  PUTNAM,  F.  W.  "Conventionalism  in  Ancient  American  Art," 
Essex  Inst.,  Bui.,  1886. 

*I48  RATZEL,  F.  History  of  Mankind,  "Dress,  Weapons  and  Imple- 
ments of  the  Polynesians  and  Micronesians,"  1:195-214;  "Dress, 
Weapons,  and  Other  Property  of  the  Malays,"  1:405-36. 

149  REED,  V.  Z.    "The  Ute  Bear  Dance,"  Am.  Anth.,  9:237-44. 

150  REGNAULT,    F.      "Essai    sur    les    debuts    de    1'art    ornamental    geo- 
metrique  chez  les  peuples  primitifs,"  Soc.  d'Anth.  de  Paris,  Bui.,  4 
Sen,  7:532-49. 

*I5I  REINACH,  S.  "La  sculpture  en  Europe  avant  les  influences  greco- 
romaines,"  L'anthropologie,  5:15-34;  173-86;  288-305;  6:8-39; 
293-311;  549-63;  662-74;  7:168-94- 

152  RINK,  H.,  AND  BOAS,  F.     "Eskimo  Tales  and   Songs,"  Jour1.  Am. 
Folk-Lore,  2 : 123-31. 

153  RIVIERE,  E.    "The  Engraved  Pictures  of  the  Grotto  of  La  Mouthe, 
Dordogne,  France,"   Smithsonian  Inst.,  Rep.   for    1901 1439-49. 

155  ROTH,  H.  L.    "Maori  Tatu  and  Moko,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  31:29-64. 

[This  and   156  are  good  papers  on  tattooing.] 

156  ROTH,   H.   L.     "Tatu   in   the   Society   Islands,"   Jour.   Anth.   Inst., 
35:283-94. 

157  ROTH,    H.   L.     "Mocassins   and   Their    Quill   Work,"   Jour.   Anth. 
Inst.,  38:47-57. 

*i57a  ROTH,  W.  E.  Ethnological  Studies  among  the  N.  W.  C.  Queens- 
land Aborigines,  108-31.  [Ornament,  games,  etc.] 

*i57&  ROTH,  W.  E.  "Domestic  Implements,  Arts  and  Manufactures," 
North  Queensland  Ethnology,  Bui.  7. 

158  SATOW,  E.    "The  Korean  Potters  in  Satsuma,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan, 
Trans.,  6,  Pt.  2:193-203. 

159  SCHELLONG,  O.     "Musik  und  Tanz  der  Papuas,"  Globus,  56:81-87. 

*i59a  SCHMIDT,  M.  "Ableitung  siidamerikanischer  Geflechtmuster  aus 
der  Technik  des  Flechtens,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  36:400-512. 

[Schmidt's  book,  Indianer-Studien  in  Zentralbrasilien,  contains  valuable 
materials  on  textiles  and  suggestions  on  the  theory  of  ornament.] 

160  SHUFELDT,  R.  W.    "A  Navajo  Artist  and  His  Notions  of  Mechani- 
cal Drawing,"  Smithsonian  Inst.,  Rep.   for  1886:240-44. 


646  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

161  SCHURTZ,  H.    Die  Philosophic  der  Tracht.     Cotta,  1891. 

162  SCHURTZ,    H.     "Zur    Ornamentik    der    Aino,"    Internal.   Archlv   f. 
Ethnog.,  9:233-51. 

1620  SCHWEINFURTH,  G.     Artes  Africanae.     London,  1875. 

163  SIM  MEL,     G.      "Psychologische     und     ethnologische     Studien     iiber 
Musik,"  Zeits.  f.  Volkerpsych.  und  Sprachwissenschaft,  13:261-305. 

164  SINCLAIR,    A.    T.     "Tattooing — Oriental    and    Gypsy,"    Am.    Anth., 
N.  S.,  10:361-86. 

*i65  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.  Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "Deco- 
rative Art,"  i :  395-493 ;  "Habitations,"  i :  168-99 ',  "Dress,"  i :  137- 
67;  "Music,  Songs,  and  Feasts,"  2:117-72. 

166  SPENCER,  H.     Psychology,  "The  Aesthetic  Sentiments,"  2:627-48. 

*i67  SPENCER  AND  GILLEN.  The  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia, 
"Clothing,  Weapons,  Implements,  Decorative  Art,"  567-636. 

*i68  SPENCER  AND  GILLEN.  The  Northern  Tribes  of  Central  Australia, 
"Welcoming  Dance,"  569-79 ;  "Clothing  and  Ornament,"  683-95 ; 
"Decorative  Art,"  696-744. 

*i68o  STEINEN,  K.  v.  D.  "Prahistorische  Zeichen  und  Ornamente,"  Fest- 
schrift fur  Adolph  Bastion,  249-88. 

*i68&  STEPHAN,  E.  Siidseekunst,  Beitrage  sur  Kunst  des  Bismarck- 
Archipels  und  sur  Vrgeschichte  der  Kunst  uberhaupt.  Berlin,  1907. 

*i69  STEVENSON,  M.  C.     "Zuni  Games,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  5:478-97. 

*i69o  STOKES,  J.  F.  G.     "Hawaiian  Nets  and  Netting,"  Bernice  Pauahi 

Bishop  Mus.,  Mem.,  2 : 105-62. 
*I7O  STOLPE,  H.     "EntwickeRingserscheinungen   in   der   Ornamentik   der 

Naturvolker,"  Anth.  Gesellsch.  in  Wien,  Mitth.,  22:19-62. 

171  STRATZ,  C.  H.     Die  Frauenkleidung  und  ihre  natiirliche  Entwicke- 
lung.    Stuttgart,  1904. 

172  THURM,  E.   F.   IM.     "Games  of   the  Red-Man   of   Guiana,"   Folk- 
Lore,  12:  132-61. 

*I73  TYLOR,  E.  B.     "On  the  Geographical  Distribution  of  Games,"  Jour. 

Anth.  Inst.j  9:23-29. 
*i74  VEBLEN,  T.    "The  Instinct  of  Workmanship  and  the  Irksomeness  of 

Labor,"  Am.  Jour.  Sociol.,  4:187-201. 

*I75  WALLASCHEK,  R.     Primitive  Music.     London,  1893. 

[The  best  book  on  the  subject.] 

*I76  WESTERMARCK,  E.  "The  Magic  Origin  of  Moorish  Designs,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  34:211-22. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  647 

*i76a  WILKE,   A.    G.     "Zur   Enstehung   der    Spiraldekoration,"   Zeits.   f. 

Ethn.,  38 : 1-33. 
*I77  WILSON,  T.     "Prehistoric  Art,"   U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Rep.  for   1896: 

349-664. 

[Valuable.     Numerous  illustrations.] 

*i78  WISSLER,   C.     "Decorative  Art   of  the   Sioux   Indians,"   Am.  Mus. 
Nat.  Hist.,  Bui.,  18,  Pt.  3:231-78. 

179  WITTE,  F.,   UND   SCHMIDT,  W.     "Lieder   und   Gesange   der   Ewhe- 
Neger,  Ge-Dialekt,"  Anthropos,  1:194-209. 

180  WOERMANN,   K.     Geschichte   der  Kunst  oiler  Zeiten   und   Volker. 
Leipzig,  1900. 

181  WOODRUFF,  C.  E.     "Dances  of  the  Hupa  Indians,"  Am.  Anth.,  5 : 
S3-6i. 

*i82  WUNDT,  W.     Volkerpsychologie,  "Die  Phantasie  in  der  Kunst,"  2: 

Pt.  i,  87-526. 

183  WRAY,  L.    "The  Malayan  Pottery  of  Perak,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  33: 
24-35- 


PART  VI 
MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH 

SYMPATHETIC  MAGIC 

A  savage  hardly  conceives  the  distinction  commonly  drawn 
by  more  advanced  peoples  between  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural. To  him  the  world  is  to  a  great  extent  worked  by  super- 
natural agents,  that  is,  by  personal  beings  acting  on  impulses  and 
motives  like  his  own,  liable  like  him  to  be  moved  by  appeals  to 
their  pity,  their  hopes,  and  their  fears.  In  a  world  so  con- 
ceived he  sees  no  limit  to  his  power  of  influencing  the  course  of 
nature  to  his  own  advantage.  Prayers,  promises,  or  threats  may 
secure  him  fine  weather  and  an  abundant  crop  from  the  gods ; 
and  if  a  god  should  happen,  as  he  sometimes  believes,  to  become 
incarnate  in  his  own  person,  then  he  need  appeal  to  no  higher 
being;  he,  the  savage,  possesses  in  himself  all  the  powers  neces- 
sary to  further  his  own  well-being  and  that  of  his  fellow-men. 

This  is  one  way  in  which  the  idea  of  a  man-god  is  reached. 
But  there  is  another.  Side  by  side  with  the  view  of  the  world 
as  pervaded  by  spiritual  forces,  primitive  man  has  another  con- 
ception in  which  we  may  detect  a  germ  of  the  modern  notion 
of  natural  law  or  the  view  of  nature  as  a  series  of  events  occur- 
ring in  an  invariable  order  without  the  intervention  of  personal 
agency.  The  germ  of  which  I  speak  is  involved  in  that  sympa- 
thetic magic,  as  it  may  be  called,  which  plays  a  large  part  in 
most  systems  of  superstition. 

Manifold  as  are  the  applications  of  this  crude  philosophy — for 
a  philosophy  it  is  as  well  as  an  art — the  fundamental  principles 
on  which  it  is  based  would  seem  to  be  reducible  to  two ;  first,  that 
like  produces  like,  or  that  an  effect  resembles  its  cause;  and 
second,  that  things  which  have  once  been  in  contact,  but  have 
ceased  to  be  so,  continue  to  act  on  each  other  as  if  the  contact 
still  persisted.  From  the  first  of  these  principles  the  savage 
infers  that  he  can  produce  any  desired  effect  merely  by  imitating 
it ;  from  the  second  he  concludes  that  he  can  influence  at  pleasure 
and  at  any  distance  any  person  of  whom,  or  any  thing  of  which, 
he  possesses  a  particle.  Magic  of  the  latter  sort,  resting  as  it 

651 


652  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

does  on  the  belief  in  a  certain  secret  sympathy  which  unites 
indissolubly  things  that  have  once  been  connected  with  each  other, 
may  appropriately  be  termed  sympathetic  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
term.  Magic  of  the  former  kind,  in  which  the  supposed  cause 
resembles  or  simulates  the  supposed  effect,  may  conveniently  be 
described  as  imitative  or  mimetic.  But  inasmuch  as  the  efficacy 
even  of  imitative  magic  must  be  supposed  to  depend  on  a  certain 
physical  influence  or  sympathy  linking  the  imaginary  cause  or 
subject  to  the  imaginary  effect  or  object,  it  seems  desirable  to 
retain  the  name  sympathetic  magic  as  a  general  designation  to 
include  both  branches  of  the  art.  In  practice  the  two  are  often 
conjoined;  or,  to  speak  more  exactly,  while  imitative  magic  may 
be  practised  by  itself,  sympathetic  magic  in  the  strict  sense  will 
generally  be  found  to  involve  an  application  of  the  mimetic 
principle.  This  will  be  more  readily  understood  from  the  ex- 
amples with  which  I  will  now  illustrate  both  branches  of  the 
subject,  beginning  with  the  imitative. 

Perhaps  the  most  familiar  application  of  the  principle  that 
like  produces  like  is  the  attempt  which  has  been  made  by  many 
peoples  in  many  ages  to  injure  or  destroy  an  enemy  by  injuring 
or  destroying  an  image  of  him,  in  the  belief  that,  just  as  the 
image  suffers,  so  does  the  man,  and  that  when  it  perishes  he  must 
die.  A  few  instances  out  of  many  may  be  given  to  prove  at 
once  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  practice  over  the  world  and  its 
remarkable  persistence  through  the  ages.  For  thousands  of  years 
ago  it  was  known  to  the  sorcerers  of  ancient  India,  Babylon,  and 
Egypt  as  well  as  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  at  this  day  it  is  still 
resorted  to  by  cunning  and  malignant  savages  in  Australia,  Africa, 
and  Scotland.  Thus,  for  example,  when  an  Ojebway  Indian 
desires  to  work  evil  on  any  one,  he  makes  a  little  wooden  image 
of  his  enemy  and  runs  a  needle  into  its  head  or  heart,  or  he  shoots 
an  arrow  into  it,  believing  that  wherever  the  needle  pierces  or 
the  arrow  strikes  the  image,  his  foe  will  the  same  instant  be 
seized  with  a  sharp  pain  in  the  corresponding  part  of  his  body; 
but  if  he  intends  to  kill  the  person  outright,  he  burns  or  buries 
the  puppet,  uttering  certain  magic  words  as  he  does  so. 

A  Malay  charm  of  the  same  sort  is  as  follows.  Take  parings 
of  nails,  hair,  eyebrows,  spittle,  and  so  forth  of  your  intended 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  653 

victim,  enough  to  represent  every  part  of  his  person,  and  then 
make  them  up  into  his  likeness  with  wax  from  a  deserted  bees' 
comb.  Scorch  the  figure  slowly  by  holding  it  over  a  lamp  every 
night  for  seven  nights,  and  say: 

"It  is  not  wax  that  I  am  scorching, 
It  is  the  liver,  heart,  and  spleen  of  So-and-so  that  I  scorch." 

After  the  seventh  time  burn  the  figure,  and  your  victim  will  die. 
Another  form  of  the  Malay  charm,  which  resembles  the  Ojebway 
practice  still  more  closely,  is  to  make  a  corpse  of  wax  from  an 
empty  bees'  comb  and  of  the  length  of  a  footstep :  then  pierce 
the  eye  of  the  image,  and  your  enemy  is  blind ;  pierce  the  stomach, 
and  he  is  sick;  pierce  the  head,  and  his  head  aches;  pierce  the 
breast,  and  his  breast  will  suffer.  If  you  would  kill  him  outright, 
transfix  the  image  from  the  head  downwards;  enshroud  it  as 
you  would  a  corpse;  pray  over  it  as  if  you  were  praying  over 
the  dead ;  then  bury  it  in  the  middle  of  a  path  where  your  victim 
will  be  sure  to  step  over  it.  In  order  that  his  blood  may  not 
be  on  your  head,  you  should  say : 

"It  is  not  I  who  am  burying  him, 
It  is  Gabriel  who  is  burying  him." 

Thus  the  guilt  of  the  murder  will  be  laid  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  archangel  Gabriel,  who  is  a  great  deal  better  able  to  bear  it 
than  you  are.  In  eastern  Java  an  enemy  may  be  killed  by  means 
of  a  likeness  of  him  drawn  on  a  piece  of  paper,  which  is  then 
incensed  or  buried  in  the  ground. 

Among  the  Minangkabauers  of  Sumatra  a  man  who  is  tor- 
mented by  the  passion  of  hate  or  of  unrequited  love  will  call  in 
the  help  of  a  wizard  in  order  to  cause  the  object  of  his  hate  or 
love  to  suffer  from  a  dangerous  ulcer  known  as  a  tinggam.  After 
giving  the  wizard  the  necessary  instructions  as  to  the  name,  bodily 
form,  dwelling,  and  family  of  the  person  in  question,  he  makes 
a  puppet  which  is  supposed  to  resemble  his  intended  victim,  and 
repairs  with  it  to  a  wood,  where  he  hangs  the  image  on  a  tree 
that  stands  quite  by  itself.  Muttering  a  spell,  he  then  drives  an 
instrument  through  the  navel  of  the  puppet  into  the  tree,  till  the 
sap  of  the  tree  oozes  through  the  hole  thus  made.  The  instru- 
ment which  inflicts  the  wound  bears  the  same  name  (tinggam)  as 
the  ulcer  which  is  to  be  raised  on  the  body  of  the  victim,  and  the 


654  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

oozing  sap  is  believed  to  be  his  or  her  life-spirit.  Soon  afterwards 
the  person  against  whom  the  charm  is  directed  begins  to  suffer 
from  an  ulcer,  which  grows  worse  and  worse  till  he  dies,  unless 
a  friend  can  procure  a  piece  of  the  wood  of  the  tree  to  which  the 
image  is  attached.  The  sorcerers  of  Mabuiag  or  Jervis  Island,  in 
Torres  Straits,  kept  an  assortment  of  effigies  in  stock  ready  to 
be  operated  on  at  the  requirement  of  a  customer.  Some  of  the 
figures  were  of  stone ;  these  were  employed  when  short  work 
was  to  be  made  of  a  man  or  woman.  Others  were  wooden ;  these 
gave  the  unhappy  victim  a  little  more  rope,  only,  however,  to 
terminate  his  prolonged  sufferings  by  a  painful  death.  The  mode 
of  operation  in  the  latter  case  was  to  put  poison,  by  means  of  a 
magical  implement,  into  a  wooden  image,  to  which  the  name  of 
the  intended  victim  had  been  given.  Next  day  the  person  aimed 
at  would  feel  chilly,  then  waste  away  and  die,  unless  the  same 
wizard  who  had  wrought  the  charm  would  consent  to  undo  it. 
When  some  of  the  aborigines  of  Victoria  desired  to  destroy  an 
enemy,  they  would  occasionally  retire  to  a  lonely  spot,  and  draw- 
ing on  the  ground  a  rude  likeness  of  the  victim  would  sit  round 
it  and  devote  him  to  destruction  with  cabalistic  ceremonies.  So 
dreaded  was  this  incantation  that  men  and  women,  who  learned 
that  it  had  been  directed  against  them,  have  been  known  to  pine 
away  and  die  of  fright.  When  the  wife  of  a  Central  Australian 
native  has  eloped  from  him  and  he  cannot  recover  her,  the  dis- 
consolate husband  repairs  with  some  sympathising  friends  to  a 
secluded  spot,  where  a  man  skilled  in  magic  draws  on  the  ground 
a  rough  figure  supposed  to  represent  the  woman  lying  on  her 
back.  Beside  the  figure  is  laid  a  piece  of  green  bark,  which  stands 
for  her  spirit  or  soul,  and  at  it  the  men  throw  miniature  spears 
which  have  been  made  for  the  purpose  and  charmed  by  singing 
over  them.  This  barken  effigy  of  the  woman's  spirit,  with  the 
little  spears  sticking  in  it,  is  then  thrown  as  far  as  possible  in  the 
direction  which  she  is  supposed  to  have  taken.  During  the  whole 
of  the  operation  the  men  chant  in  a  low  voice,  the  burden  of  their 
song  being  an  invitation  to  the  magic  influence  to  go  out  and 
enter  her  body  and  dry  up  all  her  fat.  Sooner  or  later — often 
a  good  deal  later — her  fat  does  dry  up,  she  dies,  and  her  spirit 
is  seen  in  the  sky  in  the  form  of  a  shooting  star. 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  655 

In  Burma  a  rejected  lover  sometimes  resorts  to  a  sorcerer  and 
engages  him  to  make  a  small  image  of  the  scornful  fair  one, 
containing  a  piece  of  her  clothes,  or  of  something  which  she  has 
been  in  the  habit  of  wearing.  Certain  charms  or  medicines  also 
enter  into  the  composition  of  the  doll,  which  is  then  hung  up  or 
thrown  into  the  water.  As  a  consequence  the  girl  is  supposed 
to  go  mad.  In  this  last  example,  as  in  the  first  of  the  Malay 
charms  noticed  above,  imitative  magic  is  combined  with  sympa- 
thetic in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  since  the  likeness  of  the 
victim  contains  something  which  has  been  in  contact  with  her 
person.  A  Matabele  who  wishes  to  avenge  himself  on  an  enemy 
makes  a  clay  figure  of  him  and  pierces  it  with  a  needle;  next 
time  the  man  thus  represented  happens  to  engage  in  a  fight  he 
will  be  speared,  just  as  his  effigy  was  stabbed 

Further,  imitative  magic  plays  a  great  part  in  the  measures 
taken  by  the  rude  hunter  or  fisherman  to  secure  an  abundant 
supply  of  food.  On  the  principle  that  like  produces  like,  many 
things  are  done  by  him  and  his  friends  in  deliberate  imitation 
of  the  result  which  he  seeks  to  attain;  anc},  on  the  other  hand, 
many  things  are  scrupulously  avoided  because  they  bear  some 
more  or  less  fanciful  resemblance  to  others  which  would  really 
be  disastrous.  The  Indians  of  British  Columbia  live  largely  upon 
the  fish  which  abound  in  their  seas  and  rivers.  If  the  fish  do 
not  come  in  due  season,  and  the  Indians  are  hungry,  a  Nootka 
wizard  will  make  an  image  of  a  swimming  fish  and  put  it  into 
the  water  in  the  direction  from  which  the  fish  generally  appear. 
This  ceremony,  accompanied  by  a  prayer  to  the  fish  to  come,  will 
cause  them  to  arrive  at  once.  Much  more  elaborate  are  the 
ceremonies  performed  by  the  natives  of  Central  Australia  for 
multiplying  the  witchetty  grubs  on  which  they  partially  subsist. 
One  of  these  ceremonies  consists  of  a  pantomime  representing 
the  fully-developed  insect  in  the  act  of  emerging  from  the  chry- 
salis. A  long  narrow  structure  of  branches  is  set  up  to  imitate 
the  chrysalis  case  of  the  grub.  In  this  structure  a  number  of  men, 
who  have  the  grub  for  their  totem,  sit  and  sing  of  the  creature  in 
its  various  stages.  Then  they  shuffle  out  of  it  in  a  squatting  pos- 
ture, and  as  they  do  so  they  sing  of  the  insect  emerging  from  the 
chrysalis.  This  is  supposed  to  multiply  the  numbers  of  the  grubs. 


656  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

In  the  island  of  Nias,  when  a  wild  pig  has  fallen  into  the  pit 
prepared  for  it,  the  animal  is  taken  out  and  its  back  is  rubbed 
with  nine  fallen  leaves,  in  the  belief  that  this  will  make  nine 
more  wild  pigs  fall  into  the  pit,  just  as  the  nine  leaves  fell  from 
the  tree.  In  the  East  Indian  islands  of  Saparoea,  Haroekoe,  and 
Noessa  Laut,  when  a  fisherman  is  about  to  set  a  trap  for  fish  in 
the  sea,  he  looks  out  for  a  tree,  of  which  the  fruit  has  been  much 
pecked  at  by  birds.  From  such  a  tree  he  cuts  a  stout  branch  and 
makes  of  it  the  principal  post  in  his  fish-trap;  for  he  believes 
that  just  as  the  tree  lured  many  birds  to  its  fruit,  so  the  branch 
cut  from  that  tree  will  lure  many  fish  to  the  trap.  When  a 
Cambodian  hunter  has  set  his  nets  and  taken  nothing,  he 
strips  himself  naked,  goes  some  way  off,  then  strolls  up  to  the 
net  as  if  he  did  not  see  it,  lets  himself  be  caught  in  it,  and  cries, 
"Hillo !  what's  this  ?  I'm  afraid  I'm  caught."  After  that  the  net 
is  sure  to  catch  game.  A  pantomime  of  the  same  sort  has  been 
acted  within  living  memory  in  our  Scottish  Highlands.  The  Rev. 
James  Macdonald,  now  of  Reay  in  Caithness,  tells  us  that  in  his 
boyhood  when  he  was  fishing  with  companions  about  Loch 
Aline  and  they  had  had  no  bites  for  a  long  time,  they  used  to 
make  a  pretence  of  throwing  one  of  their  fellows  overboard  and 
hauling  him  out  of  the  water,  as  if  he  were  a  fish;  after  that  the 
trout  or  silloch  would  begin  to  nibble,  according  as  the  boat  was 
on  fresh  or  salt  water.  Before  a  Carrier  Indian  goes  out  to  snare 
martens,  he  sleeps  by  himself  for  about  ten  nights  beside  the  fire 
with  a  little  stick  pressed  down  on  his  neck.  This  naturally 
causes  the  fall-stick  of  his  trap  to  drop  down  on  the  neck  of  the 
marten.  When  an  Aleut  had  struck  a  whale  with  a  charmed 
spear,  he  would  not  throw  again,  but  returned  at  once  to  his 
home,  separated  himself  from  his  people  in  a  hut  specially  con- 
structed for  the  purpose,  where  he  stayed  for  three  days  without 
food  or  drink,  and  without  seeing  or  touching  a  woman.  During 
this  time  of  seclusion  he  snorted  occasionally  in  imitation  of  the 
wounded  and  dying  whale,  in  order  to  prevent  the  whale  which 
he  had  struck  from  leaving  the  coast.  On  the  fourth  day  he 
emerged  from  his  seclusion  and  bathed  in  the  sea,  shrieking  in  a 
hoarse  voice  and  beating  the  water  with  his  hands.  Then,  taking 
with  him  a  companion,  he  repaired  to  that  part  of  the  shore 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  657 

where  he  expected  to  find  the  whale  stranded.  If  the  beast  was 
dead,  he  cut  out  the  place  where  the  death-wound  had  been  in- 
flicted. If  it  was  not  dead,  he  returned  to  his  home  and  continued 
washing  himself  till  the  whale  died.  On  the  principles  of  imitative 
magic  the  hunter  who  mimics  a  dying  whale  clearly  helps  the 
beast  to  die  in  good  earnest.  Among  the  Galelareese,  who  inhabit 
a  district  in  the  northern  part  of  Halmahera,  a  large  island  to 
the  west  of  New  Guinea,  it  is  a  maxim  that  when  you  are  loading 
your  gun  to  go  out  shooting,  you  should  always  put  the  bullet 
in  your  mouth  before  you  insert  it  in  the  gun;  for  by  so  doing 
you  practically  eat  the  game  that  is  to  be  hit  by  the  bullet,  which 
therefore  cannot  possibly  miss  the  mark.  A  Malay  who  has 
baited  a  trap  for  crocodiles,  and  is  awaiting  results,  is  careful  in 
eating  his  curry  always  to  begin  by  swallowing  three  lumps  of 
rice  successively ;  for  this  helps  the  bait  to  slide  more  easily  down 
the  crocodile's  throat.  He  is  equally  scrupulous  not  to  take  any 
bones  out  of  his  curry;  for,  if  he  did,  it  seems  clear  that  the 
sharp-pointed  stick  on  which  the  bait  is  skewered  would  similarly 
work  itself  loose,  and  the  crocodile  would  get  off  with  the  bait. 
Hence  in  these  circumstances  it  is  prudent  for  the  hunter,  before 
he  begins  his  meal,  to  get  somebody  else  to  take  the  bones  out 
of  his  curry,  otherwise  he  may  at  any  moment  have  to  choose 

between  swallowing  a  bone  and  losing  the  crocodile 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  belief  in  a  mysterious  bond  of 
sympathy  which  knits  together  absent  friends  and  relations, 
especially  at  critical  times  of  life,  is  not  a  thing  of  yesterday; 
it  has  been  cherished  from  time  immemorial  by  the  savage,  who 
carries  out  the  principle  to  its  legitimate  consequences  by  framing 
for  himself  and  his  friends  a  code  of  rules  which  are  to  be  strictly 
observed  by  them  for  their  mutual  safety  and  welfare  in  seasons 
of  danger,  anxiety,  and  distress.  In  particular,  these  rules  regu- 
late the  conduct  of  the  persons  left  at  home  while  a  party  of  their 
friends  is  out  fishing  or  hunting  or  on  the  war-path.  Though 
we  may  not  be  able  in  every  case  to  explain  the  curious  observ- 
ances thence  arising,  all  of  them  clearly  assume  that  people  can 
act  by  means  of  sympathetic  magic  on  friends  at  a  distance,  and 
in  many  of  them  the  action  takes  the  form  of  doing  or  avoiding 
things  on  account  of  their  supposed  resemblance  to  other  things 


658  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

which  would  really  benefit  or  injure  the  absent  ones.  Examples 
will  illustrate  this. 

In  Laos  when  an  elephant-hunter  is  starting  for  the  chase, 
he  warns  his  wife  not  to  cut  her  hair  or  oil  her  body  in  his 
absence;  for  if  she  cut  her  hair  the  elephant  would  burst  the 
toils,  if  she  oiled  herself  it  would  slip  through  them.  When  a 
Dyak  village  has  turned  out  to  hunt  wild  pigs  in  the  jungle,  the 
people  who  stay  at  home  may  not  touch  oil  or  water  with  their 
hands  during  the  absence  of  their  friends ;  for  if  they  did  so,  the 
hunters  would  all  be  "butter-fingered"  and  the  prey  would  slip 
through  their  hands.  In  setting  out  to  look  for  the  rare  and 
precious  eagle- wood  on  the  mountains,  Tcham  peasants  enjoin 
their  wives,  whom  they  leave  at  home,  not  to  scold  or  quarrel  in 
their  absence,  for  such  domestic  brawls  would  lead  to  their  hus- 
bands being  rent  in  pieces  by  bears  and  tigers Among  the 

Koniags  of  Alaska  a  traveller  once  observed  a  young  woman 
lying  wrapt  in  a  bearskin  in  the  corner  of  a  hut.  On  asking 
whether  she  were  ill,  he  learned  that  her  husband  was  out  whale- 
fishing,  and  that  until  his  return  she  had  to  lie  fasting  in  order 
to  ensure  a  good  catch.  Among  the  Esquimaux  of  Alaska  similar 
notions  prevail.  The  women  during  the  whaling  season  remain 
in  comparative  idleness,  as  it  is  considered  not  good  for  them  to 
sew  while  the  men  are  out  in  the  boats.  If  during  this  period  any 
garments  should  need  to  be  repaired,  the  women  must  take  them 
far  back  out  of  sight  of  the  sea  and  mend  them  there  in  little 
tents  in  which  just  one  person  can  sit.  And  while  the  crews  are 
at  sea  no  work  should  be  done  at  home  which  would  necessitate 
pounding  or  hewing  or  any  kind  of  noise;  and  in  the  huts  of 
men  who  are  away  in  the  boats  no  work  of  any  kind  whatever 
should  be  carried  on.  When  Bushmen  are  out  hunting,  any  bad 
shots  they  may  make  are  set  down  to  such  causes  as  that  the 
children  at  home  are  playing  on  the  men's  beds  or  the  like,  and 
the  wives  who  allow  such  things  to  happen  are  blamed  for  their 
husbands'  indifferent  markmanship.  Elephant-hunters  in  East 
Africa  believe  that,  if  their  wives  prove  unfaithful  in  their 
absence,  this  gives  the  elephant  power  over  his  pursuer,  who  will 
accordingly  be  killed  or  severely  wounded.  Hence  if  a  hunter 
hears  of  his  wife's  misconduct,  he  abandons  the  chase  and  returns 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  659 

home.  An  Aleutian  hunter  of  sea-otters  thinks  that  he  cannot 
kill  a  single  animal  if  during  his  absence  from  home  his  wife 
should  be  unfaithful  to  him  or  his  sister  unchaste.  Many  of  the 
indigenous  tribes  of  Sarawak  are  firmly  persuaded  that  were 
the  wives  to  commit  adultery  while  the  husbands  are  searching 
for  camphor  in  the  jungle,  the  camphor  obtained  by  the  men 
would  evaporate 

When  a  band  of  Carib  Indians  of  the  Orinoco  had  gone  on 
the  war-path,  their  friends  left  in  the  village  used  to  calculate  as 
nearly  as  they  could  the  exact  moment  when  the  absent  warriors 
would  be  advancing  to  attack  the  enemy.  Then  they  took  two 
lads,  laid  them  down  on  a  bench,  and  inflicted  a  most  severe 
scourging  on  their  bare  backs.  This  the  youths  submitted  to 
without  a  murmur,  supported  in  their  sufferings  by  the  firm 
conviction,  in  which  they  had  been  bred  from  childhood,  that 
on  the  constancy  and  fortitude  with  which  they  bore  the  cruel 
ordeal  depended  the  valour  and  success  of  their  comrades  in  the 
battle. 

Among  the  many  beneficent  uses  to  which  a  mistaken  inge- 
nuity has  applied  the  principle  of  imitative  magic,  is  that  of 
causing  trees  and  plants  to  bear  fruit  in  due  season.  In  Thii- 
ringen  the  man  who  sows  flax  carries  the  seed  in  a  long  bag  which 
reaches  from  his  shoulders  to  his  knees,  and  he  walks  with  long 
strides,  so  that  the  bag  sways  to  and  fro  on  his  back.  It  is 
believed  that  this  will  cause  the  flax  to  wave  in  the  wind.  In  the 
interior  of  Sumatra  rice  is  sown  by  women  who,  in  sowing,  let 
their  hair  hang  loose  down  their  back,  in  order  that  the  rice  may 
grow  luxuriantly  and  have  long  stalks.  Similarly,  in  ancient 
Mexico  a  festival  was  held  in  honour  of  the  goddess  of  maize,  or 
"the  long-haired  mother,"  as  she  was  called.  It  began  at  the 
time  "when  the  plant  had  attained  its  full  growth,  and  fibres 
shooting  forth  from  the  top  of  the  green  ear  indicated  that  the 
grain  was  fully  formed.  During  this  festival  the  women  wore 
their  long  hair  unbound,  shaking  and  tossing  it  in  the  dances 
which  were  the  chief  feature  in  the  ceremonial,  in  order  that  the 
tassel  of  the  maize  might  grow  in  like  profusion,  that  the  grain 
might  be  correspondingly  large  and  flat,  and  that  the  people  might 
have  abundance."  It  is  a  Malay  maxim  to  plant  maize  when  your 


660  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

stomach  is  full,  and  to  see  to  it  that  your  dibble  is  thick;  for 
this  will  swell  the  ear  of  the  maize.  More  elaborate  still  are  the 
measures  taken  by  an  Esthonian  peasant  woman  to  make  her 
cabbages  thrive.  On  the  day  when  they  are  sown  she  bakes 
great  pancakes,  in  order  that  the  cabbages  may  have  great  broad 
leaves;  and  she  wears  a  dazzling  white  hood  in  the  belief  that 
this  will  cause  the  cabbages  to  have  fine  white  heads.  Moreover, 
as  soon  as  the  cabbages  are  transplanted,  a  small  round  stone  is 
wrapt  up  tightly  in  a  white  linen  rag  and  set  at  the  end  of  the 
cabbage  bed,  because  in  this  way  the  cabbage  heads  will  grow 
very  white  and  firm.  For  much  the  same  reason  a  Bavarian 
sower  in  sowing  wheat  will  sometimes  wear  a  golden  ring,  in 
order  that  the  corn  may  have  a  fine  yellow  colour.  In  the  Vosges 
mountains  the  sower  of  hemp  pulls  his  nether  garments  up  as 
far  as  he  can,  because  he  imagines  that  the  hemp  he  is  sowing 
will  attain  the  precise  height  to  which  he  has  succeeded  in  hitch- 
ing up  his  breeches ;  and  in  the  same  region  another  way  of  en- 
suring a  good  crop  of  hemp  is  to  dance  on  the  roof  of  the  house 
on  Twelfth  Day.  In  Swabia  and  among  the  Transylvanian  Sax- 
ons it  is  a  common  custom  for  a  man  who  has  sown  hemp  to 
leap  high  on  the  field,  in  the  belief  that  this  will  make  the  hemp 
grow  tall.  Similarly  in  many  other  parts  of  Germany  and  Austria 
the  peasant  imagines  that  he  makes  the  flax  grow  tall  by  dancing 
or  leaping  high,  or  by  jumping  backwards  from  a  table;  the 
higher  the  leap  the  higher  will  the  flax  be  that  year.  The  special 
season  for  thus  promoting  the  growth  of  flax  is  Shrove  Tuesday, 
but  in  some  places  it  is  Candlemas  or  Walpurgis  Night  (the  eve 
of  May  Day).  The  scene  of  the  performance  is  the  flax  field 
or  the  farmhouse  or  the  village  tavern.  In  some  parts  of  eastern 
Prussia  the  girls  dance  one  by  one  in  a  large  hoop  at  midnight 
on  Shrove  Tuesday.  The  hoop  is  adorned  with  leaves,  flowers, 
and  ribbons,  and  attached  to  it  are  a  small  bell  and  some  flax. 
Strictly  speaking,  the  hoop  should  be  wrapt  in  white  linen  hand- 
kerchiefs, but  the  place  of  these  is  often  taken  by  many-coloured 
bits  of  cloth,  wool,  and  so  forth.  While  dancing  within  the  hoop 
each  girl  has  to  wave  her  arms  vigorously  and  cry  "Flax  grow !" 
or  words  to  that  effect.  When  she  has  done,  she  leaps  out  of  the 
hoop,  or  is  lifted  out  of  it  by  her  partner.  In  Anhalt,  when  the 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  661 

sower  had  sown  the  flax,  he  leaped  up  and  flung  the  seed-bag 
high  in  the  air,  saying,  "Grow  and  turn  green !  You  have  nothing 
else  to  do."  He  hoped  that  the  flax  would  grow  as  high  as  he 
flung  the  seed-bag  in  the  air.  At  Quellendorff,  in  Anhalt,  the 
first  bushel  of  seed-corn  had  to  be  heaped  up  high  in  order  that 
the  corn-stalks  should  grow  tall  and  bear  plenty  of  grain.  Among 
the  Ilocans  of  Luzon  it  is  a  rule  that  the  man  who  sows  bananas 
must  have  a  small  child  on  his  shoulder,  or  the  bananas  will 
bear  no  fruit.  Here  the  young  child  on  the  sower's  shoulder 
clearly  represents,  and  is  expected  to  promote  the  growth  of, 
the  young  bananas. 

The  notion  that  a  person  can  influence  a  plant  sympathetically 
by  his  act  or  condition  comes  out  clearly  in  a  remark  made  by 
a  Malay  woman.  Being  asked  why  she  stripped  the  upper  part 
of  her  body  naked  in  reaping  the  rice,  she  explained  that  she 
did  it  to  make  the  rice-husks  thinner,  as  she  was  tired  of  pound- 
ing thick-husked  rice.  Clearly,  she  thought  that  the  less  clothing 

she  wore  the  less  husk  there  would  be  on  the  rice In 

Swabia  they  say  that  if  a  fruit-tree  does  not  bear,  you  should 
keep  it  loaded  with  a  heavy  stone  all  summer,  and  next  year  it 
will  be  sure  to  bear.  The  magic  virtue  of  a  pregnant  woman  to 
communicate  fertility  is  known  also  to  Bavarian  and  Austrian 
peasants,  who  think  that  if  you  give  the  first  fruit  of  a  tree  to  a 
woman  with  child  to  eat,  the  tree  will  bring  forth  abundantly 
next  year.  In  Bohemia  for  a  similar  purpose  the  first  apple  of  a 
young  tree  is  sometimes  plucked  and  eaten  by  a  woman  who 
has  borne  many  children,  for  then  the  tree  will  be  sure  to  bear 
many  apples.  When  a  tree  bears  no  fruit,  the  Galelareese  think 
it  is  a  male;  and  their  remedy  is  simple.  They  put  a  woman's 
petticoat  on  the  tree,  which,  being  thus  converted  into  a  female, 
will  naturally  prove  prolific.  Arguing  similarly  from  what  may 
be  called  the  infectiousness  of  qualities  or  accidents,  the  same 
people  say  that  you  ought  not  to  shoot  with  a  bow  and  arrows 
under  a  fruit-tree,  or  the  tree  will  cast  its  fruit  even  as  the 
arrows  fall  to  the  ground 

A  curious  application'  of  the  doctrine  of  sympathy  is  the 
relation  commonly  believed  to  exist  between  a  wounded  man 
and  the  agent  of  the  wound,  so  that  whatever  is  subsequently 


662  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

done  by  or  to  the  agent  must  correspondingly  affect  the  patient 
either  for  good  or  evil.  Thus  Pliny  tells  us  that  if  you  have 
wounded  a  man  and  are  sorry  for  it,  you  have  only  to  spit  on 
the  hand  that  gave  the  wound,  and  the  pain  of  the  sufferer  will 
be  instantly  alleviated.  In  Melanesia,  if  a  man's  friend  gets 
possession  of  the  arrow  which  wounded  him,  they  keep  it  in  a 
damp  place  or  in  cool  leaves,  for  then  the  inflammation  will  be 
trifling  and  will  soon  subside.  Meantime  the  enemy  who  shot 
the  arrow  is  hard  at  work  to  aggravate  the  wound  by  all  means 
in  his  power.  For  this  purpose  he  and  his  friends  drink  hot  and 
burning  juices  and  chew  irritating  leaves,  for  this  will  clearly 
inflame  and  irritate  the  wound.  Further,  they  keep  the  bow  near 
the  fire  to  make  the  wound  which  it  has  inflicted  hot ;  and  for  the 
same  reason  they  put  the  arrow-head,  if  it  has  been  recovered, 
into  the  fire.  Moreover,  they  are  careful  to  keep  the  bow-string 
taut  and  to  twang  it  occasionally,  for  this  will  cause  the  wounded 
man  to  suffer  from  tension  of  the  nerves  and  spasms  of  tetanus. 
Similarly  when  a  Kwakiutl  Indian  of  British  Columbia  had  bitten 
a  piece  out  of  an  enemy's  arm,  he  used  to  drink  hot  water  after- 
wards for  the  purpose  of  thereby  inflaming  the  wound  in  his  foe's 
body.  Among  the  Lkungen  Indians  of  the  same  region  it  is  a 
rule  that  an  arrow,  or  any  other  weapon  that  has  wounded  a 
man,  must  be  hidden  by  his  friends,  who  have  to  be  careful  not 
to  bring  it  near  the  fire  till  the  wound  is  healed.  If  a  knife  or  an 
arrow  which  is  still  covered  with  a  man's  blood  were  thrown  into 
the  fire,  the  wounded  man  would  grow  very  ill.  "It  is  constantly 
received  and  avouched,"  says  Bacon,  "that  the  anointing  of  the 
weapon  that  maketh  the  wound  will  heal  the  wound  itself.  In 
this  experiment,  upon  the  relation  of  men  of  credit  (though 
myself,  as  yet,  am  not  fully  inclined  to  believe  it),  you  shall  note 
the  points  following:  first,  the  ointment  wherewith  this  is  done 
is  made  of  divers  ingredients,  whereof  the  strangest  and  hardest 
to  come  by  are  the  moss  upon  the  skull  of  a  dead  man  unburied, 
and  the  fats  of  a  boar  and  a  bear  killed  in  the  act  of  generation." 
The  precious  ointment  compounded  out  of  these  and  other  in- 
gredients was  applied,  as  the  philosopher  explains,  not  to  the 
wound  but  to  the  weapon,  and  that  even  though  the  injured  man 
was  at  a  great  distance  and  knew  nothing  about  it.  The  experi- 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  663 

ment,  he  tells  us,  had  been  tried  of  wiping  the  ointment  off  the 
weapon  without  the  knowledge  of  the  person  hurt,  with  the  result 
that  he  was  presently  in  a  great  rage  of  pain  until  the  weapon  was 
anointed  again.  Moreover,  "it  is  affirmed  that  if  you  cannot 
get  the  weapon,  yet  if  you  put  an  instrument  of  iron  or  wood 
resembling  the  weapon  into  the  wound,  whereby  it  bleedeth,  the 
anointing  of  that  instrument  will  serve  and  work  the  effect." 
Remedies  of  the  sort  which  Bacon  deemed  worthy  of  his  atten- 
tion are  still  in  vogue  in  Suffolk.  If  a  man  cuts  himself  with  a 
bill-hook  or  a  scythe  he  always  takes  care  to  keep  the  weapon 
bright,  and  oils  it  to  prevent  the  wound  from  festering.  If  he 
runs  a  thorn  or,  as  he  calls  it,  a  bush  into  his  hand,  he  oils  or 
greases  the  extracted  thorn.  A  man  came  to  a  doctor  with  an 
inflamed  hand,  having  run  a  thorn  into  it  while  he  was  hedging. 
On  being  told  that  the  hand  was  festering,  he  remarked,  "That 
didn't  ought  to,  for  I  greased  the  bush  well  arter  I  pulled  it  out." 
If  a  horse  wounds  its  foot  by  treading  on  a  nail,  a  Suffolk  groom 
will  invariably  preserve  the  nail,  clean  it,  and  grease  it  every  day, 
to  prevent  the  foot  from  festering.  Arguing  in  the  same  way,  a 
Suffolk  woman,  whose  sister  had  burnt  her  face  with  a  flat-iron, 
observed  that  "the  face  would  never  heal  till  the  iron  had  been 
put  out  of  the  way ;  and  even  if  it  did  heal,  it  would  be  sure  to 
break  out  again  every  time  the  iron  was  heated."  Similarly  in 
the  Harz  mountains  they  say  that  if  you  cut  yourself,  you  ought 
to  smear  the  knife  or  the  scissors  with  fat  and  put  the  instrument 
away  in  a  dry  place  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  As  the  knife  dries,  the  wound  heals.  Other 
people,  however,  in  Germany  say  that  you  should  stick  the  knife 
in  some  damp  place  in  the  ground,  and  that  your  hurt  will  heal 
as  the  knife  rusts.  Others  again,  in  Bavaria,  recommend  you  to 
smear  the  axe  or  whatever  it  is  with  blood  and  put  it  under  the 
eaves. 

The  train  of  reasoning  which  thus  commends  itself  to  English 
and  German  rustics,  in  common  with  the  savages  of  Melanesia 
and  America,  is  carried  a  step  further  by  the  aborigines  of 
Central  Australia,  who  conceive  that  under  certain  circumstances 
the  near  relations  of  a  wounded  man  must  grease  themselves, 
restrict  their  diet,  and  regulate  their  behaviour  in  other  ways  in 


664  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

order  to  ensure  his  recovery.  Thus  when  a  lad  has  been  circum- 
cised and  the  wound  is  not  yet  healed,  his  mother  may  not  eat 
opossum,  or  a  certain  kind  of  lizard,  or  carpet  snake,  or  any  kind 
of  fat,  for  otherwise  she  would  retard  the  healing  of  the  boy's 
wound.  Every  day  she  greases  her  digging-sticks  and  never  lets 
them  out  of  her  sight ;  at  night  she  sleeps  with  them  close  to  her 
head.  No  one  is  allowed  to  touch  them.  Every  day  also  she  rubs 
her  body  all  over  with  grease,  as  in  some  way  this  is  believed  to 
help  her  son's  recovery.  Another  refinement  of  the  same  principle 
is  due  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  German  peasant.  It  is  said  that 
when  one  of  his  beasts  breaks  its  leg,  a  Hessian  farmer  will  bind 
up  the  broken  leg  of  a  chair  or  table  with  bandages  and  splints 
in  due  form.  For  nine  days  thereafter  the  bandaged  chair-leg, 

or  table-leg  may  not  be  touched  or  moved 

The  fatal  flaw  of  magic  lies  not  in  its  general  assumption  of  a 
succession  of  events  determined  by  law,  but  in  its  total  miscon- 
ception of  the  nature  of  the  particular  laws  which  govern  that 
succession.  If  we  analyse  the  various  cases  of  sympathetic  magic 
which  have  been  passed  in  review  in  the  preceding  pages,  and 
which  may  be  taken  as  fair  samples  of  the  bulk,  we  shall  find 
them  to  be  all  mistaken  applications  of  one  or  other  of  two  great 
fundamental  laws  of  thought,  namely,  the  association  of  ideas  by 
similarity  and  the  association  of  ideas  by  contiguity  in  space  or 
time.  A  mistaken  association  of  similar  ideas  produces  imitative 
or  mimetic  magic ;  a  mistaken  association  of  contiguous  ideas  pro- 
duces sympathetic  magic  in  the  narrower  sense  of  the  word.  The 
principles  of  association  are  excellent  in  themselves,  and  indeed 
absolutely  essential  to  the  working  of  the  human  mind.  Legiti- 
mately applied  they  yield  science ;  illegitimately  applied  they  yield 
magic,  the  bastard  sister  of  science.  It  is  therefore  a  truism, 
almost  a  tautology,  to  say  that  all  magic  is  necessarily  false  and 
barren;  for  were  it  ever  to  become  true  and  fruitful,  it  would 
no  longer  be  magic  but  science.  From  the  earliest  times  man  has 
been  engaged  in  a  search  for  general  rules  whereby  to  turn  the 
order  of  natural  phenomena  to  his  own  advantage,  and  in  the 
long  search  he  has  scraped  together  a  great  hoard  of  such  maxims, 
some  of  them  golden  and  some  of  them  mere  dross.  The  true 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  665 

or  golden  rules  constitute  the  body  of  applied  science  which  we 
call  the  arts ;  the  false  are  magic. 

If  magic  is  thus  next  of  kin  to  science,  we  have  still  to  inquire 
how  it  stands  related  to  religion.  But  the  view  we  take  of  that 
relation  will  necessarily  be  coloured  by  the  idea  which  we  have 
formed  of  the  nature  of  religion  itself;  hence  a  writer  may 
reasonably  be  expected  to  define  his  conception  of  religion  before 
he  proceeds  to  investigate  its  relation  to  magic.  There  is  probably 
no  subject  in  the  world  about  which  opinions  differ  so  much  as 
the  nature  of  religion,  and  to  frame  a  definition  of  it  which  would 
satisfy  every  one  must  obviously  be  impossible.  All  that  a  writer 
can  do  is,  first,  to  say  clearly  what  he  means  by  religion,  and 
afterwards  to  employ  the  word  consistently  in  that  sense  through- 
out his  work.  By  religion,  then,  I  understand  a  propitiation  or 
conciliation  of  powers  superior  to  man  which  are  believed  to 
direct  and  control  the  course  of  nature  and  of  human  life.  In 
this  sense  it  will  readily  be  perceived  that  religion  is  opposed  in 
principle  both  to  magic  and  to  science.  For  all  conciliation  im- 
plies that  the  being  conciliated  is  a  conscious  or  personal  agent, 
that  his  conduct  is  in  some  measure  uncertain,  and  that  he  can 
be  prevailed  upon  to  vary  it  in  the  desired  direction  by  a  judicious 
appeal  to  his  interests,  his  appetites,  or  his  emotions.  Concilia- 
tion is  never  employed  towards  things  which  are  regarded  as  in- 
animate, nor  towards  persons  whose  behaviour  in  the  particular 
circumstances  is  known  to  be  determined  with  absolute  certainty. 
Thus  in  so  far  as  religion  assumes  the  world  to  be  directed  by 
conscious  agents  who  may  be  turned  from  their  purpose  by 
persuasion,  it  stands  in  fundamental  antagonism  to  magic  as  well 
as  to  science,  both  of  which  take  for  granted  that  the  course  of 
nature  is  determined,  not  by  the  passions  or  caprice  of  personal 
beings,  but  by  the  operation  of  immutable  laws  acting  mechani- 
cally. In  magic,  indeed,  the  assumption  is  only  implicit,  but  in 
science  it  is  explicit.  It  is  true  that*  magic  often  deals  with  spirits, 
which  are  personal  agents  of  the  kind  assumed  by  religion;  but 
whenever  it  does  so  in  its  proper  form,  it  treats  them  exactly  in 
the  same  fashion  as  it  treats  inanimate  agents — that  is,  it  con- 
strains or  coerces  instead  of  conciliating  or  propitiating  them  as 
religion  would  do 


666  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Yet  though  magic  is  thus  found  to  fuse  and  amalgamate  with 
religion  in  many  ages  and  in  many  lands,  there  are  some  grounds 
for  thinking  that  this  fusion  is  not  primitive,  and  that  there  was  a 
time  when  man  trusted  to  magic  alone  for  the  satisfaction  of 
such  wants  as  transcended  his  immediate  animal  cravings.  In 
the  first  place  a  consideration  of  the  fundamental  notions  of 
magic  and  religion  may  incline  us  to  surmise  that  magic  is  older 
than  religion  in  the  history  of  humanity.  We  have  seen  that  on 
the  one  hand  magic  is  nothing  but  a  mistaken  application  of  the 
very  simplest  and  most  elementary  processes  of  the  mind,  namely 
the  association  of  ideas  by  virtue  of  resemblance  or  contiguity; 
and  on  the  other  hand  that  religion  assumes  the  operation  of 
conscious  or  personal  agents,  superior  to  man,  behind  the  visible 
screen  of  nature.  Obviously  the  conception  of  personal  agents  is 
more  complex  than  a  simple  recognition  of  the  similarity  or  con- 
tiguity of  ideas ;  and  a  theory  which  assumes  that  the  course  of 
nature  is  determined  by  conscious  agents  is  more  abstruse  and 
recondite,  and  requires  for  its  apprehension  a  far  higher  degree 
of  intelligence  and  reflection  than  the  view  that  things  succeed 
each  other  simply  by  reason  of  their  contiguity  or  resemblance. 
The  very  beasts  associate  the  ideas  of  things  that  are  like  each 
other  or  that  have  been  found  together  in  their  experience;  and 
they  could  hardly  survive  for  a  day  if  they  ceased  to  do  so.  But 
who  attributes  to  the  animals  a  belief  that  the  phenomena  of 
nature  are  worked  by  a  multitude  of  invisible  animals  or  by  one 
enormous  and  prodigiously  strong  animal  behind  the  scenes?  It 
is  probably  no  injustice  to  the  brutes  to  assume  that  the  honour 
of  devising  a  theory  of  this  latter  sort  must  be  reserved  for 
human  reason.  Thus,  if  magic  be  deduced  immediately  from  ele- 
mentary processes  of  reasoning,  and  be,  in  fact,  an  error  into 
which  the  mind  falls  almost  spontaneously,  while  religion  rests 
on  conceptions  which  the  merely  animal  intelligence  can  hardly 
be  supposed  to  have  yet  attained  to,  it  becomes  probable  that 
magic  arose  before  religion  in  the  evolution  of  our  race,  and  that 
man  essayed  to  bend  nature  to  his  wishes  by  the  sheer  force  of 
spells  and  enchantments  before  he  strove  to  coax  and  mollify  a 
coy,  capricious,  or  irascible  deity  by  the  soft  insinuation  of  prayer 
and  sacrifice. 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  667 

The  conclusion  which  we  have  thus  reached  deductively  from 
a  consideration  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  religion  and  magic 
is  confirmed  inductively  by  what  we  know  of  the  lowest  existing 
race  of  mankind.  To  the  student  who  investigates  the  develop- 
ment of  vegetable  and  animal  life  on  our  globe,  Australia  serves 
as  a  sort  of  museum  of  the  past,  a  region  in  which  strange 
species  of  plants  and  animals,  representing  types  that  have  long 
been  extinct  elsewhere,  may  still  be  seen  living  and  thriving,  as 
if  on  purpose  to  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  these  later  ages  as  to  the 
fauna  and  flora  of  the  antique  world.  This  singularity  Australia 
owes  to  the  comparative  smallness  of  its  area,  the  waterless  and 
desert  character  of  a  large  part  of  its  surface,  and  its  remote 
situation,  severed  by  wide  oceans  from  the  other  and  greater 
continents.  For  these  causes,  by  concurring  to  restrict  the  num- 
ber of  competitors  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  having  mitigated 
the  fierceness  of  the  struggle  itself;  and  thus  many  a  quaint 
old-fashioned  creature,  many  an  antediluvian  oddity,  which  would 
long  ago  have  been  rudely  elbowed  and  hustled  out  of  existence 
in  more  progressive  countries,  has  been  suffered  to  jog  quietly 
along  in  this  preserve  of  Nature's  own,  this  peaceful  garden, 
where  the  hand  on  the  dial  of  time  seems  to  move  more  slowly 
than  in  the  noisy  bustling  world  outside.  And  the  same  causes 
which  have  favoured  the  survival  of  antiquated  types  of  plants 
and  animals  in  Australia,  have  conserved  the  aboriginal  race  at 
a  lower  level  of  mental  and  social  development  than  is  now  occu- 
pied by  any  other  set  of  human  beings  spread  over  an  equal  area 
elsewhere.  Without  metals,  without  houses,  without  agriculture, 
the  Australian  savages  represent  the  stage  of  material  culture 
which  was  reached  by  our  remote  ancestors  in  the  Stone  Age; 
and  the  rudimentary  state  of  the  arts  of  life  among  them  reflects 
faithfully  the  stunted  condition  of  their  minds.  Now  in  regard 
to  the  question  of  the  respective  priority  of  magic  or  religion  in 
the  evolution  of  thought,  it  is  very  important  to  observe  that 
among  these  rude  savages,  while  magic  is  universally  practised, 
religion  in  the  sense  of  a  propitiation  or  conciliation  of  the 
higher  powers  seems  to  be  nearly  unknown.  Roughly  speaking, 
all  men  in  Australia  are  magicians,  but  not  one  is  a  priest ; 
everybody  fancies  he  can  influence  his  fellows  or  the  course  of 


668  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

nature  by  sympathetic  magic,  but  nobody  dreams  of  propitiating 
gods  or  spirits  by  prayer  and  sacrifice.  "It  may  be  truly  affirmed," 
says  a  recent  writer  on  the  Australians,  "that  there  was  not  a 
solitary  native  who  did  not  believe  as  firmly  in  the  power  of 
sorcery  as  in  his  own  existence ;  and  while  anybody  could  practice 
it  to  a  limited  extent,  there  were  in  every  community  a  few  men 
who  excelled  in  pretension  to  skill  in  the  art.  The  titles  of  these 
magicians  varied  with  the  community,  but  by  unanimous  consent 
the  whites  have  called  them  'doctors/  and  they  correspond  to  the 
medicine-men  and  rain-makers  of  other  barbarous  nations.  The 
power  of  the  doctor  is  only  circumscribed  by  the  range  of  his 
fancy.  He  communes  with  spirits,  takes  aerial  flights  at  pleasure, 
kills  or  cures,  is  invulnerable  and  invisible  at  will,  and  controls 
the  elements." 

But  if  in  the  most  primitive  state  of  human  society  now  open 
to  observation  on  the  globe  we  find  magic  thus  conspicuously 
present  and  religion  conspicuously  absent,  may  we  not  reason- 
ably conjecture  that  the  civilised  races  of  the  world  have  also 
at  some  period  of  their  hisiory  passed  through  a  similar  intel- 
lectual phase,  that  they  attempted  to  force  the  great  powers  of 
nature  to  do  their  pleasure  before  they  thought  of  courting  their 
favour  by  offerings  and  prayer — in  short  that,  just  as  on  the 
material  side  of  human  culture  there  has  everywhere  been  an 
Age  of  Stone,  so  on  the  intellectual  side  there  has  everywhere 
been  an  Age  of  Magic?  There  are  reasons  for  answering  this 
question  in  the  affirmative.  When  we  survey  the  existing  races 
of  mankind  from  Greenland  to  Tierra  del  Fuego,  or  from  Scot- 
land to  Singapore,  we  observe  that  they  are  distinguished  one 
from  the  other  by  a  great  variety  of  religions,  and  that  these 
distinctions  are  not,  so  to  speak,  merely  coterminous  with  the 
broad  distinctions  of  race,  but  descend  into  the  minuter  sub- 
divisions of  states  and  commonwealths,  nay,  that  they  honeycomb 
the  town,  the  village,  and  even  the  family,  so  that  the  surface  of 
society  all  over  the  world  is  cracked  and  seamed,  wormed  and 
sapped  with  rents  and  fissures  and  yawning  crevasses  opened  up 
by  the  disintegrating  influence  of  religious  dissension.  Yet  when 
we  have  penetrated  through  these  differences,  which  affect  mainly 
the  intelligent  and  thoughtful  part  of  the  community,  we  shall 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  669 

find  underlying  them  all  a  solid  stratum  of  intellectual  agreement 
among  the  dull,  the  weak,  the  ignorant,  and  the  superstitious, 
who  constitute,  unfortunately,  the  vast  majority  of  mankind. 
One  of  the  great  achievements  of  the  century  which  is  now  near- 
ing  its  end  is  to  have  run  shafts  down  into  this  low  mental 
stratum  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  thus  to  have  discovered 
its  substantial  identity  everywhere.  It  is  beneath  our  feet — and 
not  very  far  beneath  them — here  in  Europe  at  the  present  day, 
and  it  crops  up  on  the  surface  in  the  heart  of  the  Australian 
wilderness  and  wherever  the  advent  of  a  higher  civilisation  has 
not  crushed  it  under  ground.  This  universal  faith,  this  truly 
Catholic  creed,  is  a  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  magic.  While  re- 
ligious systems  differ  not  only  in  different  countries,  but  in  the 
same  country  in  different  ages,  the  system  of  sympathetic  magic 
remains  everywhere  and  at  all  times  substantially  alike  in  its 
principles  and  practice.  Among  the  ignorant  and  superstitious 
classes  of  modern  Europe  it  is  very  much  what  it  was  thousands 
of  years  ago  in  Egypt  and  India,  and  what  it  now  is  among  the 
lowest  savages  surviving  in  the  remotest  corners  of  the  world. 
If  the  test  of  truth  lay  in  a  show  of  hands  or  a  counting  of  heads, 
the  system  of  magic  might  appeal,  with  far  more  reason  than  the 
Catholic  Church,  to  the  proud  motto,  "Quod  semper,  quod  ubique, 
quod  ob  omnibus,"  as  the  sure  and  certain  credential  of  its  own 
infallibility. — J.  G.  FRAZER,  The  Golden  Bough,  2d  ed.,  1 19-74 
(Macmillan,  1900). 

AUSTRALIAN  MEDICINE  MEN  AND  MAGIC 

I  have  adopted  the  term  "medicine-men"  as  a  convenient  and 
comprehensive  term  for  those  men  who  are  usually  spoken  of 
in  Australia  as  "Blackfellow  doctors" — men  who  in  the  native 
tribes  profess  to  have  supernatural  powers.  The  term  "doctor" 
is  not  strictly  correct,  if  by  it  is  meant  only  a  person  who  uses 
some  means  of  curing  disease.  The  powers  which  these  men 
claim  are  not  merely  those  of  healing,  or  causing  disease,  but 
also  such  as  may  be  spoken  of  as  magical  practices  relating  to, 
or  in  some  manner  affecting,  the  well-being  of  their  friends  and 
enemies.  Again,  the  medicine-man  is  not  always  a  "doctor ;"  he 


670  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

may  be  a  "rain-maker,"  "seer,"  or  "spirit-medium,"  or  may  prac- 
tise some  special  form  of  magic. 

I  may  roughly  define  "doctors"  as  men  who  profess  to  extract 
from  the  human  body  foreign  substances  which,  according  to 
aboriginal  belief,  have  been  placed  in  them  by  the  evil  magic  of 
other  medicine-men,  or  by  supernatural  beings,  such  as  Brewin 
of  the  Kurnai,  or  the  Ngarrang  of  the  Wurunjerri.  Ngarrang 
is  described  as  being  like  a  man  with  a  big  beard  and  hairy  arms 
and  hands,  who  lived  in  the  large  swellings  which  are  to  be  seen 
at  the  butts  of  some  of  the  gum-trees,  such  as  the  Red  Gum, 
which  grows  on  the  river  flats,  in  the  Wurunjerri  country.  The 
Ngarrang  came  out  at  night  in  order  to  cast  things  of  evil  magic 
into  incautious  people  passing  by  their  haunts.  The  effect  of 
their  magic  was  to  make  people  lame.  As  they  were  invisible 
to  all  but  the  medicine-men,  it  was  to  them  that  people  had 
recourse  when  they  thought  that  a  Ngarrang  had  caught  them. 
The  medicine-man  by  his  art  extracted  the  magic  in  the  form 
of  quartz,  bone,  wood,  or  other  things. 

Other  medicine-men  were  bards  who  devoted  their  poetic 
faculties  to  the  purposes  of  enchantment,  such  as  the  Bunjil- 
yenjin  of  the  Kurnai,  whose  peculiar  branch  of  magic  was  com- 
posing and  singing  potent  love  charms. 

At  first  sight  the  subject  of  this  chapter  might  seem  to  be  a 
very  simple  one,  since  the  practices  of  the  medicine-man  may 
appear  to  be  no  more  than  the  actions  of  cunning  cheats,  by 
which  they  influence  others  to  their  own  personal  benefit.  But  on 
a  nearer  inspection  of  the  subject  it  becomes  evident  that  there 
is  more  than  this  to  be  said.  They  believe  more  or  less  in  their 
own  powers,  perhaps  because  they  believe  in  those  of  others. 
The  belief  in  magic  in  its  various  forms — in  dreams,  omens,  and 
warnings — is  so  universal,  and  mingles  so  intimately  with  the 
daily  life  of  the  aborigines,  that  no  one,  not  even  those  who 
practise  deceit  themselves,  doubts  the  power  of  other  medicine- 
men, or  that  if  men  fail  to  effect  their  magical  purposes  the 
failure  is  due  to  error  in  the  practice,  or  to  the  superior  skill  or 
power  of  some  adverse  practitioner. 

Allowing  for  all  conscious  and  intentional  deception  on  the 
part  of  these  men,  there  still  remains  a  residuum  of  faith  in 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  671 

themselves  which  requires  to  be  noticed,  and  if  possible  to  be 
explained. 

It  is  in  this  aspect  that  the  question  has  shown  itself  as  being 
most  difficult  to  me.  The  problem  has  been  how  to  separate 
falsehood  from  truth,  cunning  imposture  from  bona  fide  actions, 
and  deliberate  falsification  from  fact.  The  statements  which  I 
have  made  in  these  pages  are  the  result  of  long-continued  in- 
quiries as  well  as  personal  observation.  I  must  say  for  my 
aboriginal  informants,  that  I  have  found  them  truthful  in  their 
statements  to  me  whenever  I  have  been  able  to  check  them  by 
further  inquiries,  and  in  only  one  instance  did  I  notice  any 
tendency  to  enlarge  the  details  into  proportions  beyond  their 
true  shape.  Even  this  instance  was  very  instructive.  The  man's 
information  as  to  the  customs  of  his  tribe,  and  especially  as  to 
the  initiation  ceremonies,  I  found  to  be  very  accurate,  but  it 
was  when  he  began  to  speak  of  the  magical  powers  of  the  old 
men  of  the  past  generation  that  I  found  his  colouring  to  be  too 
brilliant,  and  more  especially  as  regarded  his  tribal  father,  the 
last  great  warrior-magician  of  the  tribe.  In  his  exaggeration  of 
the  exploits  of  this  man  one  might  see  an  instructive  example 
of  how  very  soon  an  heroic  halo  of  romance  begins  to  gather 
round  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  dead. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how,  amongst  savages  having  no  real 
knowledge  of  the  causes  of  disease,  which  is  the  common  lot 
of  humanity,  the  very  suspicion  of  such  a  thing  as  death  from 
natural  causes  should  be  unknown.  Death  by  accident  they  can 
imagine,  although  the  results  of  what  we  should  call  accident 
they  mostly  attribute  to  the  effects  of  some  evil  magic.  They 
are  well  acquainted  with  death  by  violence,  but  even  in  this 
they  believe,  as  among  the  tribes  about  Maryborough  (Queens- 
land), that  a  warrior  who  happens  to  be  speared  in  one  of  the 
ceremonial  fights  has  lost  his  skill  in  warding  off  or  evading  a 
spear,  through  the  evil  magic  of  some  one  belonging  to  his  own 
tribe.  But  I  doubt  if,  anywhere  in  Australia,  the  aborigines,  in 
their  pristine  condition,  conceived  the  possibility  of  death  merely 
from  disease.  Such  was  certainly  not  the  case  with  the  Kurnai. 

In  all  the  tribes  I  refer  to  there  is  a  belief  that  the  medicine- 
men can  project  substances  in  an  invisible  manner  into  their 


672  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

victims.  One  of  the  principal  projectiles  is  said  to  be  quartz, 
especially  in  the  crystallised  form.  Such  quartz  crystals  are 
always,  in  many  parts  of  Australia,  carried  as  part  of  the  stock- 
in-trade  of  the  medicine-man,  and  are  usually  carefully  concealed 
from  sight,  especially  of  women,  but  are  exhibited  freely  to  the 
novices  at  the  initiation  ceremonies.  Since  the  advent  of  white 
men  pieces  of  broken  bottle  have  sometimes  taken  the  place  of 
quartz  crystals.  Among  the  Yuin  the  hair  of  deceased  relatives, 
for  instance  of  father  or  brother,  is  used  for  making  bags  in 
which  to  carry  quartz  crystals,  called  by  them  Krugullung. 

When  travelling  in  the  country  back  of  the  Darling  River, 
before  it  was  settled,  I  came  across  a  blackfellow  doctor,  who 
accompanied  me  for  the  day,  and  he  greatly  alarmed  my  two 
black  boys  by  seemingly  causing  a  quartz  crystal  to  pass  from 
his  hand  into  his  body. 

The  Kunki  or  medicine-man  of  the  Dieri  tribe  is  supposed  to 
have  direct  communication  with  supernatural  beings  called  Kutchi, 
and  also  with  the  Mura-muras.  He  interprets  dreams,  and  reveals 
to  the  relatives  of  the  dead  the  person  by  whom  the  deceased 
has  been  killed.  Kutchi  was  the  cause  of  sickness  and  other 
evils,  but  could  be  driven  out  by  suitable  means  applied  by  the 
Kunki.  On  one  occasion  Mr.  Gason  had  caught  cold,  and  Jalina- 
piramurana,  hearing  of  it,  sent  to  him  to  ask  permission  to 
"drive  Kutchi  out  of  the  Police  camp"  before  he  came  to  examine 
Mr.  Gason  professionally  as  a  medicine-man.  If  a  Dieri  has 
had  a  dream,  and  fancies  he  has  seen  a  departed  friend  during 
the  night,  he  reports  the  circumstance  to  a  Kunki,  and  most  likely 
embellishes  the  details.  The  Kunki  probably  declares  that  it  is 
a  vision  and  not  a  dream,  and  announces  his  opinion  in  camp  in 
an  excited  speech.  For  the  Dieri  distinguish  between  what  they 
consider  a  vision  and  a  mere  dream.  The  latter  is  called  Apitcha, 
and  is  thought  to  be  a  mere  fancy  of  the  head.  The  visions  are 
attributed  to  Kutchi,  the  powerful  and  malignant  being,  who 
gives  to  the  Kunki  his  power  of  producing  disease  and  death,  or 
of  healing  that  which  has  been  brought  about  by  some  other 
Kunki.  If  the  Kunki  declares  that  he  has  had  a  real  vision  of 
his  departed  friend,  he  may  order  food  to  be  placed  for  the  dead, 
or  a  fire  to  be  made  so  that  he  can  come  and  warm  himself.  But 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  673 

it  depends  largely  on  the  manner  in  which  the  interpretation  is 
received  by  the  elders  whether  the  Kunki  follows  it  up.  The 
Kunki  say  that,  like  a  Kutchi,  they  can  fly  up  to  the  sky  by  means 
of  a  hair  cord,  and  see  a  beautiful  country  full  of  trees  and  birds. 
It  is  said  that  they  drink  the  water  of  the  sky-land,  from  which 
they  obtain  the  power  to  take  the  life  of  those  they  doom. 

One  of  the  most  common  spells  used  by  the  Dieri  is  "pointing 
with  the  bone"  (human  fibula),  and  this  practice  is  called 
Mukuelli-Dukaiia,  from  Muku,  "a  bone,"  and  Dukana,  "to 
strike."  Therefore,  as  soon  as  a  person  becomes  ill,  there  is  a 
consultation  of  his  friends  to  find  out  who  has  "given  him  the 
bone."  If  he  does  not  get  better,  his  wife,  if  he  has  one,  if  not, 
then  the  wife  of  his  nearest  relative,  accompanied  by  her  Pirrauru, 
is  sent  to  the  person  suspected.  To  him  she  gives  a  small  present, 
saying  that  her  husband,  or  so-and-so,  has  fallen  ill,  and  is  not 
expected  to  get  better.  The  medicine-man  knows  by  this  that 
he  is  suspected ;  and,  fearing  revenge,  probably  says  that  she  can 
return,  as  he  will  withdraw  all  power  from  the  bone,  by  steeping 
it  in  water.  If  the  man  dies,  and  especially  if  he  happens  to  be 
a  man  of  importance,  the  suspected  man  is  certain  to  be  killed 
by  the  Pinya.  When  the  tribe  wished  to  kill  some  one  at  a 
distance,  the  principal  men  have  joined  in  pointing  their  respec- 
tive bones,  wrapped  in  emu  feathers  and  fat,  in  the  direction  of 
the  intended  victim,  and  at  the  same  time  naming  him  and  the 
death  they  desired  him  to  die.  All  those  present  at  such  a 
ceremony,  which  lasts  about  an  hour,  are  bound  to  secrecy. 
Should  they  hear  after  a  time  that  the  intended  victim  continues 
to  remain  alive  and  well,  they  explain  it  by  saying  that  some 
one  in  his  tribe  stopped  the  power  of  the  bone. 

It  is  almost  always  the  case  for  two  persons  to  act  together 
in  "giving  the  bone."  One  of  them  points  with  it,  and  also  ties 
the  end  of  the  hair  cord,  which  is  fastened  to  it,  tightly  round 
his  upper  arm  in  order  that  the  blood  may  be  driven  through  it 
into  the  bone.  The  other  person  holds  the  end  of  another  cord 
fastened  to  the  bone,  and  goes  through  the  same  motions  as  he 
who  is  holding  the  bone.  This  is  done  because  the  legend  which 
accounts  for  the  origin  of  this  practice  in  the  Mura-mura  times 
recounts  how  two  of  the  Mura-muras,  acting  together,  revenged 


674  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  murder  of  a  Mura-mura  boy  by  "giving  the  bone"  to  those 
who  had  killed  him. 

In  the  Tongaranka  tribe,  and  in  all  the  tribes  of  the  Itchu- 
mundi  nation,  pointing  with  the  bone  is  practised.  The  medicine- 
man obtains  the  fibula  of  a  dead  man's  leg,  which  is  scraped, 
polished,  and  ornamented  with  red  ochre,  and  a  cord  of  the  dead 
man's  hair  is  attached  to  it.  It  is  believed  that  any  person 
towards  whom  the  bone  is  pointed  will  surely  die,  and  a  medicine- 
man who  is  known  to  have  such  a  bone  is  feared  accordingly. 
Another  way  of  pointing  the  bone  is  by  laying  a  piece  of  the 
leg-bone  of  a  kangaroo  or  an  emu,  sharply  pointed  at  one  end, 
on  the  ground  in  the  direction  of  the  intended  victim  when  he  is 
asleep.  After  a  time  this  is  removed  and  placed  in  some  secret 
place,  point  downwards,  in  a  hole  dug  in  the  ground  filled  up  with 
sticks  and  leaves,  and  then  burnt.  As  the  bone  is  consumed,  it  is 
thought  to  enter  into  the  victim,  who  then  feels  ill,  and  falls  down 
and  dies.  As  the  bone  is  believed  to  cause  pain,  sickness,  and 
ultimately  death,  so  a  victim  can  be  cured  by  a  medicine-man 
sucking  the  cause  out  of  him,  and  producing  it  as  a  piece  of  bone. 
Apart  from  the  direct  removal  of  the  bone  by  the  medicine-man, 
another  remedy  is  to  rub  the  victim  with  the  ashes  of  the  bone, 
if  they  can  be  found. 

There  is  a  peculiar  form  of  pointing  among  the  Wiradjuri. 
Some  of  the  medicine-men  use  a  small  piece  of  wood  shaped  like 
a  bull-roarer,  placed  close  to  the  fire  but  pointing  towards  the 
intended  victim,  with  the  belief  that  when  this  instrument,  which 
is  called  Dutimal,  becomes  quite  hot,  it  springs  up  and  enters  the 
victim  without  his  being  aware  of  it.  Others  of  the  Wiradjuri 
believe  that  people  are  killed  by  a  medicine-man  getting  a  piece 
of  a  man's  clothes  and  roasting  it,  wrapped  up  with  some  of  a 
dead  man's  fat,  in  front  of  a  fire.  This  is  said  to  catch  the  smell 
of  the  person  from  his  clothing.  The  former  wearer  of  it  is 
then  expected  to  fall  ill  and  die  shortly  after.  This  form  of  evil 
magic  is  called  Murrai-illa. 

The  medicine-man  of  the  Wiradjuri  also  uses  a  kind  of  charm 
called  Yangura,  consisting  of  the  hair  of  a  dead  man  mixed 
with  his  fat  and  that  of  the  lace-lizard,  rolled  into  a  ball  and 
fastened  to  a  stick  about  six  inches  long.  This  is  carefully  con- 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  675 

cealed  by  the  medicine-man  until  he  wishes  to  make  a  person  ill, 
or  cause  his  death.  Then  it  is  unwrapped  and  laid  before  a  fire, 
pointing  in  the  direction  of  the  intended  victim.  It  is  believed 
that  the  spirit  of  the  dead  man  whose  fat  has  been  used  will  help 
the  charm  to  act. 

In  the  Wotjobaluk  tribe  when  a  man  was  believed  to  have 
"pointed  the  bone"  at  another,  the  friends  of  the  latter  would 
request  the  former  to  place  the  bone  in  water  so  as  to  undo  the 
mischief  which  he  might  have  caused.  If  a  man  died  from 
"pointing  the  bone,"  his  friends  would  take  measures  to  kill  the 
offender  by  the  same  means,  or  by  direct  violence. 

The  Kurnai  fastened  some  personal  object  belonging  to  the 
intended  victim  to  a  spear-thrower,  together  with  some  eagle- 
hawk's  feathers  and  some  kangaroo  or  human  fat.  The  spear- 
thrower  was  then  stuck  slanting  in  the  ground  before  a  fire,  and 
over  it  the  medicine-man  sang  his  charm.  This  was  generally 
called  "singing  the  man's  name"  until  the  stick  fell,  when  the 
magic  was  considered  to  be  complete.  Those  who  used  this 
form  of  evil  magic  were  called  Bunjil-murriwun,  the  latter  word 
being  the  name  of  the  spear-thrower.  It  was,  as  the  Kurnai  say, 
made  strong,  that  is,  magically  powerful,  by  being  rubbed  with 
kangaroo  fat.  Although  most  commonly  used  for  roasting 
things,  it  could  be  also  used,  as  the  Kurnai  think,  in  a  very 
fatal  manner,  by  sticking  it  in  the  ground  where  the  victim  had 
attended  to  a  call  of  nature,  and  in  such  a  case  the  medicine-man 
sang  the  name  of  the  victim,  mentioning  also  the  death  which 
he  was  to  die. 

An  instance  of  the  manner  in  which  the  spear-thrower  is  used, 
or  rather  in  which  Tankowillin  wished  to  use  it,  came  under  my 
notice  in  the  year  1888.  He  came  to  me  and  asked  for  the  loan 
of  a  spear-thrower  which  I  had,  and  which  he  thought  to  be  of 
special  magical  power,  because  it  had  been  used  at  the  Jeraeil 
ceremonies.  He  informed  me  that  he  wanted  it  to  catch  one  of 
the  tribe  who  had  married  a  relation  of  his,  a  widow,  without  the 
consent  of  her  kindred,  and  also  far  too  soon  after  the  death  of 
her  husband,  indeed  so  soon  that  "it  had  made  all  the  poor 
fellow's  friends  sad,  thinking  of  him."  When  I  refused  him  the 
use  of  the  Murriwun,  he  said  it  did  not  matter,  for  he  and  his 


676  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

friends  had  made  a  very  strong  stick  to  point  at  him  with,  singing 
his  name  over  it,  and  spitting  strong  poison  over  it. 

He  used  the  word  "poison"  for  "magic,"  but  I  think  that  in 
some  tribes  actual  poison  was  used.  For  instance,  in  the  Yuin 
tribe  the  Gommeras  are  credited  with  killing  people  by  putting 
things  in  their  food  and  drink.  I  was  informed  that  one  of  these 
substances  is  a  yellow  powder.  My  informant  said  that  he  once 
obtained  some  of  it  from  one  of  the  old  Gommeras,  and  having 
rubbed  it  on  some  meat,  he  gave  it  to  a  kangaroo  dog,  who  fell 
down  and  died  very  shortly. 

A  similar  statement  comes  to  me  from  the  Kamilaroi  on  the 
Gwydir  River.  About  Moree  it  is  said  that  the  medicine-men 
have  two  kinds  of  poison,  which  they  use  to  kill  people  with. 
The  poisons  are  called  Wuru-kahrel  and  Dinna^kurra,  from 
Dinna,  "a  foot,"  and  Kurra,  "to  catch."  It  is  said  that  they  get 
these  poisons  by  putting  the  dung  of  the  native  cat  in  a  hole  in 
an  ant-hill,  covered  up  with  gum-leaves.  After  a  while  a  white 
mossy  powder  comes  on  it,  which  they  say  is  the  poison.  It  is 
said  to  be  very  slow  in  its  action,  taking  three  weeks  to  operate. 
I  give  this  for  what  it  is  worth. 

I  may  note  also  that  the  Rev.  George  Taplin  mentions  in  his 
account  of  the  Narrinyeri  tribe  the  Neilyeri,  or  poison  revenge, 
which  is  by  using  a  spear-head  or  a  piece  of  bone  which  has  been 
stuck  in  the  fleshy  part  of  a  putrid  corpse,  and  kept  there  for 
some  weeks.  This  weapon  is  used  by  pricking  an  enemy  when 
asleep,  and  thus  inoculating  him  with  the  virus  of  death. 

Such  are  the  beliefs  as  to  poisons  from  widely  separated 
places.  I  have  no  means  of  testing  their  truth,  but  my  informants 
fully  believed  in  their  effects,  and  there  is  no  special  improbability 
in  their  use  by  the  medicine-men. 

Returning  again  to  the  practice  of  roasting  things  for  the 
purpose  of  harming  the  owners  of  them,  I  mention  another  form 
of  it  by  the  Wotjobaluk.  In  this  they  used  a  small  spindle-shaped 
piece  of  wood  called  Guliwil,  in  the  same  manner  as  other  tribes 
used  the  spear-thrower  or  yam-stick.  The  name  Guliwil  was  not 
used  for  these  pieces  of  wood,  usually  of  the  Bull-oak  ( Casuarina 
glauca)  alone,  but  also  for  the  whole  implement,  which  consisted 
of  three  or  four  of  the  pieces  of  wood,  and  was  tied  up  with 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  677 

some  article  belonging  to  the  intended  victim  and  human  fat. 
Each  Guliwil  has  on  it  some  marks,  such  as  a  rude  effigy  of  the 
victim,  and  of  some  of  the  poisonous  snakes.  The  bundle  was 
roasted  for  a  long  time,  or  for  several  times  at  intervals. 

I  am  told  that  after  the  whites  settled  on  the  Wimmera  River 
the  Wotjobaluk  employed  on  the  stations  found  the  great  chim- 
neys of  the  huts,  especially  of  those  which  were  used  as  kitchens, 
unrivalled  places  in  which  to  hang  their  Guliwils  so  as  to  expose 
them  to  a  prolonged  heat. 

The  following  is  an  account,  by  one  of  the  Wotjobaluk  old 
men,  of  the  effects  produced  by  such  a  Guliwil,  or  the  belief  in  it, 
which  amounts  to  the  same  thing.  "Sometimes  a  man  dreams 
that  some  one  has  got  some  of  his  hair,  or  a  piece  of  his  food,  or 
of  his  'possum  rug,  or  indeed  anything  that  he  has  used.  If  he 
dreams  this  several  times,  he  feels  sure  that  it  is  so,  and  he  calls 
his  friends  together  and  tells  them  he  is  dreaming  too  much 
about  'that  man/  who  must  have  something  belonging  to  him. 
He  says,  'I  feel  in  the  middle  of  the  fire;  go  and  ask  him  if  he 
has  anything  of  mine  in  the  fire.'  His  friends  do  his  bidding, 
probably  adding,  'You  need  not  deny  it,  he  has  dreamed  of  it 
three  times,  and  dreams  are  generally  true.'  Sometimes  the 
suspected  Ban  gal  (medicine-man)  seeing  no  other  way  out  of  it, 
admits  that  he  has  something  that  he  is  burning,  but  makes  the 
excuse  that  it  was  given  to  him  to  burn,  and  that  he  did  not 
know  to  whom  it  belonged.  In  such  a  case  he  would  give  the 
thing  to  the  friends  of  the  sick  man,  telling  them  to  put  it  in 
water  to  put  the  fire  out ;  and  when  this  had  been  done,  the  man 
would  probably  feel  better." 

In  the  Jupagalk  tribe  the  method  was  to  tie  the  thing,  or 
fragment  which  had  belonged  to,  or  been  touched  by,  the  intended 
victim,  to  the  end  of  a  digging-stick,  by  a  piece  of  cord.  This 
was  stuck  in  the  ground  in  front  of  a  fire ;  and  as  it  swung  there, 
the  Bangal  sang  over  it  till  it  fell,  which  was  a  sign  that  the  spell 
was  complete. 

Among  the  Kulin  tribes  the  practice  was  to  use  a  spear- 
thrower  for  this  purpose  instead  of  a  digging-stick,  and  it  was 
called  Kalbura-murriwun,  or  broken  spear-thrower. 

The  Wurun jerri  believed  firmly  that  the  Wirrarap  (medicine- 


678  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

man)  could  kill  persons,  far  or  near,  by  means  of  Mung,  or  evil 
magic,  through  the  agency  of  many  substances,  among  which  the 
Thundal,  or  quartz  crystals,  stood  first.  This  he  could  project, 
either  invisibly,  or  else  as  a  small  whirlwind  a  foot  or  so  high. 
The  effect  on  a  man  caught  in  such  a  way  was,  according  to 
Berak,  that  he  felt  a  chill,  then  pains  and  shortness  of  breath. 
A  medicine-man,  being  consulted,  would  look  at  him  and  say, 
"Hallo!  there  is  a  lot  of  Mung  in  you."  Then  alone,  or  with 
other  medicine-men,  he  sat  near  and  watched  the  man,  until  one 
of  them  saw  the  magical  substance  trying  to  escape,  it  might  be 
in  the  middle  of  the  night.  Then  he  would  run  after  it,  catch  it, 
and  breaking  a  piece  off  it  to  prevent  it  escaping  again,  put  it 
into  his  magic-bag  for  future  use.  Any  article  once  belonging 
to,  or  having  been  used  by,  the  intended  victim,  would  serve  to 
work  an  evil  spell.  A  piece  of  his  hair,  some  of  his  fseces,  a  bone 
picked  up  by  him  and  dropped,  a  shred  of  his  opossum  rug, 
would  suffice,  and  among  the  Wotjobaluk,  if  he  were  seen  to 
spit,  this  would  be  carefully  picked  up  with  a  piece  of  wood,  and 
used  for  his  destruction. 

The  old  beliefs  are  also  adapted  to  their  new  surroundings 
since  the  settlement  of  Australia  by  the  whites.  The  Wurunjerri 
dreaded  a  practice  attributed  to  the  native  tribes  about  Echuca 
whom  they  called  Meymet.  This  was  the  pounded  flesh  of  a 
dead  man  with  cut-up  tobacco.  This,  given  to  the  unsuspecting 
victim,  caused  him,  when  he  smoked  it,  to  fall  under  a  deadly 
spell,  which  no  Wirrarap  could  cure.  The  result  was  the  internal 
swelling  of  the  smoker  till  he  died.  Another  instance  of  evil 
magic  peculiar  to  the  Wudthaurung  tribe,  the  western  neigh- 
bours of  the  Wurunjerri,  was  to  put  the  rough  cones  of  the 
She-oak  (Casuarina  quadrivahis)  into  a  man's  fire,  so  that  the 
smoke  might  blow  into  his  eyes  and  blind  him.  The  idea  seems 
to  have  been  that  the  eidolon  of  the  rough  seed  cones  would 
magically  produce  injury,  as  the  object  itself  might  do.  This 
belief  points  to  an  attempted  explanation  of  ophthalmia. 

Besides  these  applications  of  evil  magic,  there  was  another 
form  of  this  practice,  namely,  by  placing  sharp  fragments  of 
quartz,  glass,  bone,  or  charcoal  in  a  person's  foot-prints,  or  in 
the  impression  of  his  body  where  he  has  lain  down.  Rheumatic 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  679 

affections  are  often  attributed  to  this  cause.  Once,  seeing  a 
Tatungalung  man  very  lame,  I  asked  him  what  was  the  matter. 
He  replied,  "Some  fellow  put  bottle  into  my  foot."  I  found  out 
that  he  had  acute  rheumatism,  and  he  believed  that  some  enemy 
had  found  his  footprint  and  buried  in  it  a  fragment  of  a  broken 
bottle,  the  magic  of  which  had  entered  into  his  foot. 

One  of  the  practices  of  the  Wiimbaio  Mekigar  (medicine- 
man) was  to  step  among  the  crowd  at  a  corrobboree,  and  pick 
up  something  off  the  ground,  saying  that  it  was  a  piece  of  nukalo 
(quartz)  which  some  Mekigar  at  a  distance  had  thrown  at  them. 

When  following  down  Cooper's  Creek  in  search  of  Burke's 
party,  we  were  followed  by  a  number  of  wild  blacks,  who 
appeared  much  interested  in  examining  and  measuring  the  foot- 
prints of  the  horses  and  camels.  My  blackboy,  from  the  Darling 
River,  rode  up  to  me  with  the  utmost  alarm  exhibited  in  his  face 
and  said,  "Look  at  those  wild  blackfellows !"  I  said,  "Well, 
they  are  all  right."  Then  he  replied,  "I  am  sure  they  are  putting 
poison  in  my  footsteps."  This  is  another  instance  of  the  use  of 
the  word  "poison"  for  "magic." 

The  practice  of  using  human  fat  as  a  powerful  magical 
ingredient  is  widely  spread  over  Australia,  and  consequently  the 
belief  is  universal  that  the  medicine-men  have  the  power  of 
abstracting  it  magically  from  individuals,  or  also  of  actually 
taking  it  by  violence  accompanied  by  magic.  This  is  usually 
spoken  of  by  the  whites  as  taking  "the  kidney  fat,"  but  it  appears 
to  be  the  caul-fat  from  the  omentum. 

It  is  said  by  the  Wiimbaio  that  the  medicine-men  of  hostile 
tribes  sneak  into  the  camp  in  the  night,  and  with  a  net  of  a 
peculiar  construction  garrotte  one  of  the  tribe,  drag  him  a  hun- 
dred yards  or  so  from  the  camp,  cut  up  his  abdomen  obliquely, 
take  out  the  kidney  and  caul-fat,  and  then  stuff  a  handful  of 
grass  and  sand  into  the  wound.  The  strangling-net  is  then  un- 
done, and  if  the  victim  is  not  quite  dead,  he  generally  dies  in 
twenty- four  hours,  although  it  is  said  that  some  have  survived 
the  operation  for  three  days.  The  fat  is  greatly  prized,  and  is 
divided  among  the  adults,  who  anoint  their  bodies  with  it  and 
carry  some  of  it  about,  as  they  believe  the  prowess  and  virtues 
of  the  victim  will  pass  to  those  who  use  the  fat. 


680  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

\ 

But  they  also  say  that  the  Mekigar  of  such  tribes  can  knock 
a  man  down  in  the  night  with  a  club  called  Yuri-battra-piri,  that 
is,  ear-having-club,  a  club  having  two  corners,  i.  e.  ears.  The 
man  being  thus  knocked  down,  his  assailant  would  remove  his 
fat  without  leaving  a  sign  of  the  operation.  They  had  a  great 
horror  of  those  men  of  other  tribes  who,  they  believe,  prowled 
about  seeking  to  kill  people.  They  called  them  Thinau-malkin, 
that  is,  "one  who  spreads  a  net  for  the  feet,"  and  Kurinya-matola, 
"one  who  seizes  by  the  throat."  These  were  their  real  enemies, 
and  when  they  caught  them  they  blotted  them  out  by  eating  part 
of  their  bodies.  Once  when  the  Wiimbaio  feared  that  their 
enemies  from  the  south,  the  Wotjobaluk,  might  come  and  attack 
them,  they  requested  a  white  man  who  was  with  them  to  sleep 
in  the  opening  of  a  horseshoe-shaped  screen  of  boughs,  which 
they  built  around  their  camp.  They  said  that  their  enemies 
would  not  step  over  a  white  man,  but  would  otherwise  come  in 
among  them  and  put  cords  on  their  throats,  and  thus  having 
choked  them,  would  carry  them  off  and  take  their  fat 

I  have  now  spoken  of  the  manner  in  which  the  medicine- 
men, according  to  the  beliefs  of  the  aborigines,  are  accustomed  to 
work  ill  upon  them.  It  remains  to  show  these  men  in  a  more 
favourable  light,  as  alleviating  suffering,  and  shielding  their 
friends  from  the  evil  magic  of  others.  One  of  the  special  func- 
tions of  the  medicine-man  is  to  counteract  the  spells  made  by 
others. 

Their  method  of  procedure  is  that  common  in  savage  tribes, 
and  which  has  been  so  often  described  that  it  may  be  dismissed 
in  a  few  words,  being,  in  perhaps  the  majority  of  cases,  a  cure 
effected  by  rubbing,  pressing  or  sucking  the  affected  part, 
possibly  accompanied  by  an  incantation  or  song,  and  the  exhibi- 
tion of  some  foreign  body,  extracted  therefrom,  as  the  cause  of 
the  evil.  Or  the  evil  magic  may  be  sucked  out  as  a  mouthful  of 
wind  and  blown  away,  or  got  rid  of  by  pinching  and  squeezing  to 
allay  the  pain.  In  some  cases  the  "poison,"  as  they  now  call  it 
in  their  "pidgin  English,"  is  supposed  to  be  extracted  through 
a  string,  or  a  stick,  by  the  doctor  from  the  patient,  who  then 
spits  it  out  in  the  form  of  blood 

As  an  instance  of  the  methods  used  by  the  Kurnai,  I  give  the 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  681 

practice  of  Tankli  the  son  of  Bunjil-bataluk.  His  method  of 
cure  was  to  stroke  the  affected  part  with  his  hand  till,  as  he  said, 
he  could  "feel  the  thing  under  the  skin."  Then,  covering  the 
place  with  a  piece  of  some  fabric,  he  drew  it  together  with  one 
hand,  and  unfolding  it  he  exhibited  a  piece  of  quartz,  bone,  bark, 
or  charcoal,  even  on  one  occasion  a  glass  marble  as  the  cause  of 
the  disease.  The  use  of  the  fabric  was  quite  evident  to  any  one 
but  a  blackfellow. 

The  Tongaranka  medicine-man,  when  about  to  practise  his 
art,  sits  down  on  the  windward  side  of  his  patient,  and  his  power 
is  supposed  to  pass  to  the  sick  person  "like  smoke."  The  doctor 
then  sucks  the  affected  part,  and  withdraws  his  power  out  of 
him,  and  also  at  the  same  time  the  pain,  usually  in  the  form  of 
a  quartz  crystal. 

One  of  the  curative  practices  of  the  Wiimbaio  was  curiously 
associated  with  the  offender.  If,  for  instance,  a  man  had  nearly 
killed  his  wife  in  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  he  was  compelled  to  sub- 
mit to  bleeding.  The  woman  was  laid  out  at  length  on  the 
ground  in  some  convenient  spot,  and  her  husband's  arms  were 
each  bound  tightly  above  the  elbow.  The  medicine-man  opened 
the  vein  and  the  blood  was  allowed  to  flow  over  the  prostrate 
body  of  the  woman  till  the  man  felt  faint 

Collins,  in  speaking  of  the  natives  of  Port  Jackson,  mentions 
a  matter  which  is  worth  quoting  here.  He  says,  "During  the 
time  that  Booroong,  a  native  girl,  lived  at  Sydney,  she  paid 
occasional  visits  to  the  lower  part  of  the  harbour.  From  one  of 
these  she  returned  extremely  ill.  On  being  questioned  as  to 
the  cause,  she  said  that  the  women  of  Cam-mer-ray  had  made 
water  in  a  path  which  they  knew  that  she  was  to  pass,  and  it 
had  made  her  ill.  Not  recovering,  though  bled  by  a  surgeon,  she 
underwent  an  extraordinary  and  superstitious  operation.  She 
was  seated  on  the  ground  with  one  of  the  lines  worn  by  the  men 
passed  round  her  head  once,  taking  care  to  fix  the  knot  in  the 
centre  of  her  forehead;  the  remainder  of  the  line  was  taken  by 
another  girl,  who  sat  at  a  small  distance  from  her,  and  with 
the  end  of  it  fretted  her  lips  until  they  bled  very  copiously; 
Booroong  imagining  all  the  time  that  the  blood  came  from  her 
own  head,  and  passed  along  the  line  until  it  ran  into  the  girl's 


682        •  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

mouth.  This  operation  they  term  Be-anny,  and  it  is  the  peculiar 
province  of  the  women."  .... 

At  Port  Stephens  the  Koradji  treated  a  sick  person  by  wind- 
ing around  him  a  cord  of  opossum  fur,  and  then  round  the  body 
of  some  female  relative  or  friend,  who  held  the  end  of  it  in  her 
hands,  and  passed  the  cord  to  and  fro  between  her  lips,  until 
the  blood  dropped  into  a  bowl,  over  which  she  held  her  head. 
It  was  believed  that  the  evil  magic  which  caused  the  disease 
passed  up  the  cord  into  the  body  of  the  operator,  and  thence 
with  the  blood  into  the  bowl 

In  time  of  severe  drought  Mr.  Gason  has  witnessed  the  Dieri 
calling  upon  the  rain-making  Mura-muras  to  give  them  power 
to  make  a  heavy  rainfall,  crying  out  in  loud  voices  the  im- 
poverished state  of  the  country,  and  the  half -starved  condition 
of  the  tribe,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulty  in  procuring  food 
in  sufficient  quantity  to  preserve  life. 

During  such  a  drought,  to  which  the  Dieri  country  is  much 
subject,  the  rain-making  ceremonies  are  considered  of  much 
consequence.  Mr.  Gason  witnessed  them  many  times,  and  gave 
the  following  account  of  them. 

When  the  great  council  has  determined  that  such  a  ceremony 
is  to  be  held,  women,  accompanied  by  their  Pirraurus,  are  sent 
off  to  the  various  subdivisions  of  the  tribe,  to  summon  the  people 
to  attend  at  some  appointed  place.  When  the  tribe  is  gathered 
together,  they  dig  a  hole  about  two  feet  deep,  twelve  long,  and 
from  eight  to  ten  feet  wide.  Over  this  they  build  a  hut  of  logs 
with  the  interstices  filled  in  with  slighter  logs,  the  building  being 
conical  in  form  and  covered  with  boughs.  This  hut  is  only 
sufficiently  large  to  contain  the  old  men,  the  younger  ones  being 
seated  at  the  entrance  or  outside.  This  being  completed,  the 
women  are  called  together  to  look  at  the  hut,  which  they  approach 
from  the  rear,  and  then  separating,  some  go  one  way  and  some 
the  other  round  the  building,  until  they  reach  the  entrance,  each 
one  looking  inside  but  without  speaking.  They  then  return  to 
their  camp,  about  five  hundred  yards  distant. 

Two  Kunkis,  who  are  supposed  to  have  received  an  inspira- 
tion from  the  rain-making  Mura-muras,  are  selected  to  have 
their  arms  lanced.  These  are  tightly  bound  near  the  shoulders 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  683 

to  prevent  a  too  profuse  effusion  of  blood.  This  being  done,  all 
the  old  men  huddle  together  in  the  hut,  and  the  principal  Kunki 
of  the  tribe  bleeds  each  of  the  men  inside  the  arm  below  the  elbow 
with  a  sharp  piece  of  flint.  The  blood  is  made  to  flow  on  the 
men  sitting  round,  during  which  the  two  Kunkis  throw  hand- 
fills  of  down  into  the  air,  some  of  which  becomes  attached  to 
the  blood  on  the  men,  while  some  still  floats  about.  The  blood 
is  to  symbolise  the  rain,  and  the  down  the  clouds.  Two  large 
stones  are  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  hut,  representing  gather- 
ing clouds  presaging  rain.  The  women  are  now  called  to  visit 
the  hut  again,  and  after  having  looked  in  and  seen  its  inmates, 
they  return  to  their  camp. 

The  main  part  of  the  rain-making  ceremony  being  now  con- 
cluded, the  men  who  were  bled  carry  away  the  two  stones  and 
place  them  as  high  as  possible  in  the  branches  of  the  largest  tree 
about.  In  the  meantime  the  other  men  gather  gypsum,  pound  it 
fine,  and  throw  it  into  a  water-hole.  The  Mura-mura  is  sup- 
posed to  see  this,  and  thereupon  to  cause  the  clouds  to  appear  in 
the  sky.  Should  no  clouds  appear  as  soon  as  expected,  the  ex- 
planation given  is  that  the  Mura-mura  is  angry  with  them;  and 
should  there  be  no  rain  for  weeks  or  months  after  the  rain- 
making  ceremony,  they  suppose  that  some  other  tribe  has  stopped 
their  power. 

After  the  ceremony,  the  hut  is  thrown  down  by  the  men,  old 
and  young  butting  at  it  with  their  heads.  The  heavier  logs  which 
withstand  this  are  pulled  down  by  all  dragging  at  the  bottom  end. 
The  piercing  the  hut  with  their  heads  symbolises  the  piercing  of 
the  clouds,  and  the  fall  of  the  hut  symbolises  that  of  the  rain. 

In  the  rainy  seasons  which  are  too  wet,  the  Dieri  also  suppli- 
cate the  Mura-muras  to  restrain  the  rain,  and  Mr.  Gason  has 
seen  the  old  men  in  a  complete  state  of  frenzy,  believing  that 
their  ceremonies  had  caused  the  Mura-muras  to  send  too  much 
of  it A.  W.  HOWITT,  Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Aus- 
tralia, 355-96. 

THE  ALGONKIN  MANITOU 

The  Algonkin  conception  of  the  manitou  is  bound  up  with  the 
manifold  ideas  that  flow  from  an  unconscious  relation  with  the 
outside  world.  It  is  embodied  in  all  forms  of  religious  belief 


684  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  practice,  and  is  intimately  associated  with  customs  and  usages 
that  bear  upon  life  and  its  welfare.  It  is  the  purpose  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages  to  give  simply,  and  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  the 
meaning  of  the  manitou  as  it  is  understood  by  three  Algonkin 
peoples — the  Sauk,  Fox,  and  Kickapoo.  All  three  speak  related 
dialects  of  the  same  language;  all  three  have  a  similar  form  of 
society;  and  all  three  have  much  the  same  religious  rites  and 
practices.  It  will  be  convenient  to  refer  to  them  collectively, 
and  when  the  reference  is  made  the  term  Algonkin  shall  be  used ; 
the  term  shall  apply  to  them  only,  and  not  to  other  units  of  the 
same  family. 

In  the  first  place  the  term  manitou  is  a  religious  word;  it 
carries  with  it  the  idea  of  solemnity ;  and  whatever  the  association 
it  always  expresses  a  serious  attitude,  and  kindles  an  emotional 
sense  of  mystery.  The  conceptions  involved  in  its  use  can  best 
be  shown  by  taking  up  some  features  of  Algonkin  religion. 

The  essential  character  of  Algonkin  religion  is  a  pure,  naive 
worship  of  nature.  In  one  way  or  another  associations  cluster 
about  an  object  and  give  it  a  certain  potential  value;  and  because 
of  this  supposed  potentiality,  the  object  becomes  the  recipient  of 
an  adoration.  The  degree  of  the  adoration  depends  in  some 
measure  upon  the  extent  of  confidence  reposed  in  the  object, 
and  upon  its  supposed  power  of  bringing  pleasure  or  inflicting 
pain.  The  important  thing  with  the  individual  is  the  emotional 
effect  experienced  while  in  the  presence  of  the  object,  or  with  an 
interpreted  manifestation  of  the  object.  The  individual  keeps 
watch  for  the  effect,  and  it  is  the  effect  that  fills  the  mind  with 
a  vague  sense  of  something  strange,  something  mysterious,  some- 
thing intangible.  One  feels  it  as  the  result  of  an  active  substance, 
and  one's  attitude  toward  it  is  purely  passive. 

To  experience  a  thrill  is  authority  enough  of  the  existence  of 
the  substance.  The  sentiment  of  its  reality  is  made  known  by  the 
fact  that  something  has  happened.  It  is  futile  to  ask  an  Algonkin 
for  an  articulate  definition  of  the  substance,  partly  because  it 
would  be  something  about  which  he  does  not  concern  himself, 
and  partly  because  he  is  quite  satisfied  with  only  the  sentiment 
of  its  existence.  He  feels  that  the  property  is  everywhere,  is 
omnipresent.  The  feeling  that  it  is  omnipresent  leads  naturally 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  685 

to  the  belief  that  it  enters  into  everything  in  nature;  and  the 
notion  that  it  is  active  causes  the  mind  to  look  everywhere  for 
its  manifestations.  These  manifestations  assume  various  forms, 
they  vary  with  individuals  and  with  reference  to  the  same  and 
different  objects.  Language  affords  means  of  approaching  nearer 
to  a  definition  of  this  religious  sentiment. 

In  the  Algonkin  dialects  of  the  Sank,  Fox,  and  Kickapoo,  a 
rigid  distinction  of  gender  is  made  between  things  with  life  and 
things  without  life.  When  they  speak  of  a  stone  they  employ 
a  form  which  expresses  the  inanimate  character  of  the  stone; 
in  the  same  way,  when  they  speak  of  a  dog  they  use  another  form 
which  indicates  the  animate  nature  of  the  dog.  Accordingly, 
when  they  refer  to  the  manitou  in  the  sense  of  a  virtue,  a  property, 
an  abstraction,  they  employ  the  form  expressive  of  inanimate 
gender.  When  the  manitou  becomes  associated  with  an  object, 
then  the  gender  becomes  less  definite.  Some  reasons  for  this 
confusion  will  become  evident  farther  on. 

When  the  property  becomes  the  indwelling  element  of  an 
object,  then  it  is  natural  to  identify  the  property  with  animate 
being.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  being  shall  be  the  tangible 
representative  of  a  natural  object.  To  illustrate  a  concrete  in- 
stance of  this  sentiment,  here  is  the  comment  made  by  a  Fox 
apropos  of  an  experience  in  the  sweat  lodge:  "Often  one  Will 
cut  one's  self  over  the  arms  and  legs,  slitting  one's  self  only 
through  the  skin.  It  is  done  to  open  up  many  passages  for  the 
manitou  to  pass  into  the  body.  The  manitou  comes  from  the 
place  of  its  abode  in  the  stone.  It  becomes  roused  by  the  heat  of 
the  fire,  and  proceeds  out  of  the  stone  when  the  water  is  sprinkled 
on  it.  It  comes  out  in  the  steam,  and  in  the  steam  it  enters  the 
body  wherever  it  finds  entrance.  It  moves  up  and  down  and  all 
over  inside  the  body,  driving  out  everything  that  inflicts  pain. 
Before  the  manitou  returns  to  the  stone  it  imparts  some  of  its 
nature  to  the  body.  That  is  why  one  feels  so  well  after  having 
been  in  the  sweat  lodge." 

The  sentiment  behind  the  words  rests  upon  the  consciousness 
of  a  belief  in  an  objective  presence;  it  rests  on  the  sense  of  an 
existing  reality  with  the  quality  of  self-dependence;  it  rests  on 
the  perception  of  a  definite,  localized  personality.  Yet  at  the 


686  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

same  time  there  is  the  feeling  that  the  apprehended  reality  is 
without  form  and  without  feature.  This  is  the  dominant  notion 
in  regard  to  the  virtue  abiding  in  the  stone  of  the  sweat  lodge; 
it  takes  on  the  character  of  conscious  personality  with  some 
attributes  of  immanence  and  design. 

Falling  in  line  with  what  has  just  gone  before  is  the  belief 
that  the  virtue  can  be  transferred  from  one  object  to  another. 
The  virtue  in  both  objects  is  of  the  same  fundamental  nature, 
but  of  different  degree  and  of  unequal  value.  In  the  transfer, 
the  virtue  of  one  object  reinforces  that  of  the  other.  Such  is 
the  idea  implied  in  the  following  abridged  narrative. 

A  body  of  Sauks  had  wandered  out  on  the  Plains  in  search  of 
buffalo.  While  approaching  a  vast  herd  they  came  unexpectedly 
upon  some  Comanches  who  were  much  fewer  than  they  and  who 
were  creeping  upon  the  same  herd.  The  Sauks  rushed  them,  and 
the  Comanches  at  once  took  to  flight.  But  in  the  pursuit  the 
Sauks  were  delayed  by  a  lone  Comanche.  He  had  chosen  to  sacri- 
fice his  life  in  order  to  give  his  comrades  a  chance  to  escape.  He 
accomplished  his  purpose.  The  man's  deed  and  the  bravery  he 
displayed  aroused  a  feeling  of  admiration  from  his  foes.  And 
out  of  honor  for  the  man  they  chose  not  to  take  his  scalp  nor 
to  count  coup  upon  him.  But  instead  they  cut  out  his  heart. 
Passing  it  around,  they  all  ate  of  it. 

So  much  for  the  narrative  in  brief.  To  the  Algonkin  the 
heart  was  endued  with  the  manitou,  the  sense  of  the  manitou 
being  an  impersonal  essence,  a  supernatural  virtue.  The  men 
ate  the  heart  to  get  its  supernatural  quality.  They  believed  that 
the  quality  was  what  made  the  Comanche  so  brave,  and  that  by 
eating  the  heart  they  could  come  into  possession  of  its  quality. 
They  felt  that  it  would  react  upon  them  in  the  same  way  as  it 
had  upon  the  Comanche;  and  furthermore,  that  the  combined 
effect  of  the  quality  within  them  and  what  was  in  the  Comanche 
would  render  it  possible  for  them  to  become  better  fighters  than 
they  could  otherwise  have  become.  The  example  betrays  the 
reliance  placed  upon  the  help  of  the  cosmic  substance  rather  than 
upon  human  aid.  The  reliance  does  not  rest  upon  a  random  hope, 
but  on  an  assurance  that  the  expected  will  come  to  pass  with  a 
happy  result. 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  687 

It  is  natural  to  confuse  the  property  with  an  object  containing 
the  property.  The  confusion  is  frequently  met  with  in  what  are 
considered  mediums  of  manifestations.  For  instance,  there  is 
an  Algonkin  story  which  contains  an  episode  of  the  cosmic  hero 
taking  upon  himself  the  form  of  a  pretty  maiden.  The  girl 
comes  to  a  lodge  where  she  is  entertained  by  an  aged  woman. 
The  old  woman  prepares  two  grains  of  corn  and  a  bean,  and 
putting  them  into  a  small  bowl,  invites  the  girl  to  eat.  The  girl 
nibbles  one  grain  at  a  time,  and  for  every  grain  that  is  taken  out, 
there  is  always  another  to  take  its  place.  Finally  the  girl  eats 
up  the  food  and  returns  the  vessel  empty  to  the  hostess.  The  old 
woman  looks  with  wonder  at  the  empty  bowl,  and  then  turning 
to  the  girl,  remarks,  "You  must  be  a  manitou !" 

It  is  desirable  to  point  out  two  arrestive  features,  arrestive  to 
the  sense  of  an  Algonkin  who  is  a  passive,  uncritical  listener  to 
the  tale.  One  is  the  continued  multiplication  of  the  food,  and 
the  other  is  the  interruption  of  the  performance.  One's  uncon- 
scious feeling  about  the  food  is  that  its  recurrence  was  due  to 
the  work  of  the  impersonal,  mystic  property  with  which  the  food 
.was  charged  and  because  of  which  it  was  replenished ;  and  that 
the  amazement  of  the  old  woman  was  due  to  the  surprise  felt 
at  the  sight  of  a  miraculous  interruption  of  a  miraculous  multiply- 
ing process.  She  laid  the  cause  to  the  girl,  whom  she  addressed 
as  an  animate  form  of  the  substance.  Naming  her  an  animate 
manitou  was  the  same  as  making  the  property  and  the  creature 
one  and  the  same  thing. 

Here  is  another  story  which  illustrates  the  ambiguity,  but  in 
a  different  relation.  It  is  the  story  of  a  man  and  his  wife  who 
had  gone  off  on  a  distant  hunt  for  game.  One  evening  they 
caught  sight  of  some  Sioux  who  had  been  shadowing  them.  In 
the  gathering  darkness  and  during  a  drizzling  rain  they  set  out 
in  flight.  The  Sioux  were  moving  about  them  on  every  side,  and 
were  signalling  back  and  forth  with  the  cries  of  birds  and 
animals  in  an  effort  to  locate  the  pair. 

Despairing  of  escape  by  their  own  help,  the  man  and  his  wife 
stopped  and  dismounted.  The  man  was  not  able  to  get  into 
rapport  with  the  mystery,  and  so  called  upon  his  wife.  In  a 
little  while  she  heard  words  coming  to  her  from  on  high.  They 


688  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

were  words  spoken  to  her  by  her  elder  brother  when  she  was 
a  child ;  he  had  spoken  them  during  a  fast  and  on  the  day  he  had 
died.  They  were:  "If  ever  in  the  course  of  your  life  you  meet 
with  adversity,  then  think  of  me."  With  these  words  were  others 
telling  how  she  and  her  husband  should  escape.  The  story  goes 
on  to  tell  how  the  pair  followed  the  advice  and  how  they  made 
their  escape. 

The  story  has  one  purpose :  it  is  to  tell  of  deliverance  by  the 
help  of  a  transcendent  agency ;  in  this  case  it  is  an  elder  brother 
who  comes  as  a  mystic  apparition  invested  with  the  cosmic  sub- 
stance, and  having  the  attribute  of  prophecy  and  guidance. 

Further  instances  of  the  confusion  are  to  be  found  in  the 
narratives  of  individual  experiences  in  trance  and  dream  trans- 
port. Boys  and  girls  begin  early  to  practice  seclusion,  and  at  the 
time  refrain  from  touching  food.  During  the  earlier  periods 
the  fasting  is  of  short  duration,  and  with  hardly  any  further 
meaning  than  that  of  a  preparation  for  the  ordeals  yet  to  come ; 
the  performance  becomes  more  serious  during  adolescence,  and 
it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  during  maturity.  One  then  fasts 
and  keeps  vigil  in  the  hope  of  gaining  insight  into  the  mystery 
of  life.  One  adjusts  one's  self  to  a  particular  mental  attitude, 
and  so  goes  seriously  prepared  to  see,  to  hear,  and  to  feel.  In 
this  mental  condition  one  sometimes  sees  strange  objects,-  one 
sometimes  hears  prophetic  warnings,  and  one  sometimes  feels 
the  spell  of  an  all-pervading  presence.  It  is  during  one  or  more 
of  these  experiences  that  one  is  said  to  come  into  possession  of 
hidden  revelation. 

Vision  does  not  come  to  every  one  that  fasts.  But  when  one 
is  fortunate  enough  to  experience  a  mystic  transport  at  the  sight 
of  something  animate,  or  inanimate,  then  one  is  apt  to  make  that 
object  an  ideal  of  divine  guidance.  Of  or  through  it  one  invokes 
aid  in  the  critical  moments  of  life.  It  is  not  easy  for  an  Algonkin 
to  convey  a  definite  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  object:  it  may  be 
the  inanimate,  mystic  property,  or  it  may  be  a  medium  of  the 
property.  Much  depends  upon  what  the  individual  reads  into 
the  manifestation,  and  this  in  turn  is  colored  by  instruction 
received  before  the  transport. 

Some,  however,  do  not  see  the  objects  themselves,  but  they 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  689 

hear  their  sounds  or  their  voices.  To  judge  from  the  testimony 
of  individuals  who  have  had  the  transport,  it  would  seem  that 
it  is  more  common  to  hear  than  to  see.  The  words  caught  con- 
vey a  profound  sense  of  authority ;  they  must  influence  the  course 
of  one's  actions.  It  is  from  this  kind  of  experience  that  some 
claim  to  have  derived  sacred  songs  and  forms  of  ritual.  It  was 
from  this  source  that  came  the  Ghost-dance,  at  least  so  was  it 
taught  the  Sauk,  Fox,  and  Kickapoo.  Its  ritual,  its  songs,  its 
step,  its  teaching  were  all  said  to  have  been  revealed  to  a  young 
woman,  who  in  turn  transmitted  it  all  to  the  people  of  her  nation. 

The  most  common  experience  seems  to  be  that  of  being  over- 
whelmed by  an  all-encompassing  presence.  It  is  an  experience 
least  susceptible  of  an  articulate  report,  and  yet  it  is  the  one 
looked  upon  as  the  source  of  greatest  authority.  It  is  not  easy 
to  induce  an  Algonkin  to  speak  of  any  of  these  experiences.  It 
is  even  urged  upon  the  individual  never  to  reveal  the  details 
except  on  particular  occasions,  and  in  critical  moments  like  that 
of  approaching  death.  Many  of  them,  however,  have  passed  into 
tradition,  and  here  is  the  shortened  account  of  one  of  the 
experiences : — 

A  youth  once  accompanied  a  party  of  warriors  on  a  raid 
against  a  people  of  the  Plains.  The  party  was  beaten  and  the 
youth  was  killed.  In  accordance  with  an  Algonkin  custom,  the 
family  of  the  slain  adopted  another  youth  to  take  the  place  left 
vacant  by  death.  The  adopted  youth  had  been  a  bosom  friend 
of  the  slain.  The  act  of  his  adoption  placed  upon  him  the 
responsibility  of  avenging  the  death  of  his  friend. 

Before  entering  upon  the  mission  he  went,  as  was  the  custom, 
into  a  fast,  that  he  might  obtain  mystic  guidance.  Accordingly, 
so  goes  the  story,  the  youth  had  a  vision,  and  there  was  open  to 
him  a  view  of  the  battlefield  where  his  friend  had  been  slain,  of 
the  location  of  the  enemy  that  had  caused  the  death,  and  of  the 
path  to  be  taken  in  order  to  come  upon  the  foe.  And  in  the  vision 
he  saw  himself  eating  of  the  enemy.  This  last  was  for  him  a 
symbol  that  his  mission  would  have  a  happy  issue. 

The  narrative  is  typical  of  the  more  usual  forms  of  revelation. 
The  youth  had  gone  primed  to  meet  with  a  particular  experience  ; 
he  received  tidings  of  just  the  sort  of  thing  he  was  looking  for. 


690  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

It  is  not  easy  to  find  out  how  much  of  this  sort  of  thing  is  fraud. 
Beyond  doubt  there  is  some  fabrication,  and  much  is  read  into 
an  experience ;  but  there  is  also  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  seldom 
done  with  intent;  and  that  it  is  usually  the  result  of  an  uncon- 
scious self-deception.  The  visitation  is  attributed  to  animate 
beings.  "The  manitou  beings  have  taken  pity  upon  me"  is  the 
stock  phrase  uttered  by  one  coming  out  of  such  a  vision.  These 
"beings"  are  not  tangible  realities.  The  term  manitou  beings 
is  but  an  intelligible  form  of  expressing  the  exciting  cause;  it 
is  more  natural  to  identify  the  communication  with  animate 
beings,  in  spite  of  the  consciousness  that  the  beings  themselves 
are  vague  and  inarticulate. 

There  is  no  doubt  in  an  Algonkin's  mind  about  the  reality  of 
these  revelations;  the  feeling  that  one  saw  something  arrestive, 
that  one  heard  impressive  voices,  that  one  was  overcome  by  an 
objective,  mysterious  presence  is  proof  enough  to  establish  the 
reality  of  the  revelation.  But  it  is  doubtful  if  an  Algonkin  would 
think  of  going  into  the  question  of  authority.  One  is  sure  of  it, 
but  why,  one  does  not  know,  any  more  than  that  it  is  the  inspired 
assurance  of  a  transcendent  agency. 

The  interpretation  of  the  cause  of  the  revelation  varies  with 
individuals.  If  the  cause  is  something  present  to  the  thought, 
then  it  is  likely  the  work  of  the  mystic  activity.  This  is  the 
interpretation  sometimes  given  by  one  who  has  been  overcome 
by  the  presence  of  the  mystery  without  form  and  without  feature. 
In  another  sense  and  one  more  frequent,  it  is  the  effect  of  the 
combined  presence  of  all  the  manitou  beings  taken  together.  If 
the  object  of  the  revelation  be  present  to  the  sense,  then  the  inter- 
pretation is  liable  to  confusion.  For  instance,  if  the  revealing 
object  be  an  owl,  then  the  interpretation  is  likely  to  take  one  or 
the  other  of  these  two  forms :  either  the  owl  is  a  vessel  or  con- 
veyance of  the  property;  or  else  the  owl  is  the  property  itself.  In 
the  first  case,  the  manitou  manifests  itself  through  the  agency  of 
an  owl.  The  motion  here  of  a  difference  between  the  object  and 
what  it  contains  differentiates  the  vessel  from  the  property.  In 
the  other  case,  the  property  becomes  so  intimately  associated  with 
the  object  that  the  object  and  the  property  come  to  be  one  and 
the  same.  The  confusion  of  the  object  and  the  property  does 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  691 

away  with  the  consciousness  of  any  differentiation.  The  personi- 
fication is  easy  and  of  unconscious  mould.  The  notion  that  the 
object  and  the  property  are  one  and  the  same  thing  is  the  inter- 
pretation one  more  commonly  meets  with.  The  sense  of  incon- 
gruity or  improbability  does  not  enter  to  disturb  the  mind. 

So  universal  and  easy  is  this  lack  of  mental  discrimination 
that  it  is  no  trouble  for  an  Algonkin  to  invest  an  object  with  the 
mystic  substance,  and  then  call  the  object  by  the  name  of  the 
substance.  The  process  suggests  a  possible  explanation  of  how 
an  Algonkin  comes  to  people  his  world  with  manitou  forces 
different  in  kind  and  degree;  it  explains  in  some  measure  the 
supernatural  performances  of  mythological  beings,  the  beings  that 
move  in  the  form  of  men,  beasts,  birds,  fishes,  and  other  objects 
of  nature.  All  these  are  a  collection  of  agencies.  Each  possesses 
a  virtue  in  common  with  all  the  rest,  and  in  so  far  do  they  all 
have  certain  marks  of  agreement.  Where  one  differs  from  an- 
other it  is  in  the  nature  of  its  function,  and  in  the  degree  of  the 
possession  of  the  cosmic  substance.  But  the  investment  of  a 
common,  mystic  virtue  gives  them  all  a  common  name,  and  that 
name  is  manitou. 

The  emotional  effect  produced  by  the  strange  but  sincere 
regard  for  the  manitou  explains  much  of  the  esoteric  sentiment 
felt  for  a  myth,  a  tradition,  a  form  of  ritual,  or  anything  what- 
soever connected  with  a  ceremonial  practice.  An  Algonkin 
holds  that  the  proper  time  to  recite  a  myth  is  in  winter,  and  that 
its  recitation  shall  be  attended  with  some  kind  of  formality;  and 
that  to  tell  a  myth  out  of  season  and  without  formality  is  to  take 
chances  with  something  beyond  human  power.  It  requires  but 
a  gentle  scare  to  set  one  who  has  committed  the  infraction  into 
a  state  of  mental  confusion.  The  sentiment  behind  the  myth 
rests  on  the  na'ive  belief  that  the  myth  may  be  either  the  super- 
natural property  or  an  agent  of  the  property.  Hence,  to  play 
lightly  with  it  is  like  playing  lightly  with  any  other  idealized 
object  associated  with  the  supernatural  substance.  The  infraction 
creates  a  feeling  of  unrest,  a  disturbing  sense  of  insecurity. 

In  the  same  way  one  needs  to  seek  for  a  psychological  reason 
to  explain  why  an  Algonkin  feels  reluctant  to  speak  about  a 
sacred  ceremony  except  in  moments  propitious  and  opportune. 


692  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  ceremonial  lodge  is  a  holy  symbol ;  it  means  a  place  where 
one  can  enter  into  communication  with  higher  powers,  where 
with  sacrifice  and  offering,  with  music  and  dance  one  obtains 
audience  and  can  ask  for  things  beyond  human  control ;  it  means 
a  place  where  one  can  forget  the  material  world  and  enjoy  the 
experience  of  that  magic  spell  which  one  feels  is  the  sign  that  not 
only  is  one  in  the  presence  of  the  supernatural  property,  but  in 
that  of  the  beings  who  hold  it  in  high  degree.  It  is  a  function 
with  a  very  definite  purpose.  It  is  to  invoke  the  presence  of  an 
objective  reality;  the  objectified  ideal  may  be  animate  or  inani- 
mate. And  the  effect  is  in  the  nature  of  a  pleasing  thrill,  a  sense 
of  resignation,  a  consolation.  This  effect  is  the  proof  of  the 
presence  of  the  manitou. 

It  has  thus  been  observed  that  there  is  an  unsystematic  belief 
in  a  cosmic,  mysterious  property  which  is  believed  to  be  existing 
everywhere  in  nature;  that  the  conception  of  the  property  can  be 
thought  of  as  impersonal,  but  that  it  becomes  obscure  and  con- 
fused when  the  property  becomes  identified  with  objects  in 
nature;  that  it  manifests  itself  in  various  forms;  and  that  its 
emotional  effect  awakens  a  sense  of  mystery ;  that  there  is  a  lively 
appreciation  of  its  miraculous  efficacy ;  and  that  its  interpretation 
is  not  according  to  any  regular  rule,  but  is  based  on  one's  feelings 
rather  than  on  one's  knowledge. 

Such  in  very  brief  statement  is  the  conception  of  the  manitou 
of  three  Algonkin  peoples, — the  Sank,  Fox,  and  Kickapoo.  It 
seems  probable  that  the  same  thing  holds  true  of  other  Algon- 
kins,  like  the  Ojibwas,  Ottawas,  Menominees,  and  others  of  the 
central  group.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if  the  same 
conception  in  its  general  features  extends  to  all  other  members 
of  the  family. — WILLIAM  JONES,  Journal  of  American  Folk-Lore, 
18 : 183-90. 

ANIMISM 

Are  there,  or  have  there  been,  tribes  of  men  so  low  in  culture 
as  to  have  no  religious  conceptions  whatever?  This  is  practically 
the  question  of  the  universality  of  religion,  which  for  so  many 
centuries  has  been  affirmed  and  denied,  with  a  confidence  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  imperfect  evidence  on  which  both  affirma- 
tion and  denial  have  been  based.  Ethnographers,  if  looking  to  a 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  693 

theory  of  development  to  explain  civilization,  and  regarding  its 
successive  stages  as  arising  one  from  another,  would  receive 
with  peculiar  interest  accounts  of  tribes  devoid  of  all  religion. 
Here,  they  would  naturally  say,  are  men  who  have  no  religion 
because  their  forefathers  had  none,  men  who  represent  a  prse- 
religious  condition  of  the  human  race,  out  of  which  in  the  course 
of  time  religious  conditions  have  arisen.  It  does  not,  however, 
seem  advisable  to  start  from  this  ground  in  an  investigation  of 
religious  development.  Though  the  theoretical  niche  is  ready 
and  convenient,  the  actual  statue  to  fill  it  is  not  forthcoming.  The 
case  is  in  some  degree  similar  to  that  of  the  tribes  asserted  to 
exist  without  language  or  without  the  use  of  fire ;  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  things  seems  to  forbid  the  possibility  of  such  existence, 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  tribes  are  not  found.  Thus  the  asser- 
tion that  rude  non-religious  tribes  have  been  known  in  actual 
existence,  though  in  theory  possible,  and  perhaps  in  fact  true, 
does  not  at  present  rest  on  that  sufficient  proof  which,  for  an 
exceptional  state  of  things,  we  are  entitled  to  demand. 

It  is  not  unusual  for  the  very  writer  who  declares  in  general 
terms  the  absence  of  religious  phenomena  among  some  savage 
people,  himself  to  give  evidence  that  shows  his  expressions  to  be 
misleading.  Thus  Dr.  Lang  not  only  declares  that  the  aborigines 
of  Australia  have  no  idea  of  a  supreme  divinity,  creator,  and 
judge,  no  object  of  worship,  no  idol,  temple,  or  sacrifice,  but  that 
'in  short,  they  have  nothing  whatever  of  the  character  of  religion, 
or  of  religious  observance,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  beasts 
that  perish.'  More  than  one  writer  has  since  made  use  of  this 
telling  statement,  but  without  referring  to  certain  details  which 
occur  in  the  very  same  book.  From  these  it  appears  that  a  disease 
like  small-pox,  which  sometimes  attacks  the  natives,  is  ascribed 
by  them  'to  the  influence  of  Budyah,  an  evil  spirit  who  delights 
in  mischief;'  that  when  the  natives  rob  a  wild  bees'  hive,  they 
generally  leave  a  little  of  the  honey  for  Buddai ;  that  at  certain 
biennial  gatherings  of  the  Queensland  tribes,  young  girls  are 
slain  in  sacrifice  to  propitiate  some  evil  divinity ;  and  that,  lastly, 
according  to  the  evidence  of  the  Rev.  W.  Ridley,  'whenever  he 
has  conversed  with  the  aborigines,  he  found  them  to  have  definite 
traditions  concerning  supernatural  beings — Baiame,  whose  voice 


694  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

they  hear  in  thunder,  and  who  made  all  things,  Turramullun  the 
chief  of  demons,  who  is  the  author  of  disease,  mischief,  and  wis- 
dom, and  appears  in  the  form  of  a  serpent  at  their  great  assem- 
blies, &c.'  By  the  concurring  testimony  of  a  crowd  of  observers, 
it  is  known  that  the  natives  of  Australia  were  at  their  discovery, 
and  have  since  remained,  a  race  with  minds  saturated  with  the 
most  vivid  belief  in  souls,  demons,  and  deities.  In  Africa,  Mr. 
Moffat's  declaration  as  to  the  Bechuanas  is  scarcely  less  sur- 
prising— that  'man's  immortality  was  never  heard  of  among  that 
people/  he  having  remarked  in  the  sentence  next  before,  that 
the  word  for  the  shades  or  manes  of  the  dead  is  'liriti.'  In  South 
America,  again,  Don  Felix  de  Azara  comments  on  the  positive 
falsity  of  the  ecclesiastics'  assertion  that  the  native  tribes  have  a 
religion.  He  simply  declares  that  they  have  none;  nevertheless 
in  the  course  of  his  work  he  mentions  such  facts  as  that  the  Paya- 
guas  bury  arms  and  clothing  with  their  dead  and  have  some 
notions  of  a  future  life,  and  that  the  Guanas  believe  in  a  Being 
who  rewards  good  and  punishes  evil.  In  fact,  this  author's  reck- 
less denial  of  religion  and  law  to  the  lower  races  of  this  region 
justifies  D'Orbigny's  sharp  criticism,  that  'this  is  indeed  what 
he  says  of  all  the  nations  he  describes,  while  actually  proving 
the  contrary  of  his  thesis  by  the  very  facts  he  alleges  in  its 
support.' 

Such  cases  show  how  deceptive  are  judgments  to  which 
breadth  and  generality  are  given  by  the  use  of  wide  words  in 
narrow  senses.  Lang,  Moffat,  and  Azara.  are  authors  to  whom 
ethnography  owes  much  valuable  knowledge  of  the  tribes  they 
visited,  but  they  seem  hardly  to  have  recognized  anything  short 
of  the  organized  and  established  theology  of  the  higher  races 
as  being  religion  at  all.  They  attribute  irreligion  to  tribes  whose 
doctrines  are  unlike  theirs,  in  much  the  same  manner  as  theo- 
logians have  so  often  attributed  atheism  to  those  whose  deities 
differed  from  their  own,  from  the  time  when  the  ancient  invading 
Aryans  described  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  India  as  adeva,  i.  e.  'god- 
less,' and  the  Greeks  fixed  the  corresponding  term  ddeoi  on  the 
early  Christians  as  unbelievers  in  the  classic  gods,  to  the  com- 
paratively modern  ages  when  disbelievers  in  witchcraft  and  apos- 
tolical succession  were  denounced  as  atheists;  and  down  to  our 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  695 

own  day,  when  controversialists  are  apt  to  infer,  as  in  past  cen- 
turies, that  naturalists  who  support  a  theory  of  development  of 
species  therefore  necessarily  hold  atheistic  opinions.  These  are 
in  fact  but  examples  of  a  general  perversion  of  judgment  in 
theological  matters,  among  the  results  of  which  is  a  popular  mis- 
conception of  the  religions  of  the  lower  races,  simply  amazing  to 
students  who  have  reached  a  higher  point  of  view.  Some  mis- 
sionaries, no  doubt,  thoroughly  understand  the  minds  of  the 
savages  they  are  to  deal  with,  and  indeed  it  is  from  men  like 
Cranz,  Dobrizhoffer,  Charlevoix,  Ellis,  Hardy,  Callaway,  J.  L. 
Wilson,  T.  Williams,  that  we  have  obtained  our  best  knowledge 
of  the  lower  phases  of  religious  belief.  But  for  the  most  part 
the  'religious  world'  is  so  occupied  in  hating  and  despising  the 
beliefs  of  the  heathen  whose  vast  regions  of  the  globe  are  painted 
black  on  the  missionary  maps,  that  they  have  little  time  or  capacity 
left  to  understand  them.  It  cannot  be  so  with  those  who  fairly 
seek  to  comprehend  the  nature  and  meaning  of  the  lower  phases 
of  religion.  These,  while  fully  alive  to  the  absurdities  believed 
and  the  horrors  perpetrated  in  its  name,  will  yet  regard  with 
kindly  interest  all  record  of  men's  earnest  seeking  after  truth 
with  such  light  as  they  could  find.  Such  students  will  look  for 
meaning,  however  crude  and  childish,  at  the  root  of  doctrines 
often  most  dark  to  the  believers  who  accept  them  most  zealously ; 
they  will  search  for  the  reasonable  thought  which  once  gave  life 
to  observances  now  become  in  seeming  or  reality  the  most  abject 
and  superstitious  folly.  The  reward  of  these  enquirers  will  be  a 
more  rational  comprehension  of  the  faiths  in  whose  midst  they 
dwell,  for  no  more  can  he  who  understands  but  one  religion 
understand  even  that  religion,  than  the  man  who  knows  but  one 
language  can  understand  that  language.  No  religion  of  mankind 
lies  in  utter  isolation  from  the  rest,  and  the  thoughts  and  princi- 
ples of  modern  Christianity  are  attached  to  intellectual  clues 
which  run  back  through  far  prae-Christian  ages  to  the  very  origin 
of  human  civilization,  perhaps  even  of  human  existence. 

While  observers  who  have  had  fair  opportunities  of  studying 
the  religions  of  savages  have  thus  sometimes  done  scant  justice 
to  the  facts  before  their  eyes,  the  hasty  denials  of  others  who 
have  judged  without  even  facts  can  carry  no  great  weight.  A 


696  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

i6th  century  traveller  gave  an  account  of  the  natives  of  Florida 
which  is  typical  of  such :  'Touching  the  religion  of  this  people, 
which  wee  have  found,  for  want  of  their  language  wee  could 
not  understand  neither  by  signs  nor  gesture  that  they  had  any 

religion  or  lawe  at  all We  suppose  that  they  have  no 

religion  at  all,  and  that  they  live  at  their  own  libertie.'  Better 
knowledge  of  these  Floridans  nevertheless  showed  that  they  had 
a  religion,  and  better  knowledge  has  reversed  many  another  hasty 
assertion  to  the  same  effect ;  as  when  writers  used  to  declare  that 
the  natives  of  Madagascar  had  no  idea  of  a  future  state,  and  no 
word  for  soul  or  spirit;  or  when  Dampier  enquired  after  the 
religion  of  the  natives  of  Timor,  and  was  told  that  they  had  none ; 
or  when  Sir  Thomas  Roe  landed  in  Saldanha  Bay  on  his  way  to 
the  court  of  the  Great  Mogul,  and  remarked  of  the  Hottentots 
that  'they  have  left  off  their  custom  of  stealing,  but  know  no  God 
or  religion.'  Among  the  numerous  accounts  collected  by  Sir 
John  Lubbock  as  evidence  bearing  on  the  absence  or  low  develop- 
ment of  religion  among  low  races,  some  may  be  selected  as  lying 
open  to  criticism  from  this  point  of  view.  Thus  the  statement 
that  the  Samoan  Islanders  had  no  religion  cannot  stand,  in  face 
of  the  elaborate  description  by  the  Rev.  G.  Turner  of  the  Samoan 
religion  itself;  and  the  assertion  that  the  Tupinambas  of  Brazil 
had  no  religion  is  one  not  to  be  received  on  merely  negative 
evidence,  for  the  religious  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Tupi 
race  have  been  recorded  by  Lery,  De  Laet,  and  other  writers. 
Even  with  much  time  and  care  and  knowledge  of  language,  it 
is  not  always  easy  to  elicit  from  savages  the  details  of  their 
theology.  They  try  to  hide  from  the  prying  and  contemptuous 
foreigner  their  worship  of  gods  who  seem  to  shrink,  like  their 
worshippers,  before  the  white  man  and  his  mightier  Deity.  Mr. 
Sproat's  experience  in  Vancouver's  Island  is  an  apt  example  of 
this  state  of  things.  He  says :  'I  was  two  years  among  the  Ahts, 
with  my  mind  constantly  directed  towards  the  subject  of  their 
religious  beliefs,  before  I  could  discover  that  they  possessed  any 
ideas  as  to  an  overruling  power  or  a  future  state  of  existence. 
The  traders  on  the  coast,  and  other  persons  well  acquainted  with 
the  people,  told  me  that  they  had  no  such  ideas,  and  this  opinion 
was  confirmed  by  conversation  with  many  of  the  less  intelligent 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  697 

savages ;  but  at  last  I  succeeded  in  getting  a  satisfactory  clue.'  It 
then  appeared  that  the  Ahts  had  all  the  time  been  hiding  a  whole 
characteristic  system  of  religious  doctrines  as  to  souls  and  their 
migrations,  the  spirits  who  do  good  and  ill  to  men,  and  the  great 
gods  above  all.  Thus,  even  where  no  positive  proof  of  religious 
ideas  among  any  particular  tribe  has  reached  us,  we  should  dis- 
trust its  denial  by  observers  whose  acquaintance  with  the  tribe  in 
question  has  not  been  intimate  as  well  as  kindly.  It  is  said  of 
the  Andaman  Islanders  that  they  have  not  the  rudest  elements 
of  a  religious  faith ;  yet  it  appears  that  the  natives  did  not  even 
display  to  the  foreigners  the  rude  music  which  they  actually 
possessed,  so  that  they  could  scarcely  have  been  expected  to 
be  communicative  as  to  their  theology,  if  they  had  any.  In  our 
time  the  most  striking  negation  of  the  religion  of  savage  tribes 
is  that  published  by  Sir  Samuel  Baker,  in  a  paper  read  in  1866 
before  the  Ethnological  Society  of  London,  as  follows :  'The 
most  northern  tribes  of  the  White  Nile  are  the  Dinkas,  Shillooks, 
Nuehr,  Kytch,  Bohr,  Aliab,  and  Shir.  A  general  description  will 
suffice  for  the  whole,  excepting  the  Kytch.  Without  any  excep- 
tion, they  are  without  a  belief  in  a  Supreme  Being,  neither  have 
they  any  form  of  worship  or  idolatry ;  nor  is  the  darkness  of  their 
minds  enlightened  by  even  a  ray  of  superstition.'  Had  this  dis- 
tinguished explorer  spoken  only  of  the  Latukas,  or  of  other  tribes 
hardly  known  to  ethnographers  except  through  his  own  inter- 
course with  them,  his  denial  of  any  religious  consciousness  to 
them  would  have  been  at  least  entitled  to  stand  as  the  best  pro- 
curable account,  until  more  intimate  communication  should  prove 
or  disprove  it.  But  in  speaking  thus  of  comparatively  well 
known  tribes  such  as  the  Dinkas,  Shilluks,  and  Nuehr,  Sir  S. 
Baker  ignores  the  existence  of  published  evidence,  such  as  de- 
scribes the  sacrifices  of  the  Dinkas,  their  belief  in  good  and  evil 
spirits  (adjok  and  djyok),  their  good  deity  and  heaven-dwell- 
ing creator,  Dendid,  as  likewise  Near  the  deity  of  the  Nuehr,  and 
the  Shilluks'  creator,  who  is  described  as  visiting,  like  other 
spirits,  a  sacred  wood  or  tree.  Kaufmann,  Brun-Rollet,  Lejean, 
and  other  observers,  had  thus  placed  on  record  details  of  the 
religion  of  these  White  Nile  tribes,  years  before  Sir  S.  Baker's 
rash  denial  that  they  had  any  religion  at  all. 


698  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  first  requisite  in  a  systematic  study  of  the  religions  of 
the  lower  races,  is  to  lay  down  a  rudimentary  definition  of 
religion.  By  requiring  in  this  definition  the  belief  in  a  supreme 
deity  or  of  judgment  after  death,  the  adoration  of  idols  or  the 
practice  of  sacrifice,  or  other  partially-diffused  doctrines  or  rites, 
no  doubt  many  tribes  may  be  excluded  from  the  category  of 
religious.  But  such  narrow  definition  has  the  fault  of  identify- 
ing religion  rather  with  particular  developments  than  with  the 
deeper  motive  which  underlies  them.  It  seems  best  to  fall  back 
at  once  on  this  essential  source,  and  simply  to  claim,  as  a  minimum 
definition  of  Religion,  the  belief  in  Spiritual  Beings.  If  this 
standard  be  applied  to  the  descriptions  of  low  races  as  to  religion, 
the  following  results  will  appear.  It  cannot  be  positively  asserted 
that  every  existing  tribe  recognizes  the  belief  in  spiritual  beings, 
for  the  native  condition  of  a  considerable  number  is  obscure  in 
this  respect,  and  from  the  rapid  change  or  extinction  they  are 
undergoing,  may  ever  remain  so.  It  would  be  yet  more  un- 
warranted to  set  down  every  tribe  mentioned  in  history,  or  known 
to  us  by  the  discovery  of  antiquarian  relics,  as  necessarily  having 
possessed  the  defined  minimum  of  religion.  Greater  still  would 
be  the  unwisdom  of  declaring  such  a  rudimentary  belief  natural 
or  instinctive  in  all  human  tribes  of  all  times;  for  no  evidence 
justifies  the  opinion  that  man,  known  to  be  capable  of  so  vast  an 
intellectual  development,  cannot  have  emerged  from  a  non- 
religious  condition,  previous  to  that  religious  condition  in  which 
he  happens  at  present  to  come  with  sufficient  clearness  within  our 
range  of  knowledge.  It  is  desirable,  however,  to  take  our  basis 
of  enquiry  in  observation  rather  than  from  speculation.  Here,  so 
far  as  I  can  judge  from  the  immense  mass  of  accessible  evidence, 
we  have  to  admit  that  the  belief  in  spiritual  beings  appears  among 
all  low  races  with  whom  we  have  attained  to  thoroughly  intimate 
acquaintance;  whereas  the  assertion  of  absence  of  such  belief 
must  apply  either  to  ancient  tribes,  or  to  more  or  less  imperfectly 
described  modern  ones.  The  exact  bearing  of  this  state  of  things 
on  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  religion  may  be  thus  briefly  stated. 
Were  it  distinctly  proved  thar  non-religious  savages  exist  or  have 
existed,  these  might  be  at  least  plausibly  claimed  as  representa- 
tives of  the  condition  of  Man  before  he  arrived  at  the  religious 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  699 

stage  of  culture.  It  is  not  desirable,  however,  that  this  argument 
should  be  put  forward,  for  the  asserted  existence  of  the  non- 
religious  tribes  in  question  rests,  as  we  have  seen,  on  evidence 
often  mistaken  and  never  conclusive.  The  argument  for  the 
natural  evolution  of  religious  ideas  among  mankind  is  not  in- 
validated by  the  rejection  of  an  ally  too  weak  at  present  to  give 
effectual  help.  Non-religious  tribes  may  not  exist  in  our  day, 
but  the  fact  bears  no  more  decisively  on  the  development  of 
religion,  than  the  impossibility  of  finding  a  modern  English 
village  without  scissors  or  books  or  lucifer-matches  bears  on  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  time  when  no  such  things  existed  in  the  land. 

I  purpose  here,  under  the  name  of  Animism,  to  investigate  the 
deep-lying  doctrine  of  Spiritual  Beings,  which  embodies  the 
very  essence  of  Spiritualistic  as  opposed  to  Materialistic  phi- 
losophy. Animism  is  not  a  new  technical  term,  though  now  sel- 
dom used.  From  its  special  relation  to  the  doctrine  of  the  soul, 
it  will  be  seen  to  have  a  peculiar  appropriateness  to  the  view  here 
taken  of  the  mode  in  which  theological  ideas  have  been  developed 
among  mankind.  The  word  Spiritualism,  though  it  may  be,  and 
sometimes  is,  used  in  a  general  sense,  has  this  obvious  defect  to 
us,  that  it  has  become  the  designation  of  a  particular  modern 
sect,  who  indeed  hold  extreme  spiritualistic  views,  but  cannot  be 
taken  as  typical  representatives  of  these  views  in  the  world  at 
large.  The  sense  of  Spiritualism  in  its  wider  acceptation,  the 
general  belief  in  spiritual  beings,  is  here  given  to  Animism. 

Animism  characterizes  tribes  very  low  in  the  scale  of  hu- 
manity, and  thence  ascends,  deeply  modified  in  its  transmission, 
but  from  first  to  last  preserving  an  unbroken  continuity,  into  the 
midst  of  high  modern  culture.  Doctrines  adverse  to  it,  so 
largely  held  by  individuals  or  schools,  are  usually  due  not  to 
early  lowness  of  civilization,  but  to  later  changes  in  the  intel- 
lectual course,  to  divergence  from,  or  rejection  of,  ancestral 
faiths;  and  such  newer  developments  do  not  affect  the  present 
enquiry  as  to  the  fundamental  religious  condition  of  mankind. 
Animism  is,  in  fact,  the  groundwork  of  the  Philosophy  of  Re- 
ligion, from  that  of  savages  up  to  that  of  civilized  men.  And 
although  it  may  at  first  sight  seem  to  afford  but  a  bare  and 
meagre  definition  of  a  minimum  of  religion,  it  will  be  found  prac- 


700  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tically  sufficient ;  for  where  the  root  is,  the  branches  will  generally 
be  produced.  It  is  habitually  found  that  the  theory  of  Animism 
divides  into  two  great  dogmas,  forming  parts  of  one  consistent 
doctrine;  first,  concerning  souls  of  individual  creatures,  capable 
of  continued  existence  after  the  death  or  destruction  of  the  body ; 
second,  concerning  other  spirits,  upward  to  the  rank  of  powerful 
deities.  Spiritual  beings  are  held  to  affect  or  control  the  events 
of  the  material  world,  and  man's  life  here  and  hereafter;  and  it 
being  considered  that  they  hold  intercourse  with  men,  and  receive 
pleasure  or  displeasure  from  human  actions,  the  belief  in  their 
existence  leads  naturally,  and  it  might  almost  be  said  inevitably, 
sooner  or  later  to  active  reverence  and  propitiation.  Thus  Ani- 
mism in  its  full  development,  includes  the  belief  in  souls  and  in  a 
future  state,  in  controlling  deities  and  subordinate  spirits,  these 
doctrines  practically  resulting  in  some  kind  of  active  worship. 
One  great  element  of  religion,  that  moral  element  which  among 
the  higher  nations  forms  its  most  vital  part,  is  indeed  little  repre- 
sented in  the  religion  of  the  lower  races.  It  is  not  that  these 
races  have  no  moral  sense  or  no  moral  standard,  for  both  are 
strongly  marked  among  them,  if  not  in  formal  precept,  at  least 
in  that  traditional  consensus  of  society  which  we  call  public 
opinion,  according  to  which  certain  actions  are  held  to  be  good 
or  bad,  right  or  wrong.  It  is  that  the  conjunction  of  ethics  and 
Animistic  philosophy,  so  intimate  and  powerful  in  the  higher 
culture,  seems  scarcely  yet  to  have  begun  in  the  lower.  I  propose 
here  hardly  to  touch  upon  the  purely  moral  aspects  of  religion, 
but  rather  to  study  the  animism  of  the  world  so  far  as  it  consti- 
tutes, as  unquestionably  it  does  constitute,  an  ancient  and  world- 
wide philosophy,  of  which  belief  is  the  theory  and  worship  is 
the  practice.  Endeavouring  to  shape  the  materials  for  an  enquiry 
hitherto  strangely  undervalued  and  neglected,  it  will  now  be  my 
task  to  bring  as  clearly  as  may  be  into  view  the  fundamental 
animism  of  the  lower  races,  and  in  some  slight  and  broken  out- 
line to  trace  its  course  into  higher  regions  of  civilization.  Here 
let  me  state  once  for  all  two  principal  conditions  under  which  the 
present  research  is  carried  on.  First,  as  to  the  religious  doctrines 
and  practices  examined,  these  are  treated  as  belonging  to  theo- 
logical systems  devised  by  human  reason,  without  supernatural 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  701 

aid  or  revelation ;  in  other  words,  as  being  developments  of 
Natural  Religion.  Second,  as  to  the  connexion  between  similar 
ideas  and  rites  in  the  religions  of  the  savage  and  the  civilized 
world.  While  dwelling  at  some  length  on  doctrines  and  cere- 
monies of  the  lower  races,  and  sometimes  particularizing  for 
special  reasons  the  related  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of  the 
higher  nations,  it  has  not  seemed  my  proper  task  to  work  out  in 
detail  the  problems  thus  suggested  among  the  philosophies  and 
creeds  of  Christendom.  Such  applications,  extending  farthest 
from  the  direct  scope  of  a  work  on  primitive  culture,  are  briefly 
stated  in  general  terms,  or  touched  in  slight  allusion,  or  taken 
for  granted  without  remark.  Educated  readers  possess  the  in- 
formation required  to  work  out  their  general  bearing  on  theology, 
while  more  technical  discussion  is  left  to  philosophers  and  theo- 
logians specially  occupied  with  such  arguments. 

The  first  branch  of  the  subject  to  be  considered  is  the  doctrine 
of  human  and  other  Souls,  an  examination  of  which  will  occupy 
the  rest  of  the  present  chapter.  What  the  doctrine  of  the  soul 
is  among  the  lower  races,  may  be  explained  in  stating  the  ani- 
mistic theory  of  its  development.  It  seems  as  though  thinking 
men,  as  yet  at  a  low  level  of  culture,  were  deeply  impressed  by 
two  groups  of  biological  problems.  In  the  first  place,  what  is  it 
that  makes  the  difference  between  a  living  body  and  a  dead  one  ; 
what  causes  waking,  sleep,  trance,  disease,  death?  In  the  second 
place,  what  are  those  human  shapes  which  appear  in  dreams  and 
visions  ?  Looking  at  these  two  groups  of  phenomena,  the  ancient 
savage  philosophers  probably  made  their  first  step  by  the  obvious 
inference  that  every  man  has  two  things  belonging  to  him, 
namely,  a  life  and  a  phantom.  These  two  are  evidently  in  close 
connexion  with  the  body,  the  life  as  enabling  it  to  feel  and  think 
and  act,  the  phantom  as  being  its  image  or  second  self;  both, 
also,  are  perceived  to  be  things  separable  from  the  body,  the  life 
as  able  to  go  away  and  leave  it  insensible  or  dead,  the  phantom 
as  appearing  to  people  at  a  distance  from  it.  The  second  step 
would  seem  also  easy  for  savages  to  make,  seeing  how  extremely 
difficult  civilized  men  have  found  it  to  unmake.  It  is  merely  to 
combine  the  life  and  the  phantom.  As  both  belong  to  the  body, 
why  should  they  not  also  belong  to  one  another,  and  be  manifesta- 


702  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tations  of  one  and  the  same  soul?  Let  them  then  be  con- 
sidered as  united,  and  the  result  is  that  well-known  conception 
which  may  be  described  as  an  apparitional-soul,  a  ghost-soul. 
This,  at  any  rate,  corresponds  with  the  actual  conception  of  the 
personal  soul  or  spirit  among  the  lower  races,  which  may  be 
defined  as  follows :  It  is  a  thin  unsubstantial  human  image,  in  its 
nature  a  sort  of  vapour,  film,  or  shadow;  the  cause  of  life  and 
thought  in  the  individual  it  animates;  independently  possessing 
the  personal  consciousness  and  volition  of  its  corporeal  owner, 
past  or  present ;  capable  of  leaving  the  body  far  behind,  to  flash 
swiftly  from  place  to  place;  mostly  impalpable  and  invisible,  yet 
also  manifesting  physical  power,  and  especially  appearing  to  men 
waking  or  asleep  as  a  phantasm  separate  from  the  body  of  which 
it  bears  the  likeness ;  continuing  to  exist  and  appear  to  men  after 
the  death  of  that  body ;  able  to  enter  into,  possess,  and  act  in  the 
bodies  of  other  men,  of  animals,  and  even  of  things.  Though 
this  definition  is  by  no  means  of  universal  application,  it  has  suffi- 
cient generality  to  be  taken  as  a  standard,  modified  by  more  or 
less  divergence  among  any  particular  people.  Far  from  these 
world-wide  opinions  being  arbitrary  or  conventional  products, 
it  is  seldom  even  justifiable  to  consider  their  uniformity  among 
distant  races  as  proving  communication  of  any  sort.  They  are 
doctrines  answering  in  the  most  forcible  way  to  the  plain  evidence 
of  men's  senses,  as  interpreted  by  a  fairly  consistent  and  rational 
primitive  philosophy.  So  well,  indeed,  does  primitive  animism 
account  for  the  facts  of  nature,  that  it  has  held  its  place  into 
the  higher  levels  of  education.  Though  classic  and  mediaeval 
philosophy  modified  it  much,  and  modern  philosophy  has  handled 
it  yet  more  unsparingly,  it  has  so  far  retained  the  traces  of  its 
original  character,  that  heirlooms  of  primitive  ages  may  be 
claimed  in  the  existing  psychology  of  the  civilized  world.  Out 
of  the  vast  mass  of  evidence,  collected  among  the  most  various 
and  distant  races  of  mankind,  typical  details  may  now  be  selected 
to  display  the  earlier  theory  of  the  soul,  the  relation  of  the  parts 
of  this  theory,  and  the  manner  in  which  these  parts  have  been 
abandoned,  modified,  or  kept  up,  along  the  course  of  culture. 

To  understand  the  popular  conception  of  the  human  soul  or 
spirit,  it  is  instructive  to  notice  the  words  which  have  been  found 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  703 

suitable  to  express  it.  The  ghost  or  phantasm  seen  by  the 
dreamer  or  the  visionary  is  an  unsubstantial  form,  like  a  shadow 
or  reflexion,  and  thus  the  familiar  term  of  the  shade  comes  in 
to  express  the  soul.  Thus  the  Tasmanian  word  for  the  shadow 
is  also  that  for  the  spirit ;  the  Algonquins  describe  a  man's  soul  as 
otahchuk,  'his  shadow ;'  the  Quiche  language  uses  natub  for 
'shadow,  soul ;'  the  Arawak  ueja  means  'shadow,  soul,  image ;' 
the  Abipones  made  the  one  word  lodkal  serve  for  'shadow,  soul, 
echo,  image.'  The  Zulus  not  only  use  the  word  tunzi  for  'shadow, 
spirit,  ghost/  but  they  consider  that  at  death  the  shadow  01  a 
man  will  in  some  way  depart  from  the  corpse,  to  become  an  an- 
cestral spirit.  The  Basutos  not  only  call  the  spirit  remaining 
after  death  the  seriti  or  "shadow,'  but  they  think  that  if  a 
man  walks  on  the  river  bank,  a  crocodile  may  seize  his  shadow 
in  the  water  and  draw  him  in ;  while  in  Old  Calabar  there  is 
found  the  same  identification  of  the  spirit  with  the  ukpon  or 
'shadow,'  for  a  man  to  lose  which  is  fatal.  There  are  thus  found 
among  the  lower  races  not  only  the  types  of  those  familiar  classic 
terms,  the  skia  and  umbra,  but  also  what  seems  the  fundamental 
thought  of  the  stories  of  shadowless  men  still  current  in  the 
folklore  of  Europe,  and  familiar  to  modern  readers  in  Chamisso's 
tale  of  Peter  Schlemihl.  Thus  the  dead  in  Purgatory  knew  that 
Dante  was  alive  when  they  saw  that,  unlike  theirs,  his  figure 
cast  a  shadow  on  the  ground.  Other  attributes  are  taken  into 
the  notion  of  soul  or  spirit,  with  especial  regard  to  its  being 
the  cause  of  life.  Thus  the  Caribs,  connecting  the  pulses  with 
spiritual  beings,  and  especially  considering  that  in  the  heart 
dwells  man's  chief  soul,  destined  to  a  future  heavenly  life,  could 
reasonably  use  the  one  word  iouanni  for  'soul,  life,  heart.'  The 
Tongans  supposed  the  soul  to  exist  throughout  the  whole  ex- 
tension of  the  body,  but  particularly  in  the  heart.  On  one 
occasion,  the  natives  were  declaring  to  a  European,  that  a 
man  buried  months  ago  was  nevertheless  still  alive.  'And  one, 
endeavouring  to  make  me  understand  what  he  meant,  took  hold 
of  my  hand,  and  squeezing  it,  said:  "This  will  die,  but  the  life 
that  is  within  you  will  never  die;"  with  his  other  hand  pointing 
to  my  heart.'  So  the  Basutos  say  of  a  dead  man  that  his  heart 
is  gone  out,  and  of  one  recovering  from  sickness  that  his  heart 


704  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

is  coming  back.  This  corresponds  to  the  familiar  Old  World  view 
of  the  heart  as  the  prime  mover  in  life,  thought,  and  passion. 
The  connexion  of  soul  and  blood,  familiar  to  the  Karens  and 
Papuas,  appears  prominently  in  Jewish  and  Arabic  philosophy. 
To  educated  moderns  the  idea  of  the  Macusi  Indians  of  Guiana 
may  seem  quaint,  that  although  the  body  will  decay,  'the  man  in 
our  eyes'  will  not  die,  but  wander  about.  Yet  the  association 
of  personal  animation  with  the  pupil  of  the  eye  is  familiar  to 
European  folklore,  which  not  unreasonably  discerned  a  sign  of 
bewitchment  or  approaching  death  in  the  disappearance  of  the 
image,  pupil,  or  baby,  from  the  dim  eyeballs  of  the  sick  man. 
.  .  .  .  E.  B.  TYLOR,  Primitive  Culture,  I  '.41^-^1  (John  Mur- 
ray, 1891). 

[THE  "GHOST-THEORY"  OF  T»HE  ORIGIN  OF  RELIGION] 

THE    IDEAS    OF    SLEEP    AND    DREAMS 

A  conception  which  is  made  so  familiar  to  us  during  educa- 
tion that  we  mistake  it  for  an  original  and  necessary  one,  is  the 
conception  of  Mind,  as  an  internal  existence  distinct  from  body. 
The  hypothesis  of  a  sentient,  thinking  entity,  dwelling  within  a 
corporeal  framework,  is  now  so  deeply  woven  into  our  beliefs 
and  into  our  language,  that  we  can  scarcely  imagine  it  to  be  one 
which  the  primitive  man  did  not  entertain,  and  could  not  en- 
tertain. 

Yet  if  we  ask  what  is  given  in  experience  to  the  untaught  hu- 
man being,  we  find  that  there  is  nothing  to  tell  him  of  any  such 
existence.  From  moment  to  moment  he  sees  things  around, 
touches  them,  handles  them,  moves  them  hither  and  thither. 
He  knows  nothing  of  sensations  and  ideas — has  no  words  for 
them.  Still  less  has  he  any  such  highly-abstract  word  or  con- 
ception as  consciousness.  He  thinks  without  observing  that 
he  thinks ;  and  therefore  never  asks  how  he  thinks,  and  what  it 
is  which  thinks.  His  senses  make  him  conversant  only  with 
objects  externally  existing,  and  with  his  own  body;  and  he 
transcends  his  senses  only  far  enough  to  draw  concrete  inferences 
respecting  the  actions  of  these  objects.  An  invisible,  intangible 
entity,  such  as  Mind  is  supposed  to  be,  is  a  high  abstraction  un- 
thinkable by  him,  and  inexpressible  by  his  vocabulary. 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  705 

This,  which  is  obvious  a  priori,  is  verified  a  posteriori.  The 
savage  cannot  speak  of  internal  intuition,  except  in  terms  of 
external  intuition.  We  ourselves,  indeed,  when  saying  that  we 
see  something  that  has  been  clearly  explained,  or  grasp  an  argu- 
ment palpably  true,  still  express  mental  acts  by  words  originally 
used  to  express  bodily  acts.  And  this  use  of  words  implying 
vision  and  touch,  which  with  us  is  metaphorical,  is,  with  the 
savage,  not  distinguished  from  literal.  He  symbolizes  his  mind 
by  his  eye.  (See  Principles  of  Psychology,  §  404.) 

But  until  there  is  a  conception  of  Mind  as  an  internal  prin- 
ciple of  activity,  there  can  be  no  such  conception  of  dreams  as 
we  have.  To  interpret  the  sights  and  sayings  and  doings  we 
are  conscious  of  during  sleep,  as  activities  of  the  thinking  entity 
which  go  on  while  the  senses  are  closed,  is  impossible  until  the 
thinking  entity  is  postulated.  Hence  arises  the  inquiry — What 
explanation  is  given  of  dreams  before  the  conception  of  Mind 
exists? 

Hunger  and  repletion,  both  very  common  with  the  primitive 
man,  excite  dreams  of  great  vividness.  Now,  after  a  bootless 
chase  and  a  long  fast,  he  lies  exhausted;  and,  while  slumbering, 
goes  through  a  successful  hunt — kills,  skins,  and  cooks  his  prey, 
and  suddenly  wakes  when  about  to  taste  the  first  morsel.  To 
suppose  him  saying  to  himself — "It  was  all  a  dream,"  is  to  sup- 
pose him  already  in  possession  of  that  hypothesis  which  we  see 
he  cannot  have.  He  takes  the  facts  as  they  occur.  With  perfect 
distinctness  he  recalls  the  things  he  saw  and  the  actions  he  per- 
formed; and  he  accepts  undoubtingly  the  testimony  of  memory. 
True,  he  all  at  once  finds  himself  lying  still.  He  does  not  un- 
derstand how  the  change  took  place ;  but,  as  we  have  lately  seen, 
the  surrounding  world  familiarizes  him  with  unaccountable  ap- 
pearances and  disappearances,  and  why  should  not  this  be  one? 
If  at  another  time,  lying  gorged  with  food,  the  disturbance  of 
his  circulation  causes  nightmare — if,  trying  to  escape  and  being 
unable,  he  fancies  himself  in  the  clutches  of  a  bear,  and  wakes 
with  a  shriek;  why  should  he  conclude  that  the  shriek  was  not 
due  to  an  actual  danger?  Though  his  squaw  is  there  to  tell  him 
that  she  saw  no  bear,  yet  she  heard  his  shriek ;  and  like  him  has 
not  the  dimmest  notion  that  a  mere  subjective  state  can  produce 


706  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

such  an  effect — has,  indeed,  no  terms  in  which  to  frame  such  a 
notion. 

The  belief  that  dreams  are  actual  experiences  is  confirmed 
by  narrations  of  them  in  imperfect  language.  We  forget  that 
discriminations  easy  to  us,  are  impossible  to  those  who  have  but 
few  words,  all  concrete  in  their  meanings,  and  only  rude  prepo- 
sitional forms  in  which  to  combine  these  words.  When  we  read 
that  in  the  language  of  so  advanced  a  people  as  the  ancient 
Peruvians,  the  word  huaca  meant  "idol,  temple,  sacred  place, 
tomb,  hill,  figures  of  men  and  animals,"  we  may  judge  how  in- 
definite must  be  the  best  statements  which  the  vocabularies  of  the 
rudest  men  enabled  them  to  make.  When  we  read  of  an  exist- 
ing South  American  tribe,  that  the  proposition — "I  am  an  Abi- 
pone,"  is  expressible  only  in  the  vague  way — "I,  Abipone;"  we 
cannot  but  infer  that  by  such  undeveloped  grammatical 
structures,  only  the  simplest  thoughts  can  be  rightly  conveyed. 
When,  further,  we  learn  that  among  the  lowest  men  inadequate 
words  indefinitely  combined  are  also  imperfectly  pronounced,  as, 
for  instance,  among  the  Akka,  whose  speech  struck  Schwein- 
furth  by  its  inarticulateness,  we  recognize  a  third  cause  of  con- 
fusion. And  thus  prepared,  we  need  feel  no  surprise  on  being 
told  that  the  Zuni  Indians  require  "much  facial  contortion  and 
bodily  gesticulation  to  make  their  sentences  perfectly  intelli- 
gible;" that  the  language  of  the  Bushmen  needs  so  many  signs 
to  eke  out  its  meaning,  that  "they  are  unintelligible  in  the  dark ;" 
and  that  the  Arapahos  "can  hardly  converse  with  one  another  in 
the  dark."  If,  now,  remembering  all  this,  we  ask  what  must 
happen  when  a  dream  is  narrated  by  a  savage,  we  shall  see  that 
even  supposing  he  suspects  some  distinction  between  ideal  actions 
and  real  actions,  he  cannot  express  it.  His  language  does  not 
enable  him  to  say — "I  dreamt  that  I  saw,"  instead  of — "I  saw." 
Hence  each  relates  his  dreams  as  though  they  were  realities ;  and 
thus  strengthens  in  every  other,  the  belief  that  his  own  dreams 
are  realities. 

What  then  is  the  resulting  notion?  The  sleeper  on  awak- 
ing recalls  various  occurrences,  and  repeats  them  to  others.  He 
thinks  he  has  been  elsewhere ;  witnesses  say  he  has  not ;  and  their 
testimony  is  verified  by  finding  himself  where  he  was  when  he 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  707 

went  to  sleep.  The  simple  course  is  to  believe  both  that  he  has 
remained  and  that  he  has  been  away — that  he  has  two  individu- 
alities, one  of  which  leaves  the  other  and  presently  comes  back. 
He,  too,  has  a  double  existence,  like  many  other  things. 

From  all  quarters  come  proofs  that  this  is  the  conception 
actually  formed  of  dreams  by  savages,  and  which  survives  after 
considerable  advances  in  civilization  have  been  made.  Here  are 
a  few  of  the  testimonies. 

Schoolcraft  tells  us  that  the  North  American  Indians  in 
general,  think  "there  are  duplicate  souls,  one  of  which  remains 
with  the  body,  while  the  other  is  free  to  depart  on  excursions 
during  sleep;"  and,  according  to  Crantz,  the  Greenlanders  hold 
"that  the  soul  can  forsake  the  body  during  the  interval  of  sleep." 
The  theory  in  New  Zealand  is  "that  during  sleep  the  mind  left  the 
body,  and  that  dreams  are  the  objects  seen  during  its  wander- 
ings;" and  in  Fiji,  "it  is  believed  that  the  spirit  of  a  man  who 
still  lives  will  leave  the  body  to  trouble  other  people  when  asleep." 
Similarly  in  Borneo.  It  is  the  conviction  of  the  Dyaks  that  the 
soul  during  sleep  goes  on  expeditions  of  its  own,  and  "sees,  hears, 
and  talks."  Among  Hill-tribes  of  India,  such  as  the  Karens,  the 
same  doctrine  is  held:  their  statement  being  that  "in  sleep  it  [the 
La,  spirit  or  ghost]  wanders  away  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
our  dreams  are  what  the  La  sees  and  experiences  in  his  perambu- 
lations." By  the  ancient  Peruvians,  too,  developed  as  was  the 
social  state  they  had  reached,  the  same  interpretation  was  put 
upon  the  facts.  They  held  that  "the  soul  leaves  the  body  while 
it  is  sleeping.  They  asserted  that  the  soul  could  not  sleep,  and 
that  the  things  we  dream  are  what  the  soul  sees  in  the  world 
while  the  body  sleeps."  And  we  are  told  the  like  even  of  the 
Jews:  "Sleep  is  looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  death,  when  the  soul 
departs  from  the  body,  but  is  restored  again  in  awaking." 

Occurring  rarely,  it  may  be,  somnambulism  serves,  when  it 
does  occur,  to  confirm  this  interpretation.  For  to  the  uncritical, 
a  sleep-walker  seems  to  be  exemplifying  that  activity  during 
sleep,  which  the  primitive  conception  of  dreams  implies.  Each 
phase  of  somnambulism  furnishes  its  evidence.  Frequently  the 
sleeper  gets  up,  performs  various  actions,  and  returns  to  rest 
without  waking;  and,  recalling  afterwards  these  actions,  is  told 


708  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

by  witnesses  that  he  actually  did  the  things  he  thought  he  had 
been  doing.  What  construction  must  be  put  on  such  an  experi- 
ence by  primitive  men?  It  proves  to  the  somnambulist  that  he 
may  lead  an  active  life  during  his  sleep,  and  yet  find  himself 
afterwards  in  the  place  where  he  lay  down.  With  equal  con- 
clusiveness  it  proves  to  those  who  saw  him,  that  men  really  go 
away  during  their  sleep;  that  they  do  the  things  they  dream  of 
doing;  and  may  even  sometimes  be  visible.  True,  a  careful 
examination  of  the  facts  would  show  'that  in  this  case  the  man's 
body  was  absent  from  its  place  of  rest.  But  savages  do  not 
carefully  examine  the  facts.  Again,  in  cases  where  the  sleep- 
walker does  not  recollect  the  things  he  did,  there  is  still  the  tes- 
timony of  others  to  show  him1  that  he  was  not  quiescent ;  and 
occasionally  there  is  more.  When,  as  often  happens,  his  night- 
ramble  brings  him  against  an  obstacle  and  the  collision  wakes 
him,  he  has  a  demonstration  of  the  alleged  fact  that  he  goes 
hither  and  thither  during  sleep.  On  returning  to  his  sleeping- 
place  he  does  not,  indeed,  find  a  second  self  there;  but  this  dis- 
covery, irreconcilable  .with  the  accepted  notion,  simply  increases 
the  confusion  of  his  ideas  about  these  matters.  Unable  to  deny 
the  evidence  that  he  wanders  when  asleep,  he  takes  his  strange 
experience  in  verification  of  the  current  belief,  without  dwelling 
on  the  inconsistency. 

When  we  consider  what  tradition,  with  its  exaggerations,  is 
likely  to  make  of  these  abnormal  phenomena,  now  and  then  oc- 
curring, we  shall  see  that  the  primitive  interpretation  of  dreams 
must  receive  from  them  strong  support. 

Along  with  this  belief  there  of  course  goes  the  belief  that  per- 
sons dreamt  of  were  really  met.  If  the  dreamer  thinks  his  own 
actions  real,  he  ascribes  reality  to  whatever  he  saw — place,  thing, 
or  living  being.  Hence  a  group  of  facts  similarly  prevalent. 

Morgan  states  that  the  Iroquois  think  dreams  real,  and  obey 
their  injunctions — do  what  they  are  told  by  those  they  see  in 
dreams;  and  of  the  Chippewas,  Keating  asserts  that  they  fast 
for  the  purpose  of  "producing  dreams,  which  they  value  above 
all  things."  The  Malagasy  "have  a  religious  regard  to  dreams, 
and  think  that  the  good  daemon  ....  comes,  and  tells  them  in 
their  dreams  when  they  ought  to  do  a  thing,  or  to  warn  them  of 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  709 

some  danger."  The  Sandwich  Islanders  say  the  departed  mem- 
ber of  a  family  "appears  to  the  survivors  sometimes  in  a  dream, 
and  watches  over  their  destinies ;"  and  the  Tahitians  have  like 
beliefs.  In  Africa  it  is  the  same.  The  Congo  people  hold  that 
what  they  see  and  hear  in  "dreams  come  to  them  from  spirits;" 
and  among  East  Africans,  the  Wanika  believe  that  the  spirits  of 
the  dead  appear  to  the  living  in  dreams.  The  Kaffirs,  too,  "seem 
to  ascribe  dreams  in  general  to  the  spirits."  Abundant  evidence 
is  furnished  by  Bishop  Callaway  concerning  the  Zulus,  whose 
ideas  he  has  written  down  from  their  own  mouths.  Intelligent 
as  these  people  are,  somewhat  advanced  in  social  state,  and  hav- 
ing language  enabling  them  to  distinguish  between  dream-per- 
ceptions and  ordinary  perceptions,  we  nevertheless  find  among 
them  (joined  with  an  occasional  scepticism)  a  prevalent  belief 
that  the  persons  who  appear  in  dreams  are  real.  Out  of  many 
illustrations,  here  is  one  furnished  by  a  man  who  complains  that 
he  is  plagued  by  the  spirit  of  his  brother.  He  tells  his  neighbours : 
"  'I  have  seen  my  brother.'  They  ask  what  he  said.  He  says,  'I 
dreamed  that  he  was  beating  me,  and  saying,  "How  is  it  that  you 
do  no  longer  know  that  I  am?"  I  answered  him,  saying,  "When 
I  do  know  you,  what  can  I  do  that  you  may  see  I  know  you?  I 
know  that  you  are  my  brother."  He  answered  me  as  soon  as  I 
said  this,  and  asked,  "When  you  sacrifice  a  bullock,  why  do  you 
not  call  upon  me?"  I  replied,  "I  do  call  on  you,  and  laud  you  by 
your  laud-giving  names.  Just  tell  me  the  bullock  which  I  have 
killed,  without  calling  on  you.  For  I  killed  an  ox,  I  called  on 
you ;  I  killed  a  barren  cow,  I  called  on  you."  He  answered,  say- 
ing, "I  wish  for  meat."  I  refused  him,  saying,  "No,  my  brother, 
I  have  no  bullock ;  do  you  see  any  in  the  cattle-pen  ?"  He  replied, 
"Though  there  be  but  one,  I  demand  it."  When  I  awoke,  I  had 
a  pain  in  my  side.'  " 

Though  this  conception  of  a  dead  brother  as  a  living  being 
who  demands  meat,  and  inflicts  pain  for  non-compliance,  is  so 
remote  from  our  own  conceptions  as  to  seem  scarcely  possible ; 
yet  we  shall  see  its  possibility  on  remembering  how  little  it  differs 
from  the  conceptions  of  early  civilized  races.  At  the  opening  of 
the  second  book  of  the  Iliad,  we  find  the  dream  sent  by  Zeus  to 
mislead  the  Greeks,  described  as  a  real  person  receiving  from 


7io  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Zeus's  directions  what  he  is  to  say  to  the  sleeping  Agamemnon. 
In  like  manner,  the  soul  of  Patroclus  appeared  to  Achilles  when 
asleep  "in  all  things  like  himself,"  saying  "bury  me  soon  that  I 
may  pass  the  gates  of  Hades,"  and,  when  grasped  at,  "like  smoke 
vanished  with  a  shriek:"  the  appearance  being  accepted  by 
Achilles  as  a  reality,  and  its  injunction  as  imperative.  Hebrew 
writings  show  us  the  like.  When  we  read  that  "God  came  to 
Abimelech  in  a  dream  by  night,"  that  "the  Lord  came,  and  stood, 
and  called  as  at  other  times,  Samuel,  Samuel ;"  we  see  an  equally 
unhesitating  belief  in  an  equally  objective  reality.  During  civi- 
lization this  faith  has  been  but  slowly  losing  ground,  and  even 
still  survives;  as  is  proved  by  the  stories  occasionally  told  of 
people  who  when  just  dead  appeared  to  distant  relations,  and  as 
is  proved  by  the  superstitions  of  the  "spiritualists." 

Indeed,  after  recalling  these  last,  we  have  but  to  imagine 
ourselves  de-civilized — we  have  but  to  suppose  faculty  decreased, 
knowledge  lost,  language  vague,  and  scepticism  absent,  to  under- 
stand how  inevitably  the  primitive  man  conceives  as  real,  the 
dream-personages  we  know  to  be  ideal 

Like  every  child,  the  primitive  man  passes  through  a  phase  of 
intelligence  during  which  there  has  not  yet  arisen  the  power  of 
introspection  implied  by  saying — "I  think — I  have  ideas."  The 
thoughts  that  accompany  sensations  and  the  perceptions  framed 
of  them,  are  so  unobtrusive,  and  pass  so  rapidly,  that  they  are 
not  noticed:  to  notice  them  implies  a  self-criticism  impossible  at 
the  outset.  But  these  faint  states  of  consciousness  which,  during 
the  day,  are  obscured  by  the  vivid  states,  become  obtrusive  at 
night,  when  the  eyes  are  shut  and  the  other  senses  dulled.  Then 
the  subjective  activities  clearly  reveal  themselves,  as  the  stars 
reveal  themselves  when  the  sun  is  absent.  That  is  to  say,  dream- 
experiences  necessarily  precede  the  conception  of  a  mental  self; 
and  are  the  experiences  out  of  which  the  conception  of  a  mental 
self  eventually  grows.  Mark  the  order  of  dependence:  The 
current  interpretation  of  dreams  implies  the  hypothesis  of  mind 
as  a  distinct  entity;  the  hypothesis  of  mind  as  a  distinct  entity 
cannot  exist  before  the  experiences  suggesting  it;  the  experi- 
ences suggesting  it  are  the  dream-experiences,  which  seem  to 
imply  two  entities;  and  originally  the  supposition  is  that  the 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  711 

second  entity  differs  from  the  first  simply  in  being  absent  and 
active  at  night  while  the  other  is  at  rest.  Only  as  this  assumed 
duplicate  becomes  gradually  modified  by  the  dropping  of  physical 
characters  irreconcilable  with  the  facts,  does  the  hypothesis  of  a 
mental  self,  as  we  understand  it,  become  established. 

Here,  then,  is  the  germinical  principle  which  sets  up  such  or- 
ganization as  the  primitive  man's  random  observations  of  things 
can  assume.  This  belief  in  another  self  belonging  to  him, 
harmonizes  with  all  those  illustrations  of  duality  furnished  by 
things  around;  and  equally  harmonizes  with  those  multitudinous 
cases  in  which  things  pass  from  visible  to  invisible  states  and 
back  again.  Nay  more.  Comparison  shows  him  a  kinship  be- 
tween his  own  double  and  the  doubles  of  other  objects.  For 
have  not  these  objects  their  shadows?  Has  not  he  too  his 
shadow?  Does  not  his  shadow  become  invisible  at  night?  Is 
it  not  obvious,  then,  that  this  shadow  which  in  the  day  accom- 
panies his  body  is  that  other  self  which  at  night  wanders  away 
and  has  adventures?  Clearly,  the  Greenlanders  who,  as  we 
have  seen,  believe  this,  have  some  justification  for  the  belief. 

THE  IDEAS  OF  ANOTHER  LIFE 

One  of  the  experiences  suggesting  another  life,  is  also  one 
of  the  experiences  suggesting  a  limit  to  it;  namely,  the  appear- 
ance of  the  dead  in  dreams.  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  been,  I  be- 
lieve, the  first  to  point  out  this.  Manifestly  the  dead  persons 
recognized  in  dreams,  must  be  persons  who  were  known  to  the 
dreamers ;  and  consequently,  the  long  dead,  ceasing  to  be  dreamt 
of,  cease  to  be  thought  of  as  still  existing.  Savages  who,  like  the 
Manganjas,  "expressly  ground  their  belief  in  a  future  life  on  the 
fact  that  their  friends  visit  them  in  their  sleep;"  naturally  draw 
the  inference  that  when  their  friends  cease  to  visit  them  in  their 
sleep,  they  have  ceased  to  be.  Hence  the  contrast  which  Sir 
John  Lubbock  quotes  from  Du  Chaillu.  Ask  a  negro  "where  is 
the  spirit  of  his  great-grandfather,  he  says  he  does  not  know ;  it 
is  done.  Ask  him  about  the  spirit  of  his  father  or  brother  who 
died  yesterday,  then  he  is  full  of  fear  and  terror."  And  as  we 
shall  hereafter  see,  when  dealing  with  another  question,  the  evi- 
dence furnished  by  dreams  establishes  in  the  minds  of  the  Ama- 


712  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

zulu,  a  like  marked  distinction  between  the  souls  of  the  lately 
dead  and  the  souls  of  the  long  dead;  which  they  think  have  died 
utterly. 

How  the  notion  of  a  temporary  after-life  grows  into  the 
notion  of  an  enduring  after-life,  we  must  leave  unconsidered. 
For  present  purposes  it  suffices  to  point  out  that  the  notion  of  an 
enduring  after-life  is  reached  through  stages. 

What  is  the  character  of  this  after-life:  here  believed  in 
vaguely  and  in  a  variable  way ;  here  believed  in  as  lasting  for  a 
time;  here  believed  in  as  permanent? 

Sundry  of  the  funeral  rites  described  in  a  foregoing  chapter, 
imply  that  the  life  which  goes  on  after  death  is  supposed  to 
differ  in  nothing  from  this  life.  The  Chinooks  assert  that  at  night 
the  dead  "awake  and  get  up  to  search  for  food."  No  doubt  it  is 
with  a  like  belief  in  the  necessity  for  satisfying  their  material 
wants,  that  the  Comanches  think  the  dead  "are  permitted  to  visit 
the  earth  at  night,  but  must  return  at  daylight" — a  superstition 
reminding  us  of  one  still  current  in  Europe.  Among  South 
American  tribes,  too,  the  second  life  is  conceived  as  an  unvaried 
continuation  of  the  first:  death  being,  as  the  Yucatan  Indians 
say,  "merely  one  of  the  accidents  of  life."  The  Tupis  buried  the 
dead  body  in  the  house  "in  a  sitting  posture  with  food  before  it ; 
for  there  were  some  who  believed  that  the  spirit  went  to  sport 
among  the  mountains,  and  returned  there  to  eat  and  to  take  rest." 

Where  the  future  life  is  thought  of  as  divided  from  the 
present  by  a  more  decided  break,  we  still  find  it  otherwise  con- 
trasted in  little  or  nothing.  What  is  said  of  the  Fijians  may  be 
said  of  others.  After  death  they  "plant,  live  in  families,  fight, 
and  in  short  do  much  as  people  in  this  world."  Let  us  note  the 
general  agreement  on  this  point. 

The  provisions  they  count  upon,  differ  from  the  provisions 
they  have  been  accustomed  to,  only  in  being  better  and  more 
abundant.  The  Innuits  expect  to  feast  on  reindeer-meat;  after 
death  the  Creek  goes  where  "game  is  plenty  and  goods  very  cheap, 
where  corn  grows  all  the  year  around  and  the  springs  of  pure 
water  are  never  dried  up ;"  the  Comanches  look  forward  to  hunt- 
ing buffaloes  which  are  "abundant  and  fat ;"  while  the  Patagoni- 
ans  hope  "to  enjoy  the  happiness  of  being  eternally  drunk."  The 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  713 

conception  differs  elsewhere  only  as  the  food,  etc.,  differs.  The 
people  of  the  New  Hebrides  believe  that  in  the  next  life  "the 
cocoanuts  and  the  bread-fruit  are  finer  in  quality,  and  so  abundant 
in  quantity  as  never  to  be  exhausted."  Arriaga  says  that  the 
Peruvians  "do  not  know,  either  in  this  life  or  in  the  other,  any 
greater  happiness  than  to  have  a  good  farm  where  from  to  eat 
and  to  drink."  And  pastoral  peoples  show  a  kindred  adjustment 
of  belief:  the  Todas  think  that  after  death  their  buffaloes  -join 
them,  to  supply  milk  as  before. 

With  like  food  and  drink  there  go  like  occupations.  The 
Tasmanians  expected  "to  pursue  the  chase  with  unwearied  ardour 
and  unfailing  success."  Besides  killing  unlimited  game  in  their 
heaven,  the  Dakotahs  look  forward  to  "war  with  their  former 
enemies."  And,  reminded  as  we  thus  are  of  the  daily  fighting  and 
feasting  anticipated  by  the  Scandinavians,  we  are  shown  the 
prevalence  of  such  ideas  among  peoples  remote  in  habitat  and 
race.  To  see  how  vivid  these  ideas  are,  we  must  recall  the 
observances  they  entail. 

Books  of  travel  have  familiarized  most  readers  with  the  cus- 
tom of  burying  a  dead  man's  movables  with  him.  This  custom 
elaborates  as  social  development  goes  through  its  earlier  stages. 
Here  are  a  few  illustrations,  joined  with  the  constructions  we 
must  put  upon  them. 

The  dead  savage,  having  to  hunt  and  to  fight,  must  be  armed. 
Hence  the  deposit  of  weapons  and  implements  with  the  corpse. 
The  Tongous  races  have  these,  with  other  belongings,  "placed 
on  their  grave,  to  be  ready  for  service  the  moment  they  awake 
from  what  they  consider  to  be  their  temporary  repose."  And  a 
like  course  is  followed  by  the  Kalmucks,  the  Esquimaux,  the 
Iroquois,  the  Araucanians,  the  Inland  Negroes,  the  Nagas, 
and  by  tribes,  savage  and  semi-civilized,  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion: some  of  whom,  too,  recognizing  the  kindred  needs  of 
women  and  children,  bury  with  women  their  domestic  appli- 
ances and  with  children  their  toys. 

Logically  developed,  the  primitive  belief  implies  ....  that 
the  deceased  will  need  not  only  his  weapons  and  implements,  his 
clothing,  ornaments,  and  other  movables,  together  with  his  domes- 
tic animals;  but  also  that  he  will  want  human  companionship  and 


714  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

services.    The  attendance  he  had  before  death  must  be  renewed 
after  death. 

Hence  the  immolations  which  have  prevailed,  and  still  pre- 
vail, so  widely.  The  custom  of  sacrificing  wives,  and  slaves,  and 
friends,  develops  as  society  advances  through  its  earlier  stages, 
and  the  theory  of  another  life  becomes  more  definite.  Among 
the  Fuegians,  the  Andamanese,  the  Australians,  the  Tasmanians, 
with  their  rudimentary  social  organizations,  wives  are  not  killed 
to  accompany  dead  husbands;  or  if  they  are,  the  practice  is  not 
general  enough  to  be  specified  in  the  accounts  given  of  them. 
But  it  is  a  practice  shown  us  by  more  advanced  peoples :  in 
Polynesia,  by  the  New  Caledonians,  by  the  Fijians,  and  occasion- 
ally by  the  less  barbarous  Tongans — in  America,  by  the  Chinooks, 
the  Caribs,  the  Dakotahs — in  Africa,  by  the  Conga  people,  the 
Inland  Negroes,  the  Coast  Negroes,  and  most  extensively  by  the 
Dahomans.  To  attend  the  dead  in  the  other  world,  captives  taken 
in  war  are  sacrificed  by  the  Caribs,  the  Dakotahs,  the  Chinooks ; 
and  without  enumerating  the  savage  and  semi-savage  peoples  who 
do  the  like,  I  will  only  further  instance  the  survival  of  the  usage 
among  the  Homeric  Greeks,  when  slaying  (though  with  another 
assigned  motive)  twelve  Trojans  at  the  funeral  pyre  of 
Patroclus.  Similarly  with  domestics:  a  dead  man's  slaves  are 
slain  by  the  Kyans  and  the  Milanaus  of  Borneo ;  the  Zulus  kill  a 
king's  valets ;  the  Inland  Negroes  kill  his  eunuchs  to  accompany 
his  wives;  the  Coast  Negroes  poison  or  decapitate  his  confi- 
dential servants.  Further,  there  is  in  some  cases  an  immolation 
of  friends.  In  Fiji,  a  leading  man's  chief  friend  is  sacrificed  to 
accompany  him;  and  among  the  sanguinary  peoples  of  tropical 
Africa,  a  like  custom  exists. 

ANCESTOR-WORSHIP   IN   GENERAL 

....  Where  the  levels  of  mental  nature  and  the  social  prog- 
ress are  lowest,  we  usually  find,  along  with  an  absence  of  religious 
ideas  generally,  an  absence  of,  or  very  slight  development  of,  an- 
cestor-worship. A  typical  case  is  that  of  the  Juangs,  a  wild  tribe 
of  Bengal,  who,  described  as  having  no  word  for  god,  no  idea  of  a 
future  state,  no  religious  ceremonies,  are  also  said  to  "have  no 
notion  of  the  worship  of  ancestors."  Cook,  telling  us  what  the 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  715 

Fuegians  were  before  contact  with  Europeans  had  introduced 
foreign  ideas,  said  there  were  no  appearances  of  religion  among 
them;  and  we  are  not  told  by  him  or  others  that  they  were 
ancestor-worshippers.  So  far  as  the  scanty  evidence  may  be 
trusted,  the  like  seems  to  be  the  case  with  the  Andamanese.  And 
though  believing  in  ghosts,  the  Australians  and  Tasmanians  show 
us  but  little  persistence  in  ghost-propitiation.  Among  the  Ved- 
dahs,  indeed,  though  extremely  low,  an  active  if  simple  ancestor- 
worship  prevails;  but  here,  contact  with  the  more  advanced 
Cingalese  has  probably  been  a  factor. 

When,  however,  instead  of  wandering  groups  who  continually 
leave  far  behind  the  places  where  their  members  lie  buried,  we 
come  to  settled  groups  whose  burial-places  are  in  their  midst, 
and  among  whom  development  of  funeral  rites  is  thus  made 
possible,  we  find  that  continued  propitiation  of  dead  relatives 
becomes  an  established  practice.  All  varieties  of  men  show  us 
this.  Taking  first  the  Negrito  races,  we  read  that  "with  the 
Fijians,  as  soon  as  beloved  parents  expire,  they  take  their  place 
amongst  the  family  gods.  Bures,  or  temples,  are  erected  to  their 
memory."  Of  the  Tannese,  we  learn  that  "their  general  name 
for  gods  seems  to  be  aremha;  that  means  a  dead  man."  And  the 
like  is  told  us  of  other  New  Caledonian  peoples.  With  the 
Malayo- Polynesians  it  is  the  same ;  save  that  with  simple  ancestor- 
worship  there  usually  coexists  a  more  developed  worship  of 
remoter  ancestors,  who  have  become  deities.  Sacrificing  to  their 
gods,  the  Tahitians  also  sacrifice  to  the  spirits  of  departed  chiefs 
and  kindred.  Similar  statements  are  made  respecting  the  Sand- 
wich Islanders,  the  Samoans,  the  Malagasy,  and  the  Sumatrans ; 
of  which  last  people  Marsden  says,  that  though  "they  neither 
worship  god,  devil,  nor  idol,"  yet  they  "venerate  almost  to  the 
point  of  worshipping,  the  tombs  and  manes  of  their  deceased 
ancestors."  The  like  holds  in  Africa.  The  people  of  Angola  "are 
constantly  deprecating  the  wrath  of  departed  souls ;"  and  the 
Bambiri  "pray  to  departed  chiefs  and  relatives."  So  by  the 
Kaffirs  the  spirits  of  the  dead  "are  elevated  in  fact  to  the  rank  of 
deities."  And  parallel  accounts  are  given  of  the  Balonda,  the 
Wanika,  and  the  Congoese.  Quite  different  though  they  are 
in  type,  the  lower  Asiatic  races  yield  us  allied  illustrations.  Of 


716  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  Bhils,  of  the  Bghais,  of  the  Karens,  of  the  Khonds,  we  find 
ancestor-worship  alleged.  The  Santals'  religion  "is  based  upon 
the  family,"  and  "in  addition  to  the  family-god,  each  household 
worships  the  ghosts  of  its  ancestors."  And  were  there  any 
doubt  about  the  origin  of  the  family-god,  it  would  be  removed 
by  Macpherson's  statement  respecting  the  Khonds — "The  more 
distinguished  fathers  of  the  tribe,  of  its  branches,  or  of  its  sub- 
divisions, are  all  remembered  by  the  priests,  their  sanctity  grow- 
ing with  the  remoteness  of  the  period  of  their  deaths."  Of 
Northern  Asiatics,  the  Kirghiz  and  the  Ostyaks  yield  further  ex- 
amples; and  the  Turkomans  were  lately  instanced  as  showing 
how  this  worship  of  the  dead  survives  along  with  a  nominal 
monotheism.  Then,  crossing  over  into  America,  the  like  phe- 
nomena are  found  from  the  extreme  North  to  the  uttermost  South 
— from  the  Esquimaux  to  the  Patagonians :  reaching,  as  we  have 
seen,  very  elaborate  developments  among  the  ancient  civilized 
races. 

How  ancestor-worship  prevailed,  and  was  greatly  elaborated, 
among  the  people  who,  in  the  Nile  valley,  first  carried  civilization 
to  a  high  stage,  has  been  already  shown.  How,  in  the  far  East, 
another  vast  society  which  had  reached  considerable  heights  of 
culture  while  Europe  was  covered  by  barbarians,  has  practised, 
and  still  practises,  ancestor- worship,  scarcely  needs  saying.  And 
that  it  has  all  along  characterized  the  Hindu  civilization  is  also 
a  fact,  though  a  fact  less  familiar.  With  the  highly-developed 
religious  systems  of  India,  there  coexists  a  daily  re-genesis  of 
deities  from  dead  men.  Sir  A.  C.  Lyall  says :  "So  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  trace  back  the  origin  of  the  best-known  minor  pro- 
vincial deities,  they  are  usually  men  of  past  generations  who  have 
earned  special  promotion  and  brevet  rank  among  disembodied 
ghosts  by  some  peculiar  acts  or  incidents  of  their  lives  or  deaths. 
....  The  Bunjaras,  a  tribe  much  addicted  to  highway  robbery, 
worship  a  famous  bandit M.  Raymond,  the  French  com- 
mander, who  died  at  Hyderabad,  has  been  there  canonized  after 

a  fashion Of  the  numerous  local  gods  known  to  have 

been  living  men,  by  far  the  greater  proportion  derive  from  the 

ordinary  canonization  of  holy  personages The  number  of 

shrines  thus  raised  in  Berar  alone  to  these  anchorites  and  per- 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  717 

sons  deceased  in  the  odour  of  sanctity  is  large,  and  it  is  constantly 
increasing.  Some  of  them  have  already  attained  the  rank  of 
temples."  .... 

Taking  the  aggregate  of  human  peoples — tribes,  societies, 
nations — we  find  that  nearly  all  of  them,  if  not  literally  all,  have 
a  belief,  vague  or  distinct,  in  a  reviving  other-self  of  the  dead 
man.  Within  this  class  of  peoples  we  find  a  class  not  quite  so 
large,  by  the  members  of  which  the  other-self  of  the  dead  man 
is  supposed  to  exist  for  a  time,  or  always,  after  death.  Nearly 
as  numerous  is  the  class  of  peoples  included  in  this,  who  show  us 
ghost-propitiation  at  the  funeral,  and  for  a  subsequent  interval. 
Then  comes  the  narrower  class  contained  in  the  last — those  more 
advanced  peoples  who,  along  with  the  belief  in  a  ghost  which 
permanently  exists,  show  us  a  persistent  ancestor-worship. 
Again,  somewhat  further  restricted,  though  by  no  means  small, 
we  have  a  class  of  peoples  whose  worship  of  distinguished  ances- 
tors partially  subordinates  that  of  the  undistinguished.  And 
eventually,  the  subordination  growing  more  decided,  becomes 
marked  where  these  distinguished  ancestors  were  leaders  of  con- 
quering races. 

Even  the  words  applied  in  more  advanced  societies  to  dif- 
ferent orders  of  supernatural  beings,  indicate  by  their  original 
community  of  meaning,  that  this  has  been  the  course  of  genesis. 
The  fact  cited  above,  that  among  the  Tannese  the  word  for  a  god 
means  literally  a  dead  man,  is  typical  of  facts  everywhere  found. 
Ghost,  spirit,  demon — names  at  first  applied  to  the  other-self 
without  distinctions  of  character — come  to  be  differently  applied 
as  ascribed  differences  of  character  arise:  the  shade  of  an  enemy 
becomes  a  devil,  and  a  friendly  shade  becomes  a  divinity.  Where 
the  conceptions  have  not  developed  far,  there  are  no  differentiated 
titles,  and  the  distinctions  made  by  us  cannot  be  expressed.  The 
early  Spanish  missionaries  in  America  were  inconvenienced  by 
finding  that  the  only  native  word  they  could  use  for  God  also 
meant  devil.  In  Greek,  Saipcov  and  defa  are  interchangeable. 
By  ^Eschylus,  Agamemnon's  children  are  represented  as  appeal- 
ing to  their  father's  ghost  as  to  a  god.  So,  too,  with  the  Romans. 
Besides  the  unspecialized  use  of  demon,  which  means  an  angel 
or  genius,  good  or  bad,  we  find  the  unspecialized  use  of  dcus  for 


718  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

god  and  ghost.  On  tombs  the  manes  were  called  gods;  and  a 
law  directs  that  "the  rights  of  the  manes-gods  are  to  be  kept 
sacred."  Similarly  with  the  Hebrews.  Isaiah,  representing  him- 
self as  commanded  to  reject  it,  quotes  a  current  belief  implying 
such  identification: — "And  when  they  say  unto  you,  'Consult 
the  ghost-seers  and  the  wizards  that  chirp  and  that  mutter! 
Should  not  people  consult  their  gods  even  the  dead  on  behalf  of 
the  living?'  "  When  Saul  goes  to  question  the  ghost  of  Samuel, 
the  expression  of  the  enchantress  is — "I  saw  gods  [elohim]  as- 
cending out  of  the  earth:"  god  and  ghost  being  thus  used  as 
equivalents.  Even  in  our  own  day  the  kinship  is  traceable.  The 
statement  that  God  is  a  spirit,  shows  the  application  of  a  term 
which,  otherwise  applied,  signifies  a  human  soul.  Only  by  its 
qualifying  epithet  is  the  meaning  of  Holy  Ghost  distinguished 
from  the  meaning  of  ghost  in  general.  A  divine  being  is  still 
denoted  by  words  that  originally  meant  the  breath  which,  de- 
serting a  man's  body  at  death,  was  supposed  to  constitute  the 
surviving  part. 

Do  not  these  various  evidences  warrant  the  suspicion  that 
from  the  ghost,  once  uniformly  conceived,  have  arisen  the 
variously-conceived  supernatural  beings?  We  may  infer,  a 
priori,  that  in  conformity  with  the  law  of  Evolution,  there  will 
develope  many  unlike  conceptions  out  of  conceptions  originally 
alike.  The  spirits  of  the  dead,  forming  in  a  primitive  tribe,  an 
ideal  group  the  members  of  which  are  but  little  distinguished 
from  one  another,  will  grow  more  and  more  distinguished.  As 
societies  advance,  and  as  traditions,  local  and  general,  accumu- 
late and  complicate,  these  once-similar  human  souls  acquiring 
in  the  popular  mind  differences  of  character  and  importance,  will 
diverge;  until  their  original  community  of  nature  becomes 
scarcely  recognizable 

ANIMAL-WORSHIP 

The  belief  that  human  beings  disguise  themselves  as  brutes, 
is  in  some  cases  specified  generally;  as  concerning  the  Thlin- 
keets,  who  "will  kill  a  bear  only  in  case  of  great  necessity,  for 
the  bear  is  supposed  to  be  a  man  that  has  taken  the  shape  of  an 
animal."  And  the  converse  idea  in  its  general  form  occurs  among 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  719 

the  Karens,  who  think  "the  waters  are  inhabited  by  beings  whose 
proper  form  is  that  of  dragons  [  ?  crocodiles] ,  but  that  occa- 
sionally appear  as  men,  and  who  take  wives  of  the  children  of 
men."  Usually,  however,  only  persons  distinguished  by  power  of 
some  kind,  or  believed  to  be  so,  have  this  ability  ascribed  to  them. 

Regarding  all  special  skill  as  supernatural,  sundry  African 
peoples  think  the  blacksmith  (who  ranks  next  to  the  medicine- 
man) works  by  spirit-agency;  and  in  Abyssinia,  "blacksmiths 
are  supposed  able  to  turn  themselves  into  hyaenas  and  other  ani- 
mals." So  strong  is  this  belief  that  it  infects  even  European 
residents:  Wilkinson  instances  a  traveller  who  asserted  that  he 
had  seen  the  metamorphosis.  More  commonly  it  is  the  sorcerers 
exclusively  of  whom  this  power  is  alleged.  The  Khonds  be- 
lieve "witches  have  the  faculty  of  transforming  themselves  into 
tigers."  In  case  of  "an  alligator  seizing  upon  a  child  whilst 
bathing  in  the  river,  or  a  leopard  carrying  off  a  goat,"  the  Bul- 
loms  "are  of  opinion  that  it  is  not  a  real  leopard  or  alligator 
which  has  committed  the  depredation,  but  a  witch  under  one  of 
these  assumed  forms."  Among  the  Mexicans  "there  were  sorcer- 
ers and  witches  who  were  thought  to  transform  themselves 
into  animals."  In  Honduras  they  "punish  sorcerers  that  did  mis- 
chief;  and  some  of  them  are  said  to  have  ranged  on  the  mountains 
like  tigers  or  lions,  killing  men,  till  they  were  taken  and  hanged." 
And  the  Chibchas  "pretended  to  have  great  sorcerers  who  might 
be  transformed  into  lions,  bears,  and  tigers,  and  devour  men  like 
these  animals."  To  chiefs,  as  well  as  to  sorcerers,  this  faculty 
is  in  some  places  ascribed.  The  Cacique  Thomagata,  one  of  the 
Chibcha  rulers,  was  believed  "to  have  had  a  long  tail,  after  the 
manner  of  a  lion  or  a  tiger,  which  he  dragged  on  the  soil." 
Africa,  too,  yields  evidence. 

"There  are  also  a  great  many  lions  and  hyaenas,  and  there  is 
no  check  upon  the  increase  of  the  former,  for  the  people,  be- 
lieving that  the  souls  of  their  chiefs  enter  into  them,  never  attempt 
to  kill  them ;  they  even  believe  that  a  chief  may  metamorphose 
himself  into  a  lion,  kill  any  one  he  chooses,  and  then  return  to 
the  human  form;  therefore,  when  they  see  one  they  commence 
clapping  their  hands,  which  is  the  usual  mode  of  salutation." 
In  some  cases  this  supposed  power  is  shared  by  the  chief's  rcla- 


720  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tives.  Schweinfurth,  when  at  Gallabat,  having  shot  a  hysena, 
was  reproached  by  the  sheikh  because  his,  the  sheik's,  mother, 
was  a  "hyaena-woman." 

Instead  of  change  of  form  there  is,  in  other  cases,  possession. 
We  saw  how  the  primitive  dream-theory,  with  its  wandering 
double  which  deserts  the  body  and  re-enters  it,  brings,  -among 
many  sequences,  the  belief  that  wandering  doubles  can  enter  other 
bodies  than  their  own;  and  the  last  chapter  exhibited  some  wide 
extensions  of  this  doctrine:  representative  figures,  and  even  in- 
animate objects  not  having  human  shapes,  being  supposed  per- 
meable by  human  ghosts.  Naturally,  then,  animals  are  included 
among  the  things  men's  souls  go  into.  At  Tete,  in  Africa,  the 
people  believe  "that  while  persons  are  still  living  they  may  enter 
into  lions  and  alligators,  and  then  return  again  to  their  own 
bodies;"  and  the  Guiana  tribes  think  some  jaguars  "are  possessed 
by  the  spirits  of  men."  .... 

"There  are  amatongo  who  are  snakes,"  say  the  Zulus ;  and, 
as  we  have  repeatedly  seen,  Amatongo  is  their  name  for  an- 
cestral ghosts.  But  why  do  these  people  think  that  snakes  are 
transformed  ancestors?  Some  extracts  from  Bp.  Calla way's 
cross-examination,  I  place  in  an  order  which  will  prepare  the 
reader  for  the  answer. 

"The  snakes  into  which  men  turn  are  not  many;  they  are 
distinct  and  well  known.  They  are  the  black  Imamba,  and  the 
green  Imamba,  which  is  called  Inyandezulu.  Chiefs  turn  into 
these.  Common  people  turn  into  the  Umthlwazi." 

"These  snakes  are  known  to  be  human  beings  when  they  enter 
a  hut;  they  do  not  usually  enter  by  the  doorway.  Perhaps  they 
enter  when  no  one  is  there,  and  go  to  the  upper  part  of  the  hut, 
and  stay  there  coiled  up." 

"If  the  snake  has  a  scar  on  the  side,  some  one  who  knew  a 
certain  dead  man  of  that  place  who  also  had  such  a  scar,  comes 
forward  and  says,  'It  is  So-and-so.  Do  you  not  see  the  scar  on 
his  side?"  It  is  left  alone,  and  they  go  to  sleep." 

"Those  which  are  men  are  known  by  their  frequenting  huts, 
and  by  their  not  eating  mice,  and  by  their  not  being  frightened 
at  the  noise  of  men."  .... 

All  over  the  world  there  prevails  the  idea  that  the  ghost  of 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  721 

the  dead  man  haunts  the  old  home.  What,  then,  is  meant  by  the 
coming  of  these  snakes  into  the  huts?  Are  they  not  returned 
relations?  Do  not  the  individual  marks  they  sometimes  bear 
yield  proof?  Just  as  an  Australian  settler  who  had  a  bent  arm, 
was  concluded  to  be  the  other-self  of  a  dead  native  who  had  a 
bent  arm;  so  here,  the  scar  common  to  the  man  and  the 
snake  proves  identity.  When,  therefore,  the  Zulus  say — "Neither 
does  a  snake  that  is  an  Itongo  excite  fear  in  men.  .  .  .  When 
men  see  it,  it  is  as  though  it  said  as  they  look  at  it,  'Be  not  afraid. 
It  is  F ;"  we  are  shown  that  recognition  of  the  snake  as  a  human 
being,  come  back  in  another  shape,  is  suggested  by  several  circum- 
stances :  frequentation  of  the  house  being  the  chief 

Among  the  Amazulu,  belief  in  the  return  of  ancestors  dis- 
guised as  serpents,  has  not  led  to  worship  of  serpents  as  such : 
propitiation  of  them  is  mingled  with  propitiation  of  ancestral 
ghosts  in  an  indefinite  way.  Other  peoples,  too,  present  us  with 
kindred  ideas,  probably  generated  in  like  manner,  which  have 
not  assumed  distinctly  religious  forms;  as  witness  the  fact  that 
"in  the  province  of  Culiacan  tamed  serpents  were  found  in  the 
dwellings  of  the  natives,  which  they  feared  and  venerated." 
But,  carrying  with  us  the  clue  thus  given,  we  find  that  along  with 
a  developed  cult  and  advanced  arts,  a  definite  serpent-worship 
results.  Ophiolatry  prevails  especially  in  hot  countries;  and  in 
hot  countries  certain  kinds  of  ophidia  secrete  themselves  in  dark 
corners  of  rooms,  and  even  in  beds.  India  supplies  us  with  a 
clear  case.  Serpent-gods  are  there  common;  and  the  serpent 
habitually  sculptured  as  a  god,  is  the  cobra.  Either  in  its  natural 
form  or  united  to  a  human  body,  the  cobra  with  expanded  hood 
in  attitude  to  strike,  is  adored  in  numerous  temples.  And  then, 
on  inquiry,  we  learn  that  the  cobra  is  one  of  the  commonest 
intruders  in  houses.  Yet  another  instance  is  furnished  by  the 
Egyptian  asp,  a  species  of  cobra.  Figuring  everywhere  as  this 
does  in  their  sacred  paintings  and  sculptures,  we  find  that, 
greatly  reverenced  throughout  Egypt,  it  was  a  frequenter  of 
gardens  and  houses,  and  was  so  far  domesticated  that  it  came 
at  a  signal  to  be  fed  from  the  table. 

The  like  happens  with  other  house-haunting  creatures.  In 
many  countries  lizards  are  often  found  indoors;  and  among  the 


722  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Amazulu,  the  "Isalukazana,  a  kind  of  lizard,"  is  the  form  sup- 
posed to  be  taken  by  old  women.  The  New  Zealanders  believe 
that  the  spirits  of  their  ancestors  re-visit  them  as  lizards;  and  I 
learn  from  a  colonist  that  these  are  lizards  which  enter  houses. 
Certain  Russian  foresters,  again,  "cherish,  as  a  kind  of  house- 
hold gods,  a  species  of  reptile,  which  has  four  short  feet  like 

a  lizard,  with  a  black  flat  body These  animals  are  called 

'givoites,'  and  on  certain  days  are  allowed  to  crawl  about  the 
house  in  search  of  the  food  which  is  placed  for  them.  They  are 
looked  upon  with  great  superstition."  Then,  too,  we  have  the 
wasp,  which  is  one  of  the  animal-shapes  supposed  to  be  assumed 
by  the  dead  among  the  Amazulu;  and  the  wasp  is  an  insect 
which  often  joins  the  domestic  circle  to  share  the  food  on  the 
table.  Alongside  this  belief  I  may  place  a  curious  passage  from 
the  flood-legend  of  the  Babylonians.  Hasisadra,  describing  his 
sacrifice  after  the  deluge,  says — "The  gods  collected  at  its  burning, 
the  gods  collected  at  its  good  burning;  the  gods,  like  flies,  over 
the  sacrifice  gathered."  Once  more,  of  house-haunting  crea- 
tures similarly  regarded,  we  have  the  dove.  Describing  animal- 
worship  among  the  ancients,  Mr.  M'Lennan  remarks  that  "the 
dove,  in  fact  ....  was  almost  as  great  a  god  as  the  serpent." 
The  still-extant  symbolism  of  Christianity  shows  us  the  sur- 
viving effect  of  this  belief  in  the  ghostly  character  of  the 
dove. 

By  most  peoples  the  ghost  is  believed  now  to  re-visit  the  old 
home,  and  now  to  be  where  the  body  lies.  If,  then,  creatures 
which  frequent  houses  are  supposed  to  be  metamorphosed  an- 
cestors, will  not  creatures  habitually  found  with  corpses  be 
also  considered  as  animal-forms  assumed  by  the  dead?  That 
they  will,  we  may  conclude;  and  that  they  are,  we  have 
proofs. 

The  prevalence  of  cave-burial  among  early  peoples  every- 
where, has  been  shown.  What  animals  commonly  occur  in 
caves?  Above  all  others,  those  which  shun  the  light — bats  and 
owls.  Where  there  are  no  hollow  trees,  crevices  and  caverns  are 
the  most  available  places  for  these  night-flying  creatures;  and 
often  in  such  places  they  are  numerous.  An  explorer  of  the 
Egyptian  cave  known  from  its  embalmed  contents  as  "Croco- 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  723 

dilopolis,"  tells  me  that  he  was  nearly  suffocated  with  the  dust 
raised  by  bats,  the  swarms  of  which  nearly  put  out  the  torches. 
Now  join  with  these  statements  the  following  passage  from  the 
Izdubar  legend  translated  by  Mr.  Smith: — "Return  me  from 
Hades,  the  land  of  my  knowledge;  from  the  house  of  the  de- 
parted, the  seat  of  the  god  Irkalla;  from  the  house  within  which 
is  no  exit;  from  the  road  the  course  of  which  never  returns; 
from  the  place  within  which  they  long  for  light — the  place  where 
dust  is  their  nourishment  and  their  food  mud.  Its  chiefs  also, 
like  birds,  are  clothed  with  wings."  .... 

Before  dealing  with  supposed  transformations  of  a  third 
kind,  like  the  above  as  identifying  animals  with  deceased  men, 
but  unlike  them  as  being  otherwise  suggested,  two  explanatory 
descriptions  are  needed :  one  of  primitive  language  and  the  other 
of  primitive  naming. 

The  savage  has  a  small  vocabulary.  Consequently,  of  the 
things  and  acts  around,  either  but  few  can  have  signs,  or  those 
signs  must  be  indiscriminately  applicable  to  different  things  and 
acts:  whence  inevitable  misunderstandings.  If,  as  Burton  says 
of  the  Dacotahs,  "colours  are  expressed  by  a  comparison  with 
some  object  in  sight,"  an  intended  assertion  about  a  colour  must 
often  be  taken  for  an  assertion  about  the  illustrative  object. 
If,  as  Schweinfurth  tells  us  of  the  Bongo  dialect,  one  word 
means  either  "shadow"  or  "cloud,"  "rain"  or  "the  sky," 
another  "night"  or  "to-day;"  the  interpretations  of  statements 
must  be  in  part  guessed  at,  and  the  guesses  must  often  be  wrong. 
Indefiniteness,  implied  by  this  paucity  of  words,  is  further  im- 
plied by  the  want  of  terms  expressing  degree.  A  Damara  cannot 
understand  the  question  whether  of  two  stages  the  next  is  longer 
than  the  last.  The  question  must  be — "The  last  stage  is  little ; 
the  next,  is  it  great?"  and  the  only  reply  is — "It  is  so,"  or  "It 
is  not  so."  In  some  cases,  as  among  the  Abipones,  superlatives 
are  expressed  by  raising  the  voice.  And  then  the  uncertainties 
of  meaning  which  such  indefinitenesses  cause,  are  made  greater 
by  the  rapid  changes  in  primitive  dialects.  Superstitions  lead  to 
frequent  substitutions  of  new  words  for  those  previously  in  use; 
and  hence  statements  current  in  one  generation,  otherwise  ex- 
pressed in  the  next,  are  misconstrued.  Incoherence  adds  to  the 


724  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

confusion.  In  the  aboriginal  languages  of  South  Brazil,  "there 
are  no  such  things  as  declensions  and  conjugations,  and  still  less 
a  regular  construction  of  the  sentences.  They  always  speak 
in  the  infinitive,  with,  or  mostly  without,  pronouns  or  substan- 
tives. The  accent,  which  is  chiefly  on  the  second  syllable,  the 
slowness  or  quickness  of  pronunciation,  certain  signs  with  the 
hand,  the  mouth,  or  other  gestures,  are  necessary  to  complete 
the  sense  of  the  sentence.  If  the  Indian,  for  instance,  means 
to  say,  'I  will  go  into  the  wood,'  he  says  'Wood- go:'  pushing 
out  his  mouth  to  indicate  the  quarter  which  he  intends  to  visit." 
Clearly,  no  propositions  that  involve  even  moderate  degrees  of 
discrimination,  can  be  communicated  by  such  people.  The 
relative  homogeneity  of  early  speech,  thus  implied  by  the  absence 
of  modifying  terminations  to  words  or  the  auxiliaries  serving 
in  place  of  them,  is  further  implied  by  the  absence  of  general 
and  abstract  words.  Even  the  first  grades  of  generality  and 
abstractness  are  inexpressible.  Both  the  Abipones  and  the 
Guaranis  "want  the  verb  substantive  to  be.  They  want  the  verb 
to  have.  They  have  no  words  whereby  to  express  man,  body, 
God,  place,  time,  never,  ever,  everywhere."  Similarly,  the  Koossa 
language  has  "no  proper  article,  no  auxiliary  verbs,  no  inflec- 
tions either  of  their  verbs  or  substantives The  simple 

abstract  proposition,  I  am,  cannot  be  expressed  in  their  language." 

Having  these  a  posteriori  verifications  of  the  a  priori  infer- 
ence, that  early  speech  is  meagre,  incoherent,  indefinite,  we  may 
anticipate  countless  erroneous  beliefs  caused  by  misapprehen- 
sions. Dobrizhoffer  says  that  among  the  Guaranis,  "Aba  che  has 
three  meanings — I  am  a  Guarani,  I  am  a  man,  or  I  am  a  hus- 
band; which  of  these  is  meant  must  be  gathered  from  the  tenor 
of  the  conversation."  On  asking  ourselves  what  will  happen 
with  traditions  narrated  in  such  speech,  we  must  answer  that  the 
distortions  will  be  extreme  and  multitudinous. 

Proper  names  were  not  always  possessed  by  men :  they  are 
growths.  It  never  occurred  to  the  uninventive  savage  to  dis- 
tinguish this  person  from  that  by  vocal  marks.  An  individual 
was  at  first  signified  by  something  connected  with  him,  which, 
when  mentioned,  called  him  to  mind — an  incident,  a  juxta-posi- 
tion,  a  personal  trait. 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  725 

A  descriptive  name  is  commonly  assumed  to  be  the  earliest. 
We  suppose  that  just  as  objects  and  places  in  our  own  island 
acquired  their  names  by  the  establishment  of  what  was  originally 
an  impromptu  description ;  so,  names  of  savages,  such  as  "Broad 
face,"  "Head  without  hair,"  "Curly  head,"  "Horse-tail,"  are  the 
significant  sobriquets  with  which  naming  begins.  But  it  is  not 
so.  Under  pressure  of  the  need  for  indicating  a  child  while  yet 
it  has  no  peculiarities,  it  is  referred  to  in  connexion  with  some 
circumstances  attending  its  birth.  The  Lower  Murray  Austra- 
lians derive  their  names  either  from  some  trivial  occurrence,  from 
the  spot  where  they  were  born,  or  from  a  natural  object  seen  by 
the  mother  soon  after  the  birth  of  the  child.  This  is  typical. 
Damara  "children  are  named  after  great  public  incidents."  "Most 
Bodo  and  Dhimals  bear  meaningless  designations,  or  any  passing 
event  of  the  moment  may  suggest  a  significant  term."  The  name 
given  to  a  Kaffir  child  soon  after  birth,  "usually  refers  to  some 
circumstance  connected  with  that  event,  or  happening  about  the 
same  time."  Among  the  Comanches,  "the  children  are  named 
from  some  circumstance  in  tender  years ;"  and  the  names  of  the 
Chippewayan  boys  are  "generally  derived  from  some  place, 
season,  or  animal."  Even  with  so  superior  a  type  as  the  Bedouins, 
the  like  happens :  "a  name  is  given  to  the  infant  immediately  on 
his  birth.  The  name  is  derived  from  some  trifling  accident,  or 
from  some  object  which  has  struck  the  fancy  of  the  mother  or 
any  of  the  women  present  at  the  child's  birth.  Thus,  if  the  dog 
happened  to  be  near  on  this  occasion,  the  infant  is  probably 
named  Kelab  (from  Kelb,  a  dog)." 

This  vague  mode  of  identification,  which  arises  first  in  the 
history  of  the  race,  and  long  survives  as  a  birth-naming,  is  by- 
and-by  habitually  followed  by  a  re-naming  of  a  more  specific 
kind :  a  personal  trait  that  becomes  decided  in  the  course  of 
growth,  a  strange  accident,  or  a  remarkable  achievement,  fur- 
nishing the  second  name.  Among  the  peoples  above  mentioned, 
the  Comanches,  the  Damaras,  the  Kaffirs  illustrate  this.  Speak- 
ing of  the  Kaffirs,  Mann  says — "Thus  'Umgodi'  is  simply  'the 
boy  who  was  born  in  a  hole.'  That  is  a  birth  name.  'Umgin- 
quisago'  is  'the  hunter  who  made  the  game  roll  over.'  That  is  a 
name  of  renown."  Omitting  multitudinous  illustrations,  let  us 


726  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

note  some  which  immediately  concern  us.  Of  the  additional 
names  gained  by  the  Tupis  after  successes  in  battle,  we  read — 
"They  selected  their  appellations  from  visible  objects,  pride  or 
ferocity  influencing  their  choice:"  whence  obviously  results 
naming  after  savage  animals.  Among  animal-names  used  by  the 
Karens  are — 'Tiger,'  'Yellow-Tiger/  'Fierce-Tiger,'  'Gaur,'  'Goat- 
antelope/  'Horn-bill/  'Heron,'  'Prince-bird,'  and  'Mango-fish:' 
the  preference  for  the  formidable  beast  being  obvious.  In  New 
Zealand  a  native  swift  of  foot  is  called  'Kawaw,'  a  bird  or  fowl ; 
and  the  Dacotah  women  have  such  names  as  the  'White  Martin,' 
the  'Young  Mink/  the  'Musk-rat's  Paw.'  All  over  the  world 
the  nicknaming  after  animals  is  habitual.  Lander  speaks  of  it 
among  the  Yorubans;  Thunberg,  among  the  Hottentots;  and 
that  it  prevails  throughout  North  America  every  one  knows.  As 
implied  in  cases  above  given,  self -exaltation  is  sometimes  the 
cause,  and  sometimes  exaltation  by  others.  When  a  Makololo 
chief  arrives  at  a  village,  the  people  salute  him  with  the  title, 
'Great  Lion.'  King  Koffi's  attendants  exclaim — "Look  before 
thee,  O  Lion."  In  the  Harris  papyrus,  King  Mencheper-ra 
(Tothmes  III)  is  called  'the  Furious  Lion;'  and  the  name  of  one 
of  the  kings  of  the  second  Egyptian  dynasty,  Kakau,  means  "the 
bull  of  bulls."  In  early  Assyrian  inscriptions  we  read — "Like  a 
bull  thou  shalt  rule  over  the  chiefs ;"  a  simile  which,  as  is  shown 
in  another  case,  readily  passes  into  metaphor.  Thus  in  the  third 
Sallier  papyrus  it  is  said  of  Rameses — "As  a  bull,  terrible  with 
pointed  horns  he  rose;"  and  then  in  a  subsequent  passage  the 
defeated  address  him — "Horus,  conquering  bull." 

Remembering  that  this  habit  survives  among  ourselves,  so 
that  the  cunning  person  is  called  a  fox,  the  rude  a  bear,  the 
hypocritical  a  crocodile,  the  dirty  a  pig,  the  keen  a  hawk,  and  so 
on — observing  that  in  those  ancient  races  who  had  proper  names 
of  a  developed  kind,  animal-nicknaming  still  prevailed;  let  us 
ask  what  resulted  from  it  in  the  earliest  stages. 

Verbal  signs  being  at  first  so  inadequate  that  gesture-signs 
are  needful  to  eke  them  out,  the  distinction  between  metaphor 
and  fact  cannot  be  expressed,  much  less  preserved  in  tradition. 
If,  as  shown  by  instances  Mr.  Tylor  gives,  even  the  higher  races 
confound  the  metaphorical  with  the  literal — if  the  statement  in 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  727 

the  Koran  that  God  opened  and  cleansed  Mahomet's  heart, 
originates  a  belief  that  his  heart  was  actually  taken  out,  washed, 
and  replaced — if  from  accounts  of  tribes  without  governors, 
described  as  without  heads,  there  has  arisen  among  civilized 
people  the  belief  that  there  are  races  of  headless  men ;  we  cannot 
wonder  if  the  savage,  lacking  knowledge  and  speaking  a  rude 
language,  gets  the  idea  that  an  ancestor  named  "the  Tiger"  was 
an  actual  tiger.  From  childhood  upwards  he  hears  his  father's 
father  spoken  of  by  this  name.  No  one  suspects  he  will  mis- 
interpret it :  error  being,  indeed,  a  general  notion  the  savage  has 
scarcely  reached.  And  there  are  no  words  serving  to  convey  a 
correction,  even  if  the  need  is  percieved.  Inevitably,  then,  he 
grows  up  believing  that  his  father  descended  from  a  tiger — think- 
ing of  himself  as  one  of  the  tiger  stock.  Everywhere  the  results 
of  such  mistakes  meet  us 

Naturally,  as  a  further  sequence,  there  comes  a  special  regard 
for  the  animal  which  gives  the  tribal  name,  and  is  considered  a 
relative.  As  the  ancestor  conceived  under  the  human  form  is 
thought  able  to  work  good  or  ill  to  his  descendants,  so,  too,  is 
the  ancestor  conceived  under  the  brute- form.  Hence  "no  Indian 
tracing  his  descent  from  the  spirit  mother  and  the  grizzly  .... 
will  kill  a  grizzly  bear."  The  Osages  will  not  destroy  the  beaver : 
believing  themselves  derived  from  it.  "A  tribe  never  eats  of 
the  animal  which  is  its"  namesake,"  among  the  Bechuanas.  Like 
ideas  and  practices  occur  in  Australia  in  a  less  settled  form.  "A 
member  of  the  family  will  never  kill  an  animal  of  the  species  to 
which  his  kobong  [animal-namesake]  belongs,  should  he  find  it 
asleep;  indeed,  he  always  kills  it  reluctantly,  and  never  without 
affording  it  a  chance  of  escape."  Joined  with  this  regard  for  the 
animal-namesake  considered  as  a  relative,  there  goes  belief  in  its 
guardianship;  and  hence  arises  the  faith  in  omens  derived  from 
birds  ancjp  quadrupeds.  The  ancestor  under  the  brute  form,  is 
supposed  to  be  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  his  kindred;  and 
tells  them  by  signs  or  sounds  of  their  danger. 

Do  we  not  in  these  observances  see  the  beginnings  of  a 
worship?  If  the  East  Africans  think  the  souls  of  departed 
chiefs  enter  into  lions  and  render  them  sacred ;  we  may  conclude 
that  sacredness  will  equally  attach  to  the  animals  whose  human 


728  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

souls  were  ancestral.  If  the  Congo  people,  holding  this  belief 
about  lions,  think  "the  lion  spares  those  whom  he  meets,  when 
he  is  courteously  saluted ;"  the  implication  is  that  there  will  arise 
propitiations  of  the  beast-chief  who  was  the  progenitor  of  the 
tribe.  Prayers  and  offerings  may  be  expected  to  develop  into  a 
cult,  and  the  animal-namesake  into  a  deity. 

When,  therefore,  among  American  Indians,  whose  habit  of 
naming  after  animals  still  continues,  and  whose  legends  of 
animal-progenitors  are  so  specific,  we  find  animals  taking  rank 
as  creators  and  divinities — when  we  read  that  "  'raven'  and 
'wolf  are  the  names  of  the  two  gods  of  the  Thlinkeets,  who  are 
supposed  to  be  the  founders  of  the  Indian  race;"  we  have  just 
the  result  to  be  anticipated.  And  when  of  this  tribe  we  further 
read  that  "the  Raven  trunk  is  again  divided  into  sub-clans,  called 
the  Frog,  the  Goose,  the  Sea-Lion,  the  Owl,  and  the  Salmon," 
while  "the  Wolf  family  comprises  the  Bear,  Eagle,  Dolphin, 
Shark,  and  Alca ;"  we  see  that  apotheosis  under  the  animal  form, 
follows  the  same  course  as  apotheosis  under  the  human  form. 
In  either  case,  more  recent  progenitors  of  sub-tribes  are  sub- 
ordinate to  the  ancient  progenitors  of  the  entire  tribe. 

Guided  by  these  various  clues  we  may,  I  think,  infer  that 
much  of  the  developed  animal-worship  of  the  ancient  historic 
races,  grew  out  of  this  misinterpretation  of  nick-names.  Even 
now,  among  partially-civilized  peoples,  the  re-genesis  of  such 
worship  is  shown  us.  In  Ashantee  certain  of  the  king's  attend- 
ants, whose  duty  it  is  to  praise  him,  or  "give  him  names,"  cry 
out  among  other  titles — "Bore"  (the  name  of  a  venomous  ser- 
pent), "you  are  most  beautiful,  but  your  bite  is  deadly."  As 
these  African  kings  ordinarily  undergo  apotheosis — as  this  lauda- 
tory title  "Bore,"  may  be  expected  to  survive  in  tradition  along 
with  other  titles,  and  to  be  used  in  propitiations — as  the  Zulus, 
who,  led  by  another  suggestion,  think  dead  men  become  snakes, 
distinguish  certain  venomous  snakes  as  chiefs ;  we  must  admit 
that  from  this  complimentary  nickname  of  a  king  who  became 
a  god,  may  naturally  grow  up  the  worship  of  a  serpent :  a 
serpent  who,  nevertheless,  had  a  human  history.  Similarly  when 
we  ask  what  is  likely  to  happen  from  the  animal-name  by  which 
the  king  is  honoured  in  Madagascar.  "God  is  gone  to  the  west — 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  729 

Radama  is  a  mighty  bull,"  were  expressions  used  by  the  Malagasy 
women  in  their  songs  in  praise  of  their  king,  who  was  absent  on 
a  warlike  expedition.  Here  we  have  the  three  titles  simultane- 
ously applied — the  god,  the  king,  the  bull.  If,  then,  the  like 
occurred  in  ancient  Egypt — if  the  same  papyrus  which  shows  us 
Rameses  II  invoking  his  divine  ancestor,  also  contains  the  title 
"conquering  bull,"  given  to  Rameses  by  the  subjugated — if  we 
find  another  Egyptian  king  called  "a  resolute  Bull,  he  went  for- 
ward, being  a  Bull  king,  a  god  manifest  the  day  of  combats;" 
can  we  doubt  that  from  like  occurrences  in  earlier  times  arose 
the  worship  of  Apis?  Can  we  doubt  that  Osiris-Apis  was  an 
ancient  hero-king,  who  became  a  god,  when,  according  to 
Brugsch,  the  Step-pyramid,  built  during  the  first  dynasty,  "con- 
cealed the  bleached  bones  of  bulls  and  the  inscriptions  chiselled 
in  the  stone  relating  to  the  royal  names  of  the  Apis,"  and,  as 
he  infers,  "was  a  common  sepulchre  of  the  holy  bulls:"  re- 
incarnations of  this  apotheosized  hero-king?  Can  we  doubt  that 
the  bovine  deities  of  the  Hindus  and  Assyrians  similarly  origi- 
nated ? 

So  that  misinterpretations  of  metaphorical  titles,  which  in- 
evitably occur  in  early  speech,  being  given,  the  rise  of  animal- 
worship  is  a  natural  sequence.  Mammals,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes, 
all  yield  nicknames ;  are  all  in  one  place  or  other  regarded  as 
progenitors;  all  acquire,  among  this  or  that  people,  a  sacredness 
rising  in  many  cases  to  adoration.  Even  where  the  nickname 
is  one  of  reproach — even  where  the  creature  is  of  a  kind  to 
inspire  contempt  rather  than  respect,  we  see  that  identification 
with  the  ancestor  explains  worship  of  it.  The  Veddahs,  who  are 
predominantly  ancestor-worshippers,  also  worship  a  tortoise. 
Though  among  them  the  reason  is  not  traceable,  we  find  an  indi- 
cation of  it  elsewhere.  Mr.  Bates,  during  his  Amazon  explora- 
tions, had,. two  attendants  surnamed  Tortoise;  and  their  surname 
had  descended  to  them  from  a  father  whose  slowness  had  sug- 
gested this  nickname.  Here  we  see  the  first  step  towards  the 
formation  of  a  tortoise  tribe ;  having  the  tortoise  for  ancestor, 
totem  deity 

We  conclude,  then,  that  in  three  ways  is  the  primitive  man 
led  to  identify  the  animal  with  the  ancestor. 


730  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

• 
The  other-self  of  the  dead  relative  is  supposed  to  come  back 

occasionally  to  his  old  abode :  how  else  is  it  possible  for  the 
survivors,  sleeping  there,  to  see  him  in  their  dreams?  Here  are 
creatures  which  commonly,  unlike  wild  creatures  in  general, 
come  into  houses — come  in,  too,  secretly  in  the  night.  The 
implication  is  clear.  That  snakes,  which  especially  do  this,  are 
the  returned  dead,  is  inferred  by  peoples  in  Africa,  Asia,  and 
America:  the  haunting  of  houses  being  the  common  trait  of  the 
kinds  of  snakes  reverenced  or  worshipped;  and  also  the  trait  of 
certain  lizards,  insects,  and  birds  similarly  regarded. 

The  ghost  sometimes  re-visiting  the  house,  is  thought  also  to 
linger  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  corpse.  Creatures  found  in 
caves  used  for  burials,  hence  come  to  be  taken  for  the  new  shapes 
assumed  by  departed  souls.  Bats  and  owls  are  conceived  to  be 
winged  spirits;  and  from  them  arise  the  ideas  of  devils  and 
angels. 

Lastly,  and  chiefly,  comes  that  identification  of  the  animal 
with  the  ancestor,  which  is  caused  by  interpreting  metaphorical 
names  literally.  Primitive  speech  is  unable  to  transmit  to  pos- 
terity the  distinction  between  an  animal  and  a  person  named 
after  that  animal.  Hence  the  confusion  of  the  two;  hence  the 
regard  for  the  animal  as  progenitor;  hence  the  growth  of  a 
worship.  Besides  explaining  animal-gods,  this  hypothesis 
accounts  for  sundry  anomalous  beliefs — the  divinities  half-brute, 
half -human ;  the  animals  that  talk,  and  play  active  parts  in  human 
affairs ;  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  etc. 

By  modification  upon  modification,  leading  to  complications 
and  divergences  without  limit,  evolution  brings  into  being 
products  extremely  unlike  their  germs;  and  we  here  have  an 
instance  in  this  derivation  of  animal-worship  from  the  propitia- 
tion of  ghosts. 

PLANT-WORSHIP 

Rant-worship,  ....  like  the  worship  of  idols  and  animals, 
is  an  aberrant  species  of  ancestor-worship — a  species  somewhat 
more  disguised  externally,  but  having  the  same  internal  nature. 
Though  it  develops  in  three  different  directions,  there  is  but 
one  origin. 

The    toxic    excitements    produced   by    certain    plants,    or   by 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  731 

extracts  from  them,  or  by  their  fermented  juices,  are  classed  with 
other  excitements,  as  caused  by  spirits  or  demons.  Where 
the  stimulation  is  agreeable,  the  possessing  spirit,  taken  in  with 
the  drug,  is  regarded  as  a  beneficent  being — a  being  sometimes 
identified  with  a  human  original  and  gradually  exalted  into  a 
divinity  who  is  lauded  and  prayed  to. 

Tribes  that  have  come  out  of  places  characterized  by  particu- 
lar trees  or  plants,  unawares  change  the  legend  of  emergence 
from  them  into  the  legend  of  descent  from  them:  words  fitted 
to  convey  the  distinction  not  being  contained  in  their  vocabu- 
laries. Hence  the  belief  that  such  trees  are  their  ancestors;  and 
hence  the  regard  for  them  as  sacred. 

Further,  the  naming  of  individuals  after  plants  becomes  a 
cause  of  confusion.  Identification  of  the  two  in  tradition  can 
be  prevented  only  by  the  use  of  verbal  qualifications  that  are 
impossible  in  rude  languages ;  and  from  the  unchecked  indentifica- 
tion  there  arise  ideas  and  sentiments  respecting  the  plant- 
ancestor,  allied  to  those  excited  by  the  animal-ancestor  or  the 
ancestor  figured  as  human. 

Thus  the  ghost-theory,  supplying  us  with  a  key  to  other 
groups  of  superstitions,  supplies  us  with  a  key  to  the  supersti- 
tions constituting  this  group — superstitions  otherwise  implying 
gratuitous  absurdities  which  we  may  not  legitimately  ascribe 
even  to  primitive  men. 

NATURE-WORSHIP 

[Similarly]  nature-worship,  like  each  of  the  worships  previ- 
ously analyzed,  is  a  form  of  ancestor-worship ;  but  one  which 
has  lost,  in  a  still  greater  degree,  the  external  characters  of  its 
original. 

Partly  by  confounding  the  parentage  of  the  race  with  a  con- 
spicuous object  marking  the  natal  region  of  the  race,  partly  by 
literal  interpretation  of  birth-names,  and  partly  by  literal  inter- 
pretation of  names  given  in  eulogy,  there  have  been  produced 
beliefs  in  descent  from  Mountains,  from  the  Sea,  from  the  Dawn, 
from  animals  which  have  become  constellations,  and  from  per- 
sons once  on  Earth  who  now  appear  as  Moon  and  Sun.  Im- 
plicitly believing  the  statements  of  forefathers,  the  savage  and 


732  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

semi-civilized  have  been  compelled  grotesquely  to  combine  natural 
powers  with  human  attributes  and  histories ;  and  have  been  thus 
led  into  the  strange  customs  of  propitiating  these  great  terrestrial 
and  celestial  objects  by  such  offerings  of  food  and  blood  as  they 
habitually  made  to  other  ancestors. — HERBERT  SPENCER,  Prin- 
ciples of  Sociology,  1:132-42,  181-87,  281-99,  322-46,  359,  384. 


The  savage  attitude  of  mind  indicated  in  the  papers 
of  Frazer,  Jones,  and  Howitt  should  be  taken  as  a  start- 
ing-point in  the  explanation  of  the  origin  of  religious 
belief.  I  am  inclined  to  regard  Jones's  paper  as  the 
most  important  single  statement  on  the  nature  of  early 
religion. 

Religion  and  magic  are  both  attempts  to  control  life, 
and  they  are  both  expressions  of  the  power  of  abstrac- 
tion and  the  attempt  to  determine  cause  and  effect. 
They  are  the  primitive  philosophy.  Theoretically  magic 
and  religion  are  separable  and  both  must  exist  wher- 
ever the  human  mind  exists.  The  examples  cited  in 
Frazer  demonstrate  the  primitive  belief  that  objects  in 
juxtaposition,  in  an  order  of  sequence,  or  having  points 
of  resemblance  have  also  a  causal  connection.  And 
this  belief  existed,  and  continues  to  exist  in  many  of 
our  modern  superstitions,  without  any  reference  to  re- 
ligious belief.  The  belief  that  if  you  see  the  new  moon 
"through  brush"  your  life  will  be  "obstructed"  through- 
out the  lunar  month  is  an  example  of  this. 

But  in  addition,  a  mind  which  seeks  explanations  of 
mysteries  and  of  incidents  uncontrolled  by  human 
agency  is  forced  to  assume  the  presence  of  invisible 
personal  agents,  or  spirits.  Sleep,  dreams,  and  death, 
as  indicated  by  Spencer  and  Tylor,  have  a  powerful 
influence  in  fixing  the  belief  that  some  of  these  spirits 
are  surviving  souls,  but  the  belief  in  invisible  agency, 
and  consequently  in  spirits,  would  exist  if  there  were 
no  such  things  as  sleep,  dreams,  and  death.  Both  magic 
and  religion  are  expressions  of  the  logical  faculty  of  a 
mind  working  unscientifically. 

733 


734  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

But  while  theoretically  separable,  magic,  religion, 
belief  in  ghosts,  and  belief  in  nature-spirits  practically 
run  into  one  another  and  become  inextricably  mingled. 
It  is  idle  also  to  attempt  to  establish  a  priority  in  favor 
of  any  one  of  these  elements.  They  are  all  expressions 
of  the  human  mind,  as  soon  as  there  is  such  a  mind, 
and  the  dominance  of  one  element  or  another  is  deter- 
mined by  the  incidents  of  life  and  the  operation  of  the 
attention. 

Spencer's  theory  that  ancestor-worship  is  the  ori- 
ginal form  from  which  all  others  are  derived  has  noth- 
ing in  its  favor  except  its  admirable  ingenuity.  There 
are  many  classes  of  objects  which  cause  the  mind  to 
speculate  and  to  reach  a  belief  in  spirits.  Death  is  one 
of  these.  But  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  and  the  echoes, 
shadows,  reflections  and  mutations  of  nature  are  other 
sets  of  objects  operating  in  the  same  way.  Reproduc- 
tion, the  renewal  of  life,  the  revival  of  the  earth  in  the 
spring-time,  and  the  consequent  multiplication  of  food, 
both  animal  and  vegetable,  is  one  of  the  great  mysteries, 
and  leads  to  phallic  worship.  The  animal  was  the  focus 
of  primitive  man's  attention,  not  only  on  account  of 
its  value,  but  because  of  its  surpassing  ability  in  its  own 
field.  The  serpent's  mysterious  motion  and  its  poison, 
and  the  intoxicating  and  poisonous  qualities  of  the 
plant  made  them  the  objects  of  speculation  and  worship 
quite  aside  from  any  idea  that  they  contained  the  spirits 
of  dead  ancestors.  Spencer's  statement  that  "bats  and 
owls  are  conceived  to  be  winged  spirits ;  and  from  them 
arise  the  ideas  of  devils  and  angels,"  is  an  illustration 
of  the  extremity  to  which  he  is  capable  of  pushing  a 
theory.  Angels  and  devils  are  images  of  good  and  evil, 
just  as  Lazarus  and  Dives  are  images  of  poverty  and 


MAGIC,  RELIGION,  MYTH  735 

wealth.  The  mind  always  attempts  to  associate  its 
abstractions  with  pictures.  Another  palpable  and  par- 
ticularistic error  is  Spencer's  statement  that  "dream- 
experiences  necessarily  precede  the  conception  of  a 
mental  self;  and  are  the  experiences  out  of  which  the 
conception  of  a  mental  self  eventually  grows."  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  if  man  were  dreamless  he 
would  yet  have  arrived  at  the  conception  of  a  mental 
self. 

On  the  other  hand  there  are  points  of  value  in  Spen- 
cer's essay.  The  confusion  of  thought  arising  in  con- 
nection with  names  is  an  important  consideration.  It  is 
even  probable  that  this  played  a  role  in  directing  man's 
attention  and  worship  to  animals.  But  the  animal  itself 
must  be  regarded  as  capable  of  calling  out  man's  atten- 
tion and  worship  without  regard  to  his  filiation  with  it. 

In  a  word,  Spencer  has  singled  out  one  branch  of 
religion  and  made  it  the  mother  of  all  the  others, 
whereas  all  sprang  in  common  from  the  mind. 
Whether  worship  is  directed  toward  ancestors,  nature, 
animals,  plants,  or  the  symbols  of  reproduction,  is  a 
matter  determined  in  the  history  of  thought  in  particu- 
lar regions.  As  a  matter  of  fact  all  these  elements 
usually  enter,  and  frequently  the  rites  attaching  to  dif- 
ferent objects  maintain  themselves  separately,  in  the 
same  region. 

Both  the  mental  life  and  the  religious  consciousness 
of  the  savage  should  be  studied  in  connection  with  his 
mythology  and  his  rituals.  The  following  bibliography 
suggests  materials  for  such  a  study.  The  mythology 
of  the  North  American  Indian  is  a  particularly  inter- 
esting field. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY    6 

*i  ACHELIS,  A.     Die  Ekstase  in  ihrer  kulturellen  Bedeutung.     Berlin, 
1902. 

*2  ACHELIS,  T.     "Die  Stellung  Tangaloas  in  der  polynesischen  Mytho- 
logie,"  Globus,  67:229-31;  249-51;  270-72. 

*3  ACHELIS,   T.      Ueber  Mythologie  und  Kultus  von  Hawai.     Braun- 
schweig, 1895. 

4  ACHELIS,  T.     "Animal  Worship,"   The  Open  Court,  11:705-17. 

*5  AMES,    E.    S.      The  Psychology   of  Religious  Experience.      [Forth- 
coming.] 

6  ANDREE,  R.     Ethnographische    Parallclcn    und    Vergleiche,    "Tage- 
wahlerei,    Angang    und    Schicksalvogel,"    i'-i7;    "Einmauern,"    18- 
23;  "Siindenbok,"  29-34;  "Boser   Blick,"  35-45;   "Werwolf,"  62-80; 
"Vampyr,"    80-94;    "Speiseverbote,"    114-27;    "Schadelcultus,"    127- 
47;    "Trauerverstummlung,"   147-52;    ''Personennamen,"    165-84. 

7  ANDKEE,   R.     Ethnographische    Parallelcn    und     Vergleiche     (Neue 
Folge),    "Besessene    und    Geisteskranke,"    1-7;    "Sympathiezauber," 
8-17;  "Bildnis  raubt  die  Seele,"  18-20;  "Baum  und  Mensch,"  21-23; 
"Die    Totenmiinze,"    24-29;   "Der    Donnerkeil,"    30-41;    "Jagdaber- 
glauben,"  42-48. 

*7a  ASHTON,  W.  G.     Shinto   (The  Way  of  the  Gods).     London,  1905. 
^"8  BASTIAN,  A.     Die  heilige  Sagen  der  Polynesier.     Leipzig,  1881. 

9  BASTIAN,   A.      "Ueber    die    priesterlichen    Functionen    unter    Natur- 
stammen,"  Zeits.  fur  Ethn.,  21 : 109-54. 

10  BASTIAN,  A.    Die  Verbleibs-Orte  der  abgeschiedcnen  Seele.     Berlin, 

1893- 
ioa  BEAUCHAMP,  W.  M.     "Early  Religion  of  the  Iroquois,"  Am.  Antiq. 

and  Orient.  Jour.,  14 : 344-49. 

*n  BLEEK,  W.  H.  I.     Reynard  the  Fox  in  South  Africa;  or  Hotten- 
tot Fables  and  Tales.     London,  1864. 

1^*12  BOAS,  F.  Introduction  to  J.  Teit's  "Traditions  of  the  Thompson 
River  Indians  of  British  Columbia,"  Am.  Folk-Lore  Soc.,  Mem., 
6:1-18.  * 

[All  of  Boas'  writings  are  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  he  is  pre-eminent 

in   mythology.] 
736 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  737 

*i2a  BOAS,  F.    "The  Mythology  of  the  Bella  Coola  Indians,"  Am.  Mus. 
of  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  2 : 26-127. 

I2b  BOAS,  F.,  AND  HUNT,  G.     "Kwakiutl   Texts,"  Am.  Mus.  of  Nat. 

Hist.,  Mem.,  5:3-532;  14:3-269. 

IS  13  BOAS,  F.     Indianische  Sagen  von  der  nordpacifischen  Ktiste  Nord- 
amerikas.     Berlin,  1895. 

14  BOAS,  F.  "Die  Mythologie  der  nordwestamerikanischen  Kiisten- 
volker,"  Globus,  53:121-27;  I53~57;  3I5-IQ;  54'  10-14;  141-44; 
216-21 ;  298-302. 

£,  *I5  BOAS,   F.     "Dissemination   of   Tales   among   the   Natives   of    North 
America,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  4:13-20. 

150  BOAS,    F.      "Zur    Mythologie    der    Indianer    von    Washington    und 

Oregon,"  Globus,  63:154-57;   172-75;   ipo-93- 
*I5&  BOAS,  F.     "Traditions  of  the  Tillamook  Indians,"  /own.  Am.  Folk- 

Lore,  1 1 : 23-38 ;   133-50. 
*i5c  BOAS,   F.     "The    Doctrine   of    Souls   and   of    Disease    among   the 

Chinook  Indians,"  Jour.  Am.  F  oik-Lore,  6:39-43. 
*i6  BOGORAS,  W.     "The   Folklore   of   Northeastern   Asia,   as   Compared 

with  That  of  Northwestern  America,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  4:577-683. 

*i6a  BOGORAS,  W.    "The  Chuckchee — Religion,"  Am.  Mus.  of  Nat.  Hist., 
Mem.,  1 1 : 277^-536. 

*I7  BOURKE,  J.  G.     "Medicine  Men  of  the  Apache,"  Bur.  Am.   Ethn., 
Rep.,  9:443-603. 

18  BOYLE,  D.    "On  the  Paganism  of  the  Civilised  Iroquois  of  Ontario," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  30:263-73. 

19  BRINTON,  D.  G.     American  Hero  Myths.     Philadelphia,   1882. 

20  BRINTON,  D.  G.     The  Myths  ofjhe  New-World.     Philadelphia,  1806. 

21  BRINTON,   D.   G.     Nagualism:   A    Study   in   Native   American    Folk- 
Lore  and  History.     Philadelphia,   1894. 

22  BRINTON,  D.  G.    Religions  of  Primitive  Peoples.     New  York,  1889. 
<^23  BUCKLAND,  A.  W.     "Points  of  Contact  between  Old-World  Myths 

and  Customs  and  the  Navajo  Myth,  Entitled  'The  Mountain  Chant,'  " 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  22:346-55. 

24  BUCKLEY,  E.  Phallicism  in  Japan.  (University  of  Chicago  disser- 
tation.) 1895. 

*25  BULOW,   W.     "Die   samoanische   Schopfungssagc,"   Intermit.   Arcliiv 
fur  Ethnog.,  12:58-66.     On  same  subject,  Globus,  71:375-79. 


738  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

26  CALLAWAY,   H.     Nursery    Tales,   Traditions,  and  Histories   of  the 
Zulus.     Natal,  1868. 

27  CALLAWAY,  H.     "On  Divination  and  Analogous  Phenomena  among 
the  Natives  of  Natal,"  Jour.  Anth.  lust.,  1:163-83. 

28  CALLAWAY,   H.     The  Religious   Systems  of   the  Amasulu.     Natal, 
1868-70. 

29  CAMPBELL,  J.  M.     "Notes  on   Spirit  Basis  of  Belief  and   Custom," 
Indian  Antiquary,  23:333-38,  and  Vols.  24-30  passim. 

[A  collection  of  curious  information,   mainly  on  modern   Europe  and   India.] 

30  CANFIELD,  W.     The  Legends  of  the  Iroquois,   Told  by  "The  Corn- 
planter."     New  York,  1903. 

31  CARUS,  P.     The  History  of  the  Devil  and  the  Idea  of  Evil.     (^Inter- 
nal. F oik-Lore  Assoc.  Arch.,  3.)     Chicago,  1900. 

32  CHAMBERLAIN,    A.    F.      "Mythology    of    Indian    Stocks    North    of 
Mexico,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,   18:111-22. 

I  Altogether  devoted  to  a  valuable  indication  of  the  literature  on  the  mythology 

of  the  Indian  north  of  Mexico.] 

320  CHAMBERLAIN,  A.  F.     "Kootenay  Medicine-Men,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk- 
Lore,  14:95-99. 

33  CHRISTALLER,  J.  G.     "Negermarchen  von  der  Goldkiiste,"  Zcits.  des 
Vereins  fiir  Volkskunde,  4:61-71. 

34  CLARKE,  K.  M.     Maori  Legends.     London,  1896. 

*35  CODRINGTON,  R.  H.     "Religious  Beliefs  and  Practices  in  Melanesia," 

Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  10:261-315. 
36  COHEN,    H.      "Mythologische    Vorstellungen    von    Gott    und    Seele," 

Zeits.    fiir    Volkcr  psych,    und    Spraclnvisscnschaft,    5:396-434;    6: 

II3-3I- 
*37  CRAWLEY,  A.  E.     "Taboos  of  Commensality,"  Folk-Lore,  6 : 130-44. 

38  CROOKE,   W.      The   Popular   Religion   and    Folk-Lore    of   Northern 
India.     Westminster,  1896. 

39  CROOKE,  W.  "Primitive  Rites  of  Disposal  of  the  Dead,  with  Special 
Reference  to  India,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  29:271-89. 

*4O  GUSHING,   F.    H.      "Outlines    of    Zufii    Creation    Myths,"   Bur.   Am. 
Ethn.,  Rep.,  13:321-447. 

*4i  GUSHING,  F.  H.    Zuni  Folk-Tales.    New  York,  1901. 

42  GUSHING,    F.    H.     "The    Zuni    Social,    Mythic,    and   Religious    Sys- 
tems," Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  21 :  186-92. 

43  GUSHING,  F.  H.     "Zuni  Fetiches,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  2:9-45. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  739 

44  DANKS,  B.     "Burial  Customs  of  New  Britain,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst., 
21:348-56. 

45  DAVENPORT,  F.   M.     Primitive   Traits  in  Religious  Revivals.     New 
York,  1905. 

46  DAVIDS,  T.   W.     Hibbert  Lectures  on  the  Origin  and   Growth  of 
Religion  as  Illustrated  by  Some  Points  in  the  History  of  Indian 
Buddhism.     London,   1881. 

*47  DENNETT,  R.  E.  At  the  Back  of  the  Black  Man's  Mind,  "Ndon- 
goism,"  85-95;  "Nkici-ism,"  96-99. 

*47a  DIXON,  R.  B.  "Maidu  Myths,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  But.,  17: 
33-n8. 

*48  DORSEY,  G.  A.  The  Mythology  of  the  Wichita.  (Carnegie  Insti- 
tution.) 1904. 

*49  DORSEY,  G.  A.  The  Pawnee  Mythology  (Part  I).  (Carnegie  Insti- 
tution.) 1906. 

*5o  DORSEY,  G.  A.  Traditions  of  the  Skidi  Pawnee.  Boston,  1904. 
{Am.  Folk-Lore  Soc.,  Mem.,  8.) 

[For  Dorsey's  work  this  is  a  convenient  point  to  begin.] 

*5i  DORSEY,  G.  A.     "The  Cheyenne,"  Field  Mus.  Pub.,  Anth.  Ser.,  9: 

1-186. 
*52  DORSEY,  G.  A.    "The  Arapaho  Sun  Dance,"  Field  Mus.  Pub.,  Anth. 

Ser.,  4:1-228. 
*53  DORSEY,  G.   A.,  AND   KROEBER,  A.   L.     Traditions  of  the  Arapaho. 

Field  Columbian  Mus.  Pub.,  Anth.  Ser.,  5:  1-475. 

[Other  papers  in  this  series  by  Dorsey,  and  Dorsey  and  Voth,  are :  "The 
Mishongnovi  Ceremonies  of  the  Snake  and  Antelope  Fraternities,"  "The 
Oraibi  Soyal  Ceremony,"  etc.] 

*54  DORSEY,  J.  O.     "A  Study  of  Siouan  Cults,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep., 

ii:35i-544. 

540  DORSEY,  J.  O.     "The   Cegiha  Language,"    U.  S.   Geog.  and  Gcol. 
Sur.:  Cont.  to  Am.  Ethn.,  6:1-779  [on  Siouxan  myth]. 

55  DUBOIS,  C.  G.     "The  Religion  of  the  Luiseno  Indians  of  Southern 
California,"  Univ.  of  California  Pub.  in  Am.  Archaeol.  and  Ethn., 
8:68-186. 

56  DUNLOP,  W.     "Australian  Folklore  Stories,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  28: 
22-34- 

*57  EHRENREICH,  P.  Die  Mythen  und  Legcndcn  dcr  sudamerikanischcn 
Urvdlker  und  ihre  Besiehungen  zu  denen  Nordamerikas  und  der 
Alien  Welt.  Berlin,  1905.  (Zcits.  f.  Ethn.  37,  Sup.) 


74°  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

58  ELLIS,  A.  B.     The  Land  of  Fetish.    London,  1883. 

59  ELMSLIE,  D.     "Folk-Lore  Tales  of  Central  Africa,"  Folk-Lore,  3: 
92-110. 

*6o  FARRAND,    L.     "The    Significance    of    Mythology    and    Traditions," 

Jour.  Ant.  Folk-Lore,  17:14-22. 
*6oo  FARRAND,  L.     "Traditions  of  the  Chilcotin  Indians,"  Am.  Mus.  of 

of  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  4:3-75. 
*6ob  FARRAND,  L.,  AND  KAHNWEILER,  W.  S.     "Traditions  of  the  Quin- 

ault  Indians,"  Am.  Mus.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  4:  79-132. 
*6i  FEWKES,  J.  W.     "The  Tusayan  Ritual:  A  Study  of  the  Influence  of 

Environment    on    Aboriginal    Cults,"    Smithsonian    Inst.,    Rep.    for 

1895:683-700. 
*6ia  FEWKES,  J.  W.     "The  Tusayan  New  Fire  Ceremony,"  Boston  Soc. 

Nat.  Hist.,  Proc.,  26:422-58. 
*62  FEWKES,  J.  F.     "The  Lesser  New-Fire  Ceremony  at  Walpi,"  Am. 

Anth.,  N.  S.,  3:438-53. 
*63  FEWKES,  J.  W.     "Tusayan  Flute  and  Snake  Ceremonies,"  Bur.  Am. 

Ethn.,  Rep.,  19:957^-1011. 

*64  FEWKES,  J.   W.     "Tusayan   Katcinas,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,   15: 

245-313. 
*6s  FEWKES,    J.    W.     "Tusayan    Snake    Ceremonies,"    Bur.   Am.   Ethn., 

Rep.,  16:267-312. 
*66  FEWKES,    J.    W.      "A    Few    Summer    Ceremonials    at    the    Tusayan 

Pueblos,"  Jour.  Am.  Ethn.  and  Arch.,  2: 1-159. 
*67  FEWKES,  J.  W.,  AND  STEPHEN,  A.  M.  "The  Mam-zrau'-ti :  A  Tusayan 

Ceremony,"  Am.  Anth.,  5:217-45. 
*68  FEWKES,  J.  W.,  AND  OWENS,  J.  G.    "The  La'-la-Kon-ta :  A  Tusayan 

Dance,"  Am.  Anth.,  5:105-29. 
*6g  FEWKES,  J.   W.     "The   Snake   Ceremonials   at   Walpi,"   Jour.   Am. 

Ethn.  and  Arch.,  4:1-126. 

*70  FEWKES,  J.  W.     "A  Comparison  of  Sia  and  Tusayan  Snake  Cere- 
monials," Am.  Anth.,  8:(  118-41. 
*7i  FEWKES,  J.   W.     "A  Suggestion   as  to  the   Meaning  of  the   Moki 

Snake  Dance,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  4 : 1291-38. 
*72  FEWKES,  j.  W.     "Tusayan  Migration  Traditions,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn., 

Rep.,  19:577-^33- 

73  FISON,  L.     Tales  of  Old  Fiji.    London,  1904. 
[ Introduction  excellent.] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  741 

74  FISON,   L.     "Notes   on   Fijian   Burial   Customs,"  Jour.   Anth.   Inst., 

10 : 137-49- 

*75  FLETCHER,   A.    C.      "The    Hako,    a    Pawnee    Ceremony,"    Bur.    Am. 
Ethn.,  Rep.,  22:5-368. 

76  FLORENZ,   K.     "Ancient   Japanese   Rituals,"   Asiat.   Soc.    of  Japan, 
Trans.,  27:1-112. 

[Continuation  of  3  papers  in  Vols.  7  and  9  by  Sir  E.  Satow.] 

77  FLORENZ,     K.       "Xihongi,     oder     japanische     Annalen,"     Mitth.    d. 
Gesellsch.  fur  Natur-  u.  Volkcrkunde  Ostasiens,  Suppls.  5  and  6. 

78  FORTIES,  A.     Louisiana  Folk-Tales  in  French  Dialect  and  English 
Translation.     Boston,  1895. 

79  FRASER,   J.      "The    Ethnic    Variation    of    Myths,"    Am.    Antiq.    and 
Orient.  Jour.,  22:213-18. 

*8o  FRAZER,  J.  G.     The  Golden  Bough:  A  Study  in  Magic  and  Religion. 
London,  1900.     3  vols. 

[A  further  enlarged  edition  in  press.] 
*8i  FRAZER,  J.  G.     "On  Certain  Burial  Customs  as  Illustrative  of  the 

Primitive  Theory  of  the  Soul,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  15:64-101. 
82  FUHNER,  H.     Lithotherapie :   Historische   Studien  iiber  die   mcdizi- 

nische  Verwendung  der  Edelstcine.     Berlin,  1902. 
*83  GENNEP,  A.  v.    Les  rites  de  passage.    Paris,  1909. 

[Treats  the  ritual  concerned  with  the  "transition"  of  the  individual  from  one 
status  to  another.     On  the  order  of  Crawley's  Mystic  Rose.] 

830  GENNEP,  A.  v.     Religions,  mtxurs  et  legendes.     Paris,  1908. 
*84  GENNEP,  A.  v.     Tabou  et  totcmisme  a  Madagascar.     Paris,  1904. 
85  GERBER,  A.     "Uncle  Remus  Traced  to  the  Old  World,"  Jour.  Am. 

F oik-Lore,  6:245-57. 
*86  GOMME,  G.   L.     Ethnology   in  Folklore.      ("Mod.    Sci."   Ser.)    New 

York,  1892. 

*86a  GOMME,  G.  L.    Folklore  as  a  Historical  Science.    New  York,  1908. 
86b  GREY,  G.     Polynesian  Mythology.     2d  ed.     Auckland,   1885. 
*87  GRIFFIS,  W.  E.     The  Religions  of  Japan.    London,  1895. 
*88  GRINNELL,  G.  B.     Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales.     New  York,  1892. 
*8p  GRINNELL,  G.  B.    Pawnee  Hero  Stories  and  Folk-Tales.     New  York, 

1889. 

90  GROOT,  J.  J.  M.  UE.     The  Religious  Systems  of  China.    Leyden,  1892. 
*9i  HABERLAND,  C.     "Ueber  Gebrauchc  tind  Aberglauben  beim   Essen," 


742  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Zeits.  fiir  Volkcr  psych,  und  Sprachwisscnschaft,  7:353-85;  18: 
159;  128-70;  255-84;  357-94- 

*92  HADDON,  A.  C.  Cambridge  Anth.  Expedition  to  Torres  Straits, 
Rep.,  "Magic,"  6:192-240;  "Religion,"  6:241-316;  "Funeral  Cere- 
monies," 5:248-62;  "Folk-Tales,"  5:9-120;  6:1-63. 

*93  HADDON,  A.  C.     Magic  and  Fetishism.     London,  1906. 

*94  HADDON,  SELIGMAN,  AND  WILKINS.  Cambridge  Anth.  Expedition 
to  Torres  Straits,  Rep.,  "Magic  and  Religion,"  5 : 320-78. 

*95  HALE,  H.     The  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites.     Philadelphia,  1883. 

96  HARRISON,    C.      "Religion    and    Family   among   the    Haidas,"   Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  21:  14-29. 

*96a  HAULLEVILLE,  A.  DE,  ET  COART.  "La  religion  chez  les  Congolais," 
Ann.  du  Musec  du  Congo,  3  ser.,  i:'i45-3i5. 

97  HEWITT,  J.  N.  B.    "The  Iroquoian  Concept  of  the  Soul,"  Jour.  Am. 
Folk-Lore,  8 : 107-16. 

98  HEWITT,  J.   N.   B.     "Orenda,   and   a   Definition   of   Religion,"  Am. 
Anth.,  N.  S.,  4:33-46. 

99  HILDBURGH,  VV.  L.    "Notes  on  Sinhalese  Magic,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst., 
38 : 148-206. 

*ioo  HOFFMAN,  W.  J.     "The   Mide'wiwin  or   'Grand   Medicine   Society' 

of  the  Ojibwa,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  7:143-300. 
101  HOFFMAN,    W.    J.     "Mythology   of   the   Menomoni    Indians,"   Am. 
Anth.,  3:243-58. 

*IO2  HOLLIS,  A.  C.  The  Masai,  "Stories,"  103^237;  "Myths  and  Tra- 
ditions," 264-81. 

*I03  HOLLIS,  A.  C.     The  Nandi,  "Folk-Tales,"  101-23. 

*IO4  HOSE,  C.,  AND  McDouGALL,  W.     "The  Relations  between  Men  and 
Animals  in  Sarawak,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  31:173-213. 
[Important  on  animal  worship.] 

*i04o  HOVORKA,  O.  v.,  UND  KRONFELD,  A.  Vergleichende  Volksmedisin. 
Stuttgart,  1908. 

[Important  on  sympathetic   magic  and   the   folk-mind.] 

*I05  Howrrr,  A.  W.  The  Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Australia,  "Medi- 
cine Men  and  Magic,"  355-425;  "Beliefs  and  Burial  Practices," 
426-508. 

*io6  HOWITT,  A.  W.,  AND  SIEBERT,  O.     "Legends  of  the  Dieri  and  Kin- 
dred Tribes  of  Central  Australia,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  34:100-29. 
107  JACOBS,  J.     "The  Migration  of  Fables"    (Introd.  to  Jacobs'  ed.  of 
North's  version  of  the  Fables  of  Pilpay).     London,  1888. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  743 

1070  JACOTTET,  E.     Treasury  of  Basuto  Lore.     Vol.  i.     London,  1909. 

108  JASTROW,  M.    The  Religions  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria.    Boston,  1898. 

109  JETTE,  J.     "On  the  Medicine-Men  of  the  Ten'a,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst., 
37:157-88. 

no  JETTE,  J.     "On  Ten'a  Folk-Lore,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  38:298-367. 
in  JEVONS,  F.  B.     An  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Religion.     Lon- 
don, 1896. 

I  no  JEVONS,  F.  B.     "The  Place  of  Totemism  in  the  Evolution  of  Re- 
ligion," Folk-Lore,  10:369-83. 

*iu&  JOCHELSON,  W.     "Religion  and  Myths  of  the  Koryak,"  Am.  Mus. 
of  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  10:13-382. 

112  JOHNSTON,  SIR  H.     George  Grcnfell  and  the  Congo,  "Religion,"  2: 

632-65. 
*H3  JONES,  W.     Fox  Texts  (Pub.  Am.  Ethn.  Soc.).     Leyclen,  1907. 

*H3a  JONES,  W.     "The  Culture-Hero  Tradition  of  the  Saux  and  Fox," 
Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  14:225-39. 

H3&  JONG,    K.    H.    E.    DE.      Das    aitfike    Mysterienwcscn    in    religions- 
geschichtlicher,     ethnologischcr    und    psychologischcr    Bclcuchtung. 
Leyden,  1909. 
*H4  JULG,  B.     Mongolische  M'drchen.     Innsbruck,  1867. 

115  KATE,  H.  TEN.     "Aus  dem  japanischen  Volksglauben,"  Globus,  90: 
111-14;  126-30. 

*ii6  KING,    I.      "The    Differentiation    of    the    Religious    Consciousness," 
Psych.  Rev.  Mon.,  Sup.  6,  No.  4. 

117  KINGSLEY,  M.  H.     "The  Fetish  View  of  the  Human  Soul,"  Folk- 
Lore,  8:138-51. 

118  KRAUSE,    G.    A.      "Beitrage    zum    Marchenschatz    der    Afrikaner," 
Globus,  72:229-33;  254-58. 

*H9  KRAUSS,  F.  S.     Slavischc   Volkforschungcn.     Leipzig,   1908. 
120  KREHL,  C.   L.   E.      Ueber  die  Religion   der  vorislamischen  Arabcr. 

Leipzig,  1863. 
*T2O<z  KROEBER,  A.  L.    "The  Religion  of  the  Indians  of  California,"  Univ. 

of  Cal.  Pub.  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  4:319-56. 

*I2O&  KROEBER,    A.    L.      "Indian    Myths    of    South    Central    California," 
Univ.  of  Cal.  Pub.  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  4:169-250. 

*i2oc  KROEBER,  A.  L.     "The  Arapaho,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Bui.,   18: 
1-229;  279-454. 


744  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*i2od  KROEBER,  A.  L.     "Gros  Ventre  Myths  and  Tales,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat. 
Hist.,  Anth.  Pap.,  I,  Pt.  3:55-139. 

121  LA  FLESCHE,  F.    "Death  and  Funeral  Customs  among  the  Omahas," 
Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  2:3-11. 

122  LANDTMAN,  G.     The  Origin  of  Priesthood.     Ekenaes,  1905. 

123  LANG,  A.     Custom  and  Myth:  A  Study  in  Early  Usage  and  Belief. 
London,  1904. 

124  LANG,  A.     Magic  and  Religion.     London,   1901. 

125  LANG,  A.     Myth,  Ritual,  and  Religion.     London,  1899. 

*I26  LASCH,  R.     "Religioser  Selbstmord  und  seine  Beziehung  zum  Men- 

schenopfer,"   Globus,  75:69-74. 
*i26a  LASCH,  R.     "Die  Finsternisse  in  der  Mythologie  und  im  religiosen 

Brauch  der  Volker,"  Arch.  f.  Religionsiviss.,  3:97-152. 

127  LELAND,  C.  F.    Algonquin  Legends  of  New  England.     Boston,  1884. 

128  LENORMANT,  F.     Chaldean  Magic.     (Translation.)     London,  1878. 
*i28a  LEONARD,  A.  G.     The  Lower  Niger  and  Its   Tribes.     New  York, 

1906. 

[Entire  volume  on  African  religion.] 

129  LIEBRECHT,  F.     "Hottentottische  Marchen,"  Zeits.  fi'tr   Volker  psych, 
und  Sprachivissenschaft,  5 : 58-73. 

*I30  LIPPERT,    J.      Allgeme'mc    Geschichte    des    Priesterthums.      Berlin, 

1884. 
131  MACDONALD,   J.     "Manners,    Customs,    Superstitions,    and    Religions 

of  South  African  Tribes,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  19:264-96. 
1310  MAGET,  G.     "Sur  les  moeurs  des  Japonais,"  Rev.  d'Anth.,  10:448- 

67;  ii : 591-612. 

133  MALLERY,  G.     "Manners  and  Meals,"  Am..  Anth.,  1 : 193-207. 
*I34  MARETT,  R.  R.     The  Threshold  of  Religion.    L.,  1909. 
[Contains  the  valuable  paper  "From   Spell  to   Prayer,"   from   Folk-Lore,    15: 

132-65.] 
*i34a  MARETT;  R.  R.     "Is  Taboo  a  Negative  Magic?"  in  Anthropological 

Essays  Presented  to  E.  B.  Tylor,  219-34. 
*i35  MATTHEWS,  W.     "Navaho  Legends,"  Am.  Folk-Lore  Soc.  Mem.,  5: 

1-299. 

*I36  MATTHEWS,    W.      "The    Mountain    Chant:    A    Navajo    Ceremony," 
Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  5:385-467. 

[An  important  paper.] 

^1360  MATTHEWS,   W.     "The   Night   Chant,   a   Xavaho   Ceremony,"  Am. 
Mus.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  6:3-304. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  745 

*I37  MATTHEWS,  W.     "The  Prayer  of  a  Navajo  Shaman,"  Am.  Anth., 

i : 149-71- 
*i37a  MATTHEWS,  W.     "Navaho  Myths,  Prayers  and  Songs,  with  Texts 

and  Translations,"   Univ.  of  Cal.  Pub.  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  5 : 

25-63. 
*I38  MATTHEWS,   W.     "Some    Illustrations   of   the    Connection   between 

Myth  and  Ceremony,"  Internal.  Cong,  of  Anth.,  Mem.,  246-51. 

139  MAURER,  F.     "Das  Tabu  im  Alten  Testament,"  Globus,  90:136-38. 

*I4O  MOONEY,  J.     "The  Ghost-Dance  Religion  and  the   Sioux  Outbreak 

of  1880,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  14:641-1110. 
"141  MOONEY,  J.     "Myths  of  the  Cherokee,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  19: 

3-548. 
*i42  MOONEY,  J.     "The  Sacred  Formulas  of  the  Cherokees,"  Bur.  Am. 

Ethn.,  Rep.,  7:301-97. 

*i43  MORGAN,  L.  H.    League  of  the  Iroquois,  141-248.     [Religion.] 
*I44  MYERS,  C.   S.,   AND   HADDON,   A.   C.     Cambridge  Anth.   Exped.   to 

Torres  Straits,  Rep.,  "Funeral  Ceremonies,"  6 : 126-62. 

145  NASSAU,  R.  H.     Fetichism  in  West  Africa.     New  York,  1904. 

146  NEGELEIN,  J.  VON.     "Der  Individualismus  im  Ahnencult,"  Zeits.  fur 
Ethn.,  34:49-94. 

*i46a  NUOFFER,  O.  "Ahnenfiguren  von  der  Geelvinkbai,  Hollandisch 
Neuguinea,"  Dresden  K.  Zool.  u.  Anth.-Ethnog.  Mus.,  Abhandl.,  12: 
Pt.  2,  1-30. 

147  NEWELL,  W.  W.    "Ritual  Regarded  as  the  Dramatization  of  Myth," 
Internal.  Cong,  of  Anth.,  Mem.,  237-45. 

148  NiNA-RoDRicuES.      L'animisme     fetichi-ste     des     ncgres     dc     Bahia. 
Bahia,  1900. 

149  OWEN,    M.    A.     Folk-Lore   of    the   Musquakie   Indians    of   North 
America.    London,  1904. 

150  PARKER,  K.  L.    Australian  Legendary  Tales:  Folklore  of  the  Noon- 
gahburrahs  as  Told  to  the  Piccaninnies.     London,  1896. 

151  PARKER,   K.   L.     More  Australian  Legendary   Tales  Collected  from 
Various  Tribes.    London,  1898. 

152  PEET,  S.  D.     "Secret  Societies  and  Sacred  Mysteries,"  Am.  Antiq., 
27:81-96. 

153  PEET,   S.    D.     "The   Worship   of   the    Rain    God,"   Am.   Antiq.,   16: 
341-56. 

154  PERRIG,  A.     "Aus  den  Bekenntnissen  eines  Dakota-Medizinmannes," 
Globus,  80:128-30. 


746  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

1540  PETITOT,   E.     Traditions   indiennes  du   Canada   nordoucst.     Paris, 
1886. 

155  PHISTER,  N.  P.     "The  Indian  Messiah,"  Am.  Anth.,  4:105-8. 

156  PISCHON,  C.  N.    Der  Einfluss  des  Islam  auf  das  Leben  seiner  Beken- 
ncr.    Leipzig,  1881. 

157  PLEYTE,   C.   M.     "An   Unpublished   Batak  Creation   Legend,"   Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  26 : 103-7. 

158  POWELL,  J.  G.     "Mythology  of  the  North  American  Indians,"  Bur. 
Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  iM7-s6. 

*I59  PREUSS,   K.   T.     "Einfluss  der  Natur   au-f  die   Religion,"   Zeits.   d. 

Gescllsch.  fiir  Erdk.  su  Berlin,  40:361-80;  433-60;  464-66. 
*i6o  PREUSS,  K.  T.    "Die  Feuergotter,"  Anth.  Gesellsch.  in  Wien,  Mitth., 

33 : 129-223. 

*i6i  PREUSS,  K.   T.     [See  Bibliog.   5:146.     Now  published  separately.] 
162  RADLOFF,  W.     Das  Schamanenthum.     Leipzig,   1885. 
*i63  RATZEL,   F.     History   of  Mankind,   "Religion,"    1:38-65;    "Religion 

in  Oceania,"  1:300-330;  "The  Religion  of  the  Malays,"   1:467-86; 

"Religion  and  Priesthood  in  America,"  2 : 143-59. 

164  RAY,  S.  H.    "Stories  from  the  Southern  New  Hebrides,"  Jour.  Anth. 
Inst.,  3i:i47-53. 

165  REID,  A.  P.     "Religious  Belief  of  the  Ojibois  or  Sauteux  Indians," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  3:106-13. 

166  REINACH,  S.    Cultcs,  mythcs  et  religions.     Paris,  1905. 

167  REVILLE,  A.     Histoire  des  religions:  les  religions  des  pcuplcs  non- 
civilises.     Paris,  1882-83. 

168  REVILLE,  A.     La  religion  chinoise.     Paris,  1889. 

1680  RIDLEY,  W.     "Australian  Languages  and  Traditions,"  Jour.  Anth. 

Inst.,  2:257-91. 
*i6g  RINK,    H.   J.      Tales   and    Traditions    of   the   Eskimo.     Edinburgh, 

1875- 
*I70  RINK,  S.     "The  Girl   and  the  Dogs— An   Eskimo  Folk-Tale,"  Am. 

Anth.,  11:181-87;  209-15. 
*i7i  RIVERS,  W.  H.  R.     The  Todas,  38-460.     [Ceremonial,  Ritual,  Magic, 

Religion.] 
[This  should  be  read  for  evidence  of  the  extreme  to  which  ritualism  can  be 

carried.     It  is  also  a  model  study.] 
172  RUSSELL,  F.    "An  Apache  Medicine  Dance,"  Am.  Anth.,  11:367-72. 

*I73  SATOW,  E.    "Ancient  Japanese  Rituals,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans., 
7:95-132;  409-55;  9:183-211. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  747 

174  SCHNEIDER,  W.     Religion  der  afrikanischen  Naturvolker.     Miinster 
i.  W.,  1891. 

175  SCHOOLCRAFT,  H.  R.    Myth  of  Hiawatha,  and  Other  Oral  Legends. 
Philadelphia,  1856. 

176  SCHULTZE,  F.    Der  Fetischismus.    Leipzig,  1871. 

177  SCHURTZ,  H.     Die  Speisevcrbote.     Hamburg,  1894. 

178  SCHWARTZ,    W.      "Mythologische    Beziige    zwischen    Semiten    und 
Indogermanen,"  Zeits.  fur  Ethn.,  24:157-76. 

*i78o  SELER,  E.    "Altmexikanische  Studien  II"  [Magic  and  Ceremonial], 
Berlin  K.  Mus.  f.    Volkerkunde,   Veroffcntl.,  6:29-209. 

179  SKEAT,  W.     Fables  and  Folk-Tales  from  an  Eastern  Forest.     Cam- 
bridge, 1901. 

*i8o  SKEAT,  W.  W.     Malay  Magic.     London,  1900. 

[One  of  the  best  studies.] 
*i8i  SKEAT   AND    BLAGDEN.     Pagan    Races    of    the    Malay    Peninsula, 

"Burial   Customs   and    Beliefs,"   2:89-116;    "Natural    Religion    and 

Folk-Lore,"  2:173-376. 
*i82  SIMMEL,  G.     "A  Contribution  to  the   Sociology  of  Religion,"  Am. 

Jour.  Social.,  11:359-76. 
183  SMITH,  E.   A.     "Myths   of  the   Iroquois,"   Bur.   Am.   Ethn.,   Rep., 

2:47-116. 
"184  SMITH,  W.  R.     Lectures  on  the  Religion  of  the  Semites.    London, 

1894. 
*i8s  SPENCER,   B.,   AND   GILLEN,   F.    J.      The   Native    Tribes   of   Central 

Australia,  "Traditions,"  387-449;   "Burial  and  Mourning,"  497-511; 

"Spirit    Individuals,"'    512-21;    "Medicine    Men,"    522-53;    "Myths 

Relating  to  Sun,  Moon,  Eclipses,  etc.,"  561-66. 
*i86  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.     The  Northern  Tribes  of  Central 

Australia,    "Magic,"     455-78;     "Medicine     Men,"     479-89;    "Beliefs 

in    Beings    Endowed    with    Superior    Powers,"    490-504 ;    "Customs 

Relating  to  Burial  and  Mourning,"  505-55. 

187  SPENCER,  H.     The  Principles  of  Sociology,  i :  125-434  [Ghost  Theory 
of  Origin  of  Religion];   "Ecclesiastical  Institutions,"  3:3-178. 

188  STARBUCK,  E.  D.     The  Psychology  of  Religion.     London,   1899. 
*i89  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.     Ethnologische  Studien  sur  ersten  Entwickelung 

der  Strafe,  "Der   Aknenkult,"    1:141-298;   "Die   gottlichen   Strafen 
auf  Erden,"  2:349-94. 

*iox>  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.     "Continuitat  oder  Lohn  und  Strafe  im  Jenseits 
der  Wilden,"  Arch,  fur  Anth.,  24:577-608. 


748  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

191  STEINTHAL,  H.  "Allegemeine  Einleitung  in  die  Mythologie,"  Archiv 
f.  Religionswissenschaft,  3 : 249-73. 

*I92  STEVENSON,  J.  "Ceremonial  of  Hasjelti  Dailjis  and  Mythical  Sand 
Painting  of  the  Navajo  Indians,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  8:235-85. 

193  STEVENSON,    M.    C.      "A    Chapter    of    Zufti    Mythology/'    Internat. 

Cong,  of  Anth.  Mem.,  312-19. 
*I930  STEVENSON,  M.  C.     "The  Zuni  Indians,  Their  Mythology,  Esoteric 

Fraternities  and  Ceremonies,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  23:1-608. 
*I94  STEVE.NSON,  M.  C.  "The  Sia,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  ii:<3-i57. 
*i95  STOLL,  O.  Suggestion  und  Hypnotismus  in  der  Vdlkerpsychologie. 

Leipzig,  1004. 

[This  remains  the  best  general  treatment  of  hypnotic  influence  in  its  ethno- 
logical aspect.] 

196  SWANTON,  J.   R.     "Haida  Texts"    (Masset  Dialect),  Am.  Mus.   of 
Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  14:273-802. 

197  SWANTON,  J.  R.     "Haida  Texts   and   Myths"    (Skidegate   dialect), 
Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Bui.,  29. 

*i97a  TEIT,  J.     Traditions  of  Thompson  River  Indians  of  British  Colum- 
bia.     {Am.  Folk-Lore  Society,  Mem.,  6:1-137.)      Boston,    1898. 
I97&  THEAL,  G.  M.     Kaffir  Folk-Lore.    London,  1882. 

198  THOMPSON,  B.  H.    "The  Kalou-Vu  (Ancestor-Gods)  of  the  Fijians,'' 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  24:340-59. 

1980  THOMPSON,  R.  C.  Semitic  Magic:  Its  Origins  and  Development. 
London,  1908. 

*I99  TYLOR,  E.  B.  Early  History  of  Mankind,  "Historical  Tradition 
and  Myths  of  Observation,"  306-32 ;  "Geographical  Distribution  of 
Myths,"  333-71. 

*20O  TYLOR,  E.  B.  Primitive  Culture,  "Mythology,"  1:273-416;  "Ani- 
mism," 1:417^-502;  2:1-361. 

*2oi  TYLOR,  E.   B.     "On   the   Limits   of   Savage  Religion,"  Jour.  Anth. 

Inst.,  21 : 283-99. 
*20io  VOTH,   H.   R.     "The  Traditions   of   the  Hopi,"  Field  Mus.  Pub., 

Anth.  Ser.,  8:1-319. 

[Voth  has  other  papers  in  the  same  series.] 

_  202  WARDLE,  H.  N.     "The  Sedna  Cycle :  A  Study  in  Myth  Evolution," 

Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  2:568-80. 

203  WESTERMARCK,  E.  "The  Nature  of  the  Arab  Ginn,  Illustrated  by 
the  Present  Beliefs  of  Morocco,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  29:252-69. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  749 

*203a  WESTERMARCK,  E.  "L'ar  or  the  Transference  of  Conditional 
Curses  in  Morocco,"  in  Anthropological  Essays  Presented  to  E.  B. 
Tylor,  361-74. 

*204  WILKIN,  A.  Cambridge  Anth.  Expedition  to  Torres  Straits,  Rep., 
"Tales  of  the  Warpath,"  5:308-19. 

*2O4a  WILKINSON,  R.  J.     Malay  Beliefs.     London,  1906. 

205  WILLIAMS,  F.  W.     "Chinese  Folk-Lore  and  Some  Western  Analo- 
gies," Smithsonian  Inst.,  Ann.  Rep.  for  1900:575-600. 

206  WILLIAMS,  SIR  M.    Brahmanism  and  Hinduism.    New  York,  1889. 
*2o6a  WISSLER,   C,  AND   DUVALL,   D.   C.     ''Mythology  of  the   Blackfoot 

Indians,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Anth.  Pap.,  2,  Pt.  1:1-164. 

207  WLISLOCKI,  H.  VON.     Volksglaube  und  religioser  Brauch  der  Ma- 
gyaren.    Minister  i.  W.,  1895. 

208  WLISLOCKI,  H.  VON.     Volksglaube  und  religioser  Brauch  der  Zigeu- 
ner.    Miinster  i.  W.,  1891. 

*2O9  WUNDT,  W.     Volkerpsychologie. 

[Vol.  II  is  on  religion  and  myth.] 

*2ii  YARROW,  H.  C.  "A  Further  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the  Mor- 
tuary Customs  of  the  North  American  Indians,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn., 
Rep.,  1:87-203. 

[Resumes  and  supersedes  "ist  Paper"  (1880).] 

212  ZACHARIAE,  T.     "Indische   Marchen   aus   den   'Lettres   edifiantes   et 
curieuses,"  Zeits.  des  Vereins  fiir  Volkskunde,  16 : 129-40. 

The  Journal  of  American  Folk-Lore  is  rich  in  relatively  brief  papers 
bearing  on  Part  VI.  The  following  may  be  examined,  in  addition  to  the 
titles  from  this  periodical  listed  above.  The  stars  indicate  papers  contain- 
ing important  general  principles,  or  standpoint :  BOAS  F.,  *"The  Folk- 
Lore  of  the  Eskimo,"  17:1-13;  CHAMBERLAIN,  A.  F.,  "Nanibozhu  amongst 
Algonkian  Tribes,"  4:193-213,  "The  Mythology  and  Folk-Lore  of  Invention," 
10:88-100,  "Bibliography  of  Philippine  Folk-Lore,"  16:116-21,  *"Variation  in 
Early  Human  Culture,"  19:177-189;  CHAMBERLAIN,  I.  C.,  "Bibliography  of 
Folk-Lore  Relating  to  Women,"  12:32-37;  DIXON,  R.  B.,  "The  Color-Symbol- 
ism of  the  Cardinal  Points,"  12:10-16,  *"System  and  Sequence  in  Maidu  Myth- 
ology," 16:32-36,  *"Some  Aspects  of  the  American  Shaman,"  21:1-12, 
*"Mythology  of  the  Central  and  Eastern  Algonkins,"  22 : 1-9 ;  FEWKES,  J.  W., 
"The  Sacrificial  Element  in  Hopi  Worship,"  10:187-201,  *"The  Growth  of 
the  Hopi  Ritual,"  11:173-94,  "Sky-God  Personations  in  Hopi  Worship,"  15: 
14-32 ;  GARDNER,  F.,  "Filipino  Versions  of  Cinderella  [with  important  com- 
parative note  by  W.  W.  Newell],  19:265-80;  KITTREDGE,  G.  L.,  "Disenchant- 
ment by  Decapitation,"  18:1-14;  LA  FLESCHE,  F.,  *"Who  Was  the  Medicine- 


750  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Man?"  18:269-75;  MAXFIELD,  B.  L.,  AND  MILLINGTON,  W.  H.,  "Visayan  Folk- 
Tales,"  19:98-112;  cf.  205-11;  MOONEY,  J.,  *"Cherokee  Theory  and  Practice 
of  Medicine,"  3:44-50;  NEWELL,  W.  W.,  "Voodoo  Worship  and  Child 
Sacrifice  in  Hayti,"  i :  16-30,  "Reports  of  Voodoo  Worship  in  Hayti  and  Louisi- 
ana," 2  :4i-47,V*"Theories  of  Diffusion  of  Folk-Tales,"  8:7-18,  ""'Individual 
and  Collective  Characteristics  in  Folk-Lore,"  19:1-15;  NUTTALL,  Z.,  "Ancient 
Mexican  Superstitions,"  10:265-81;  POWELL,  J.  W.,  *"The  Interpretation  of 
Folk-Lore,"  8:97-105;  RAE,  J.,  "Laieikawai :  A  Legend  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,"  13:241-60. 


PART  VII 
SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION,  MORALS,  THE  STATE 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION,  MORALS,  THE  STATE 

THE  STATE 

No  race  is  without  political  organisation,  even  though  it  be 
so  lax  as  among  the  Bushmen,  whose  little  bands  united  for 
hunting  or  plunder  are  occasionally  without  leaders;  or  as  we 
find  among  other  degraded  or  scattered  tribes,  who  are  often 
held  together  only  by  superstition  and  want.  What  sociologists 
call  individualism  has  never  been  found  anywhere  in  the  world 
as  a  feature  in  any  race.  When  ancient  races  fall  to  pieces  new 
ones  quickly  form  themselves  out  of  the  fragments.  This  pro- 
cess is  constantly  going  on.  "Each  individual  stock,"  says  Lich- 
tenstein,  "is  in  some  measure  only  a  transitory  phenomenon.  It 
will  in  course  of  time  be  swallowed  up  by  one  more  powerful, 
or  if  more  fortunate  will  split  up  into  several  smaller  hordes 
which  go  off  in  different  directions,  and,  after  a  few  generations, 
know  no  more  of  each  other."  These  political  mutations  have 
always  the  character  of  a  re-crystallisation,  not  of  a  shapeless 
breaking  up.  It  is  only  seldom  that  the  organism  is  of  long 
duration.  One  of  the  marks  of  the  civilized  man  is  that  he  ac- 
customs himself  to  the  pressure  of  the  laws  in  the  fulfilling  of 
which  he  is  himself  practically  interested.  But  if  a  comparatively 
well-ordered  constitution  has  been  founded  among  negroes,  an- 
other community  is  sure  soon  to  make  its  appearance  on  the 
frontier  composed  of  persons  belonging  to  the  same  stock  who 
are  subject  to  no  ordinances,  and  these  lawless  outcasts  often 
obtain  through  their  freedom  from  every  legal  restraint  and 
every  regard  for  tribal  relations,  even  through  the  consideration 
which  attracts  to  them  all  the  boldest  and  neediest  men  from 
neighbouring  tribes,  a  force  which  is  capable  of  converting  the 
robber  tribe  into  a  conquering,  state-founding,  and  ruling  peo- 
ple. Plunder  and  conquest  pass  easily  into  one  another.  In  all 
countries  of  which  we  know  the  history,  predatory  tribes  have 
played  an  important  part. 

Most  of  what  we  know  of  the  history  of  the  natural  races  is 
the  history  of  their  wars.  The  first  importation  of  firearms, 

753 


754  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

which  permitted  unimportant  powers  to  rise  rapidly,  marks  the 
most  sharply-defined  epoch  in  the  history  of  all  negro  states. 
What  Wissmann  says  about  the  Kioko,  "with  them  came  firearms 
and  therewith  the  formation  of  powerful  kingdoms,"  is  true  of 
all.  Is  not  this  constant  fighting  the  primitive  condition  of  man 
in  its  lowest  manifestation?  To  this  it  may  be  answered  that 
hitherto  our  own  peace  has  never  been  anything  but  armed,  but 
among  us  serious  outbreaks  of  the  warlike  impulse  are  inter- 
ruptions in  longer  intervals  of  rest  which  are  enjoined  by  the 
conditions  of  civilization,  while  among  the  races  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  a  condition  like  our  mediaeval  "club  law"  is  very  often 
permanent.  Yet  even  so  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  among  bar- 
barians also  there  are  peaceful  races  and  peace-loving  rulers. 
Let  us  not  forget  that  bloodiest  and  most  ruinous  wars  waged 
by  the  natural  races  have  been  those  which  they  have  carried 
on  not  among  themselves  but  with  Europeans,  and  that  nothing 
has  kindled  violence  and  cruelty  among  them  in  such  a  high  de- 
gree as  has  the  slave  trade,  instigated  by  the  avarice  of  more 
highly  civilized  strangers,  with  its  horrible  consequence  of  slave- 
hunting.  When  the  most  charitably  just  of  all  men  who  have 
criticised  the  natural  races,  the  peaceable  David  Livingstone, 
could  write  in  his  last  journal  these  words :  "The  principle  of 
Peace  at  any  Price  leads  to  loss  of  dignity  and  injustice;  the 
fighting  spirit  is  one  of  the  necessities  of  life.  When  men  have 
little  or  none  of  it  they  are  exposed  to  unworthy  treatment  and 
injuries," — we  can  see  that  the  inevitableness  of  fighting  between 
men  is  a  great  and  obtrusive  fact. 

But  this  state  of  war  does  not  exclude  civil  ordinances,  rather 
it  evokes  them.  It  is  no  longer  war  of  all  against  all,  but  it 
rather  represents  a  phase  in  the  evolution  of  the  national  life 
when  it  has  already  been  long  in  process  of  forming  a  state.  The 
most  important  step  from  savagery  to  culture  is  the  emancipation 
of  the  individual  man  from  complete  or  temporary  segregation  or 
isolation.  All  that  co-operates  in  the  creation  of  societies  as  dis- 
tinct from  families  was  of  the  very  greatest  importance  in  the 
earliest  stages  of  the  evolution  of  culture,  and  here  the  struggle 
with  Nature,  in  the  widest  sense,  afforded  the  most  important 
incitements.  The  acquisition  of  food  might  in  the  first  instance 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  755 

give  rise  to  association  in  joint  hunting  and  still  more  in  joint 
fishing.  Not  the  least  advantage  of  the  latter  is  the  disciplining  of 
the  crews.  In  the  larger  fishing  boats  a  leader  has  to  be  selected 
who  must  be  implicitly  obeyed,  since  all  success  depends  upon 
obedience.  Governing  the  ship  paves  the  way  to  ruling  the  state. 
In  the  life  of  a  race  like  that  of  the  Solomon  Islanders,  usually 
reckoned  complete  savages,  sea-faring  is  undoubtedly  the  only 
element  which  can  concentrate  their  forces.  The  agriculturist 
living  isolated  will  certainly  never  feel  an  impulse  making  so 
strongly  for  union;  yet  he  too  has  motives  for  combination,  he 
owns  property,  and  in  this  property  inheres  a  capital  for  his 
labour.  Since  this  labour  does  not  need  to  be  again  executed  by 
the  inheritors  of  this  property  there  follows  of  itself  the  con- 
tinuity of  ownership  and  therewith  the  importance  of  blood  re- 
lationship. Secondly,  we  find  bound  up  with  agriculture  the 
tendency  to  dense  population.  Next,  as  the  population  draws 
closer  and  marks  its  boundaries,  it,  like  every  multitude  of  men 
who  live  on  the  same  spot  of  earth,  acquires  common  interests, 
and  diminutive  agricultural  states  spring  up.  Among  shepherds 
and  nomads  the  formation  of  states  progresses  more  quickly, 
just  in  proportion  as  the  need  for  combination  is  more  active 
and  includes  wider  spaces.  This  indeed  lies  in  the  nature  of  their 
occupation.  Thus  while  the  family  is  in  this  case  of  greater 
importance  than  in  that  first  mentioned,  the  possibility  of  denser 
population  is,  on  the  other  hand,  excluded.  But  here  the  prop- 
erty requires  stronger  defence,  and  this  is  guaranteed  by  con- 
centration, in  the  first  place  of  the  family.  From  an  economic 
point  of  view  it  is  more  reasonable  for  many  to  live  by  one  great 
herd  than  for  the  herd  to  be  much  subdivided.  A  herd  is  easily 
scattered  and  requires  strength  to  keep  it  together.  It  is  there- 
fore no  chance  result  that  the  family  nowhere  attains  to  such 
political  importance  as  among  nomad  races.  Here  the  pa- 
triarchal element  in  the  formation  of  tribes  and  states  is  most 
decidedly  marked ;  in  a  hunter-state  the  strongest  is  the  centre 
of  power,  in  a  shepherd-state  the  eldest. 

We  are  apt  to  regard  despotism  as  a  lower  form  of  develop- 
ment in  comparison  with  the  constitutional  state,  and  attribute 
to  it  accordingly  a  high  antiquity.  It  used  formerly  to  be  thought 


756  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

that  beginnings  of  political  life  might  be  seen  shaping  themselves 
in  the  forms  of  it.  But  this  is  contradicted  at  the  very  outset 
by  the  fact  that  despotism  stands  in  opposition  to  the  tribal 
or  patriarchal  origin  from  which  these  states  have  grown.  The 
family  stock  has  of  course  a  leader,  usually  the  eldest ;  but  apart 
from  warfare  his  power  is  almost  nil,  and  to  over-estimate  it  is 
one  of  the  most  frequent  sources  of  political  mistakes  made  by 
white  men.  The  chief's  nearest  relations  in  point  of  fact  do 
not  stand  far  enough  below  him  to  be  mingled  indiscriminately 
in  the  mass  of  the  population  over  which  he  rules.  Thus  we  find 
them  already  striving  to  give  a  more  oligarchical  character  to 
the  government.  The  so-called  court  of  African  or  ancient 
American  princes  is  doubtless  the  council  which  surrounds  them 
on  public  occasions.  Arbitrary  rule,  though  we  find  no  doubt 
traces  of  it  everywhere  in  the  lower  grades,  even  when  the  form 
of  government  is  republican,  has  its  basis  not  in  the  strength 
of  the  state  or  the  chief,  but  in  the  moral  weakness  of  the  in- 
dividual, who  submits  almost  without  resistance  to  the  dom- 
ineering power.  In  spite  of  individual  tyranny  there  is  a  vein 
of  democracy  running  through  all  the  political  institutions  of 
the  "natural"  races.  Nor  could  it  well  be  otherwise  in  a  society 
which  was  built  up  upon  the  gens,  kindred  in  blood,  communistic, 
under  the  system  of  "mother-right."  But  herein  lay  no  doubt 
an  obstacle  to  progress. 

The  power  of  the  sovereign  is  greatly  strengthened  by  alliance 
with  the  priesthood.  A  tendency  to  theocracy  is  incidental  to  all 
constitutions,  and  very  often  the  importance  of  the  priest  sur- 
passes that  of  the  ruler  in  the  person  of  the  chief.  The  weak 
chiefs  of  Melanesia,  in  order  not  to  be  quite  powerless,  apply  the 
mystic  Duk-Duk  system  to  their  own  purposes;  while  in  Africa 
it  is  among  the  functions  of  the  chief  to  make  atonement  for  his 
people  by  magic  arts,  when  they  have  incurred  the  wrath  of 
higher  Powers,  and  to  obtain  for  them  by  prayers  or  charms 
advantages  of  all  kinds.  This,  however,  does  not  prevent  the 
influence  of  the  chief  from  being  overshadowed  by  that  of  a 
priest  who  happens  to  be  in  possession  of  some  great  fetish. 
Conversion  to  Christianity  has  almost  always  destroyed  the  power 
of  the  native  chiefs,  unless  they  have  contrived  to  take  the  peo- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  757 

pie  with  them.  But  the  religious  sentiment  is  the  one  thing  that 
has  maintained  respect  for  a  chief's  children,  even  when  they 
have  become  slaves. 

The  power  of  the  chief  is  further  heightened  when  the  mo- 
nopoly of  trade  is  combined  with  his  magic  powers.  Since  he  is 
the  intermediary  of  trade,  he  gets  into  his  own  hands  everything 
coveted  by  his  subjects,  and  becomes  the  bestower  of  good  gifts, 
the  fulfiller  of  the  most  cherished  wishes.  This  system  finds  its 
highest  development  in  Africa,  where  the  most  wealthy  and  lib- 
eral chief  is  reckoned  the  best.  In  it  lies  the  secure  source  of 
great  power  and  often  of  beneficial  results.  For  at  this  point  we 
must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  in- 
citements to  progress,  or,  let  us  say  more  cautiously,  to  changes 
in  the  amount  of  culture  which  a  race  possesses,  is  to  be  sought 
in  the  will  of  prominent  individuals.  We  also  find  chiefs,  how- 
ever, whose  power  is  firmly  based  upon  superior  knowledge  or 
skill.  The  Manyema  chief,  Moenekuss,  so  attractively  depicted 
by  Livingstone,  was  keen  about  having  his  son  taught  black- 
smithing,  and  the  Namaqua  chief,  Lamert,  was  the  most  efficient 
smith  among  his  tribe.  But  of  course  it  is  in  the  art  of  war 
that  accomplishment  is  most  valued  in  a  chief.  In  giving  judg- 
ment, he  needs  no  great  abundance  of  Solomonian  wisdom,  since 
in  all  more  serious  accusations  the  culprit  is  ascertained  by  means 
of  magic,  and  in  this  duty  too  the  popular  council  generally  co- 
operates. Meanwhile  whatever  the  chief's  position  may  be,  it  is 
never  comparable  with  the  power  conferred  by  the  wealth  of 
culture  existing  in  a  European  people;  and  it  were  to  be  wished 
that  descriptive  travellers  would  employ  such  terms  as  "king," 
"palace,"  and  the  like  with  more  discretion.  It  is  only  among 
the  war-chiefs  that  regal  parade  is  customary;  the  others  are 
often  scarcely  distinguished  from  their  people. 

Every  race  has  some  kind  of  legal  system;  among  most  of 
the  "natural"  races,  indeed,  this  fluctuates  between  that  under 
which  the  injured  person  takes  the  law  into  his  own  hands,  and 
that  of  money-atonement  for  the  offence.  There  is  no  question 
of  the  majesty  of  the  law ;  all  that  is  thought  of  is  the  indemnifi- 
cation of  the  person  who  has  suffered  damage.  In  Malayan  law, 
for  example,  the  former  course  may  be  taken  with  a  culprit 


758  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

caught  in  flagrant c  delicto  even  to  the  point  of  killing  a  thief ; 
but  in  any  other  case  redemption,  that  is  a  money  penalty,  is 
enjoined;  and  similarly  among  the  negro  races.  Among  lower 
as  well  as  higher  races  violence  has  a  very  free  play,  and  tends  to 
limit  its  sphere  as  among  individuals  according  to  the  resistance 
with  which  it  meets.  Blood- feuds  in  various  degrees  are  to  be 
found  among  all  barbarous  races.  In  the  case  of  Polynesians  and 
Melanesians  they  reach  a  fearful  pitch.  Cook  tells  us  that  the 
New  Zealanders  appeared  to  him  to  live  in  constant  mutual 
dread  of  attack,  and  that  there  were  very  few  tribes  who  did  not 
conceive  themselves  to  have  suffered  some  injury  at  the  hands 
of  another  tribe  and  meditate  revenge  for  it. 

The  wars  of  "natural"  races  are  often  far  less  bloody  than 
those  waged  among  ourselves,  frequently  degenerating  into  mere 
caricatures  of  warlike  operations.  Still  the  loss  of  life  caused  by 
them  must  not  be  under-estimated,  since  they  last  for  a  long  time, 
and  the  countries  inhabited  by  "natural"  races  can  in  any  case 
show  only  small  population.  In  the  case  of  Fiji,  Mr.  Williams 
estimates  the  yearly  loss  of  human  lives  in  the  period  of  bar- 
barism at  1500  to  2000,  "not  including  the  widows  who  were 
strangled  as  soon  as  the  death  of  their  husbands  was  reported." 
These  figures  are  quite  sufficient  to  have  contributed  materially 
to  the  decrease  of  the  population.  Firearms  have  diminished 
war,  while  increasing  the  losses.  But  with  this  continual  war, 
guerilla  war  as  it  might  be  termed,  are  associated  those  catas- 
trophes resulting  from  raids,  in  which  great  destruction  of  human 
life  accompanies  the  outbreaks  of  warlike  passion.  The  final  aim 
of  a  serious  war  among  the  natural  races  is  not  the  defeat,  but 
the  extermination  of  the  adversary;  if  the  men  cannot  be  reached, 
the  attack  is  made  upon  women  and  children,  especially  where 
there  is  a  superstitious  passion  for  the  collection  of  human  skulls, 
as  among  the  head-hunting  Dyaks  of  Borneo.  Of  south-east 
Africa,  Harris  says :  "Whole  tribes  have  been  drawn  root  and 
branch  from  their  dwelling-places,  to  disappear  from  the  earth, 
or  to  wander  with  varying  fortunes  over  illimitable  tracts,  driven 
by  the  inexorable  arm  of  hunger.  Therefore  for  hundreds  of 
miles  no  trace  of  native  industry  meets  our  eyes,  nor  does  any 
human  habitation;  never-ending  wars  present  the  picture  of  one 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  759 

uninhabited  wilderness."  Rapine  is  associated  with  murder  to 
produce  a  misery  which  civilized  races  can  hardly  realise.  But 
the  culmination  of  this  devastating  power  is  reached  when  more 
highly  endowed,  or  at  least  better  organised  hordes  of  warriors 
and  plunderers,  well  practised  in  slaughter  and  cruelty,  appear 
on  the  scene.  Amputation  of  hands  and  feet,  cutting  off  of  noses 
and  ears,  are  usual.  This  ill-treatment  often  has  the  secondary 
object  of  marking  a  prisoner,  and  to  this  must  be  referred  the  tat- 
tooing of  prisoners  of  war.  Lichtenstein  saw  a  Nama  whom  the 
Damaras  had  taken  prisoner.  They  had  circumcised  him  and  ex- 
tracted his  middle  upper  front  teeth:  "He  showed  us  this,  and 
added  that  if  he  had  been  caught  by  them  a  second  time,  these 
very  recognisable  marks  would  inevitably  have  entailed  the  loss 
of  his  life." 

Losses  of  life  and  health  may  be  repaired  by  a  few  generations 
of  peace,  but  what  remains  is  the  profound  moral  effect.  This 
is  the  shattering  of  all  trust  in  fellow-men  and  in  the  operation  of 
moral  forces,  of  the  love  of  peace  and  the  sanctity  of  the  pledged 
word.  If  the  politics  of  civilized  races  are  not  distinguished  by 
fidelity  and  confidence,  those  of  the  natural  races  are  the  ex- 
pression of  the  lo;west  qualities  of  mistrust,  treachery,  and  reck- 
lessness. The  only  means  employed  to  attain  an  object  are 
trickery  or  intimidation.  In  the  dealing  of  Europeans  with 
natural  races  they  have,  owing  to  this,  had  the  great  advantage 
of  very  rarely  having  to  face  a  strong  combination  of  native 
powers.  The  single  example  of  any  great  note  is  the  alliance  of 
the  "six  nations"  of  North  American  Indians  belonging  to  the 
Iroquois  stock,  which  was  dangerous  to  Europeans  in  the  sev- 
enteenth and  eighteenth  centuries.  An  attempt  at  an  alliance, 
which  might  have  been  very  serious,  was  made  after  the  so-called 
Sand  River  treaty  of  1852  by  Griquas,  Basutos,  Bakwenas,  and 
other  Bechuana  trbes,  but  never  came  to  completion,  and  recent 
years  have  again  shown  abundantly  how  little  the  South  African 
tribes  can  do  in  spite  of  their  numbers  and  their  often  conspicuous 
valour,  for  want  of  the  mutual  confidence  which  might  unite 
them  and  give  a  firm  ground  for  their  efforts. 

Constant  fear  and  insecurity  on  the  part  of  native  races  is  a 
necessary  result  of  frequent  treachery  on  that  of  their  foes.  It 


760  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

is  significant  that  the  great  majority  of  barbarous  peoples  are 
so  fond  of  weapons  and  never  go  unarmed;  and  nothing  better 
indicates  the  higher  state  of  civic  life  in  Uganda  than  that  walk- 
ing sticks  there  take  the  place  of  weapons.  It  is  noted  as  a 
striking  feature  when  no  weapons  are  carried,  as  Finsch  points 
out  with  regard  to  the  people  of  Parsee  Point  in  New  Guinea. 

The  custom  of  treating  strangers  as  enemies,  under  a  super- 
stitious fear  of  misfortune  and  sickness,  or  of  knocking  on  the 
head  persons  thrown  on  shore  by  shipwreck  like  "washed  up 
cocoa-nuts,"  was  certainly  a  great  hindrance  to  expansion.  But 
we  hear  that  among  the  Melanesians  the  question  was  discussed 
whether  this  was  lawful,  and  that  even  strangers  used  to  link 
themselves  by  marriage  with  a  new  place.  If  they  belonged  to  a 
neighbouring  island  or  group  of  islands  they  were  not  treated 
altogether  as  strangers,  since  they  were  not  regarded  as  uncanny. 
Polynesians,  who  were  frequently  driven  upon  the  Banks  Islands, 
were  received  there  in  a  friendly  manner.  If  scarcely  one  of  the 
innumerable  exploring  expeditions  in  Australia  made  its  way 
without  being  threatened  or  attacked  by  the  aborgines,  we  must 
not  overlook  involuntary  violations  of  the  frontiers  of  native 
districts,  for  even  to  this  day  in  Central  Australia  unlicensed  entry 
upon  foreign  territory  reckons  as  a  serious  trespass. 

Thus,  as  in  the  family  and  in  society,  we  meet  also  in  the 
political  domain  with  a  tendency  to  the  sharpest  separation.  Who 
does  not  recognise  in  this  latent  state  of  war  a  great  cause  of  the 
backward  condition  of  the  "natural"  races?  The  greatness  of 
civilized  states,  which  have  worked  themselves  up  to  the  clear 
heights  of  development,  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  act  upon  each 
other  by  means  of  mutual  incitement,  and  so  are  ever  bringing 
forth  more  perfect  results.  But  this  mutual  incitement  is  just 
what  is  missing  in  a  state  of  continuous  war.  The  forces  which 
make  for  culture  both  from  within  and  without  are  alike  weak- 
ened, and  the  consequence  is  stagnation  if  not  retrogression. 

Want  of  defined  frontiers  is  in  the  essence  of  the  formation  of 
barbarous  states.  The  line  is  intentionally  not  drawn,  but  kept 
open  as  a  clear  space  of  varying  breadth.  Even  when  we  reach 
the  semi-civilized  states  the  frontiers  are  liable  to  be  uncertain. 
The  entire  state  is  not  closely  dependent  upon  the  area  which  it 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  761 

covers,  especially  not  upon  the  parts  near  the  borders.  Only  the 
political  centre,  the  most  essential  point  of.  the  whole  structure, 
is  fixed.  From  it  the  power  which  holds  the  state  together  causes 
its  strength  to  be  felt  through  the  outlying  regions  in  varying 
measure.  We  have  examples  of  frontier  points  and  frontier 
spaces  at  every  stage.  The  frontier  spaces  are  kept  clear,  and 
even  serve  as  common  hunting-grounds,  but  they  serve  also  as 
habitations  for  forces  hostile  to  civil  authority,  for  desperadoes  of 
every  shade  of  villainy. 

Not  infrequently  the  formation  of  new  states  starts  from 
these  spaces.  The  cases  in  which  sharp  frontiers  are  soonest 
formed  is  where  the  two  fundamentally  different  modes  of  civ- 
ilization and  life,  nomadism  and  agriculture,  come  in  contact. 
Here  of  necessity  frontiers  are  sharply  drawn  against  races  of 
the  steppes,  and  art  endeavours  to  contribute  its  aid  by  building 
earthworks  and  even  walls.  The  region  of  the  steppes  is  the 
country  of  the  great  wall  of  China,  and  of  the  ramparts  thrown 
up  by  Turks  and  Cossacks. 

Leopold  von  Ranke  has  stated  as  a  maxim  of  experience  that 
when  we  study  universal  history  it  is  not  as  a  rule  great  mon- 
archies that  first  present  themselves,  but  small  tribal  districts 
or  confederacies  of  the  nature  of  states.  This  is  shown  in  the 
history  of  all  great  empires ;  even  the  Chinese  can  be  carried 
back  to  small  beginnings.  No  doubt  they  have  been  of  short 
duration  with  the  single  exception  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Even 
that  of  China  has  passed  through  its  periods  of  breaking  up. 
From  the  Roman  Empire  the  nations  have  learnt  how  great 
territories  must  be  ruled  in  order  to  keep  them  great  in  extent, 
for  since  its  time  history  has  seen  many  empires,  even  surpassing 
the  Roman  in  magnitude,  arise  and  maintain  themselves  for  cen- 
turies. Apart  from  the  way  in  which  the  teaching  of  history 
has  been  taken  to  heart,  the  increase  of  population  and  the  conse- 
quent accession  of  importance  to  the  material  interests  of  the 
people  has  unquestionably  contributed  to  this. 

But  there  are  deeper-lying  reasons  for  the  small-ness  of 
primitive  states.  Among  most  "natural"  races  the  family  and 
the  society  form  unions  so  large,  so  frequently  coinciding,  so  ex- 
clusive, that  little  remains  to  spare  for  the  state.  The  rapid 


762  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

break-up  of  empires  is  counter-balanced  by  the  sturdy  tribal  life. 
When  the  empires  fall  to  pieces  new  ones  form  themselves  from 
the  old  tribes.  The  family  of  blood-relations,  in  their  common 
barrack  or  village,  represents  at  the  same  time  a  political  unit, 
which  can  from  time  to  time  enter  into  combination  with  others 
of  the  kind ;  to  which  perhaps  it  is  bound  by  more  distant  re- 
lationship. But  it  is  quite  content  to  remain  by  itself  so  long  as 
no  external  power  operates  to  shake  its  narrow  contentment. 
Negro  Africa,  with  all  its  wealth  of  population,  contains  no  single 
really  large  state.  In  that  country,  the  greater  an  empire  the 
less  its  duration  and  the  looser  its  cohesion.  It  requires  greater 
organising  and  consolidating  power,  such  as  we  meet  with  among 
the  Fulbes  or  Wahuma,  not  merely  to  found,  but  also  even  if  with 
difficulty,  to  maintain  kingdoms  like  Sokoto  or  Uganda.  Even 
the  Zulus,  high  as  they  stand  in  warlike  organisation,  have  never 
been  able  to  spread  permanently  beyond  their  natural  boundaries, 
and  at  the  same  time  maintain  cohesion  with  their  own  country. 
They  have  not  the  capacity  for  planning  a  peaceable  organisa- 
tion. Even  in  the  Musselman  states  of  the  Soudan  we  meet  with 
this  want  of  firm  internal  cohesion;  which  is  equally  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  weakness  which  brought  down  the  native  states  of 
Central  and  South  America.  The  more  closely  we  look  at  the 
actual  facts  about  Old  Mexico,  the  less  inclined  shall  we  be  to 
apply  terms  like  empire  and  emperor  to  the  loose  confederation 
of  chiefs  on  the  plateau  of  Anahuac.  The  greatness  of  the  Inca 
realm  was  exaggerated  to  the  point  of  fable.  When  we  hear  of 
the  renowned  and  redoubtable  tribe  of  the  Mandan  Indians,  we 
are  astonished  to  learn  that  it  numbered  only  from  900  to  1000 
souls.  In  the  Malay  Archipelago  it  seems  not  to  have  been  until 
the  arrival  of  Islam  that  the  formation  of  states  rose  above  dis- 
jointed village  communities.  Even  in  our  own  day  the  great 
powers  of  South  and  East  Asia  lacked  the  clearness  and  definition 
in  the  matter  of  political  allegiance,  which  are  a  privilege  of  the 
higher  civilizations. 

Instead  of  the  extension  of  single  states,  what  takes  place  is 
the  foundation  of  new  ones  by  migration  and  conquest.  It  is  the 
multiplication  of  cells  by  fission  instead  of  the  growth  of  the 
organism.  It  is  striking  how  often  the  same  legend  or  tradition 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  763 

recurs  in  Africa  or  elsewhere.  A  monarch  sends  out  a  band  of 
warriors  to  conquer  a  country  or  a  town;  if  the  enterprise  fails 
they  settle  down  quietly  and  marry  the  daughters  of  the  people 
whom  they  came  to  overthrow.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the 
Metabele;  such,  it  is  said,  that  of  the  kindred  Masitu.  Thus  too 
are  explained  the  Fulbe  settlements  on  the  Lower  Niger,  and 
the  Chinese  oases  in  the  Shan  States.  Without  crediting  all  these 
traditions,  we  may  see  in  them  a  proof  at  once  of  the  great  part 
played  by  war  in  blending  races  in  ancient  times,  and  of  the 
difficulty  of  founding  coherent  states.  Instead  of  these  we  find 
colonies  which  cut  themselves  loose  either  peaceably  or  after 
a  war.  The  Alfurs  of  the  eastern  islands  in  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago have  definite  rules  for  the  government  of  their  colonies, 
and  in  Polynesia  of  old,  colonisation  must  have  been  as  necessary 
in  the  life  of  a  state  as  formerly  in  Greece. 

Among  races  in  a  low  stage  the  cementing  force  of  contests 
waged  against  natural  dangers,  threatening  the  entire  com- 
munity and  binding  them  together  for  common  defence,  is  nat- 
urally but  little  felt.  A  strongly  uniting  power  by  promoting  the 
value  of  common  interests,  has  a  favourable  effect  on  the  general 
culture.  In  the  low-lying  tracts  on  the  coast  of  the  North  Sea, 
in  Germany  and  Holland,  the  common  danger  from  broken  dykes 
and  inundation  by  reason  of  furious  storms  and  high  tides  has 
evoked  a  feeling  of  union  which  has  had  important  results. 
There  is  a  deep  meaning  in  the  myths  which  intimately  connect 
the  fight  against  these  forces  of  Nature,  these  hundred-headed 
hydras,  or  sea-monsters  crawling  on  to  the  land,  with  the  extor- 
tion of  the  highest  benefits  for  races  in  the  foundation  of  states 
and  the  acquisition  of  culture.  No  race  shows  this  more  than  the 
Chinese,  whose  land,  abounding  in  streams  and  marshes,  was  able 
to  offer  more  than  sufficient  work  to  its  embanking  and  draining 
heroes — Schem,  Schun,  Jao,  and  their  like.  In  Egypt  a  similar 
effect  of  the  anxiety  for  the  yearly  watering  and  marking  out 
of  the  land  is  obvious  from  history. 

Generally  all  common  needs  which  draw  men  out  of  barren 
isolation  must  have  the  effect  of  promoting  culture.  Above  all, 
too,  they  strengthen  the  constitution  which  organises  the  work 
done  to  satisfy  those  needs.  But  the  sovereignty  must  come  first. 


764  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Outside  the  sphere  of  European  civilization  almost  all  states  are 
ruled  by  intruding  conquerors;  that  is  by  foreigners.  The  con- 
sciousness of  national  identity  does  not  come  into  existence  until 
later,  and  then  makes  its  way  as  a  state- forming  force  if  the  in- 
tellectual interests  of  the  race  add  their  weight  on  the  same  side. 
In  almost  all  countries  re-presenting  greater  political  units,  we 
find  for  this  reason  various  nationalities.  At  first  one  is  superior 
to  another,  then  they  are  co-ordinate;  it  is  only  in  small  states 
that  the  entire  people  has  all  along  been  formed  of  a  single 
stock. — F.  RATZEL,  History  of  Mankind,  1:129-41. 

AUSTRALIAN  TRIBAL  GOVERNMENT 

When  an  Australian  tribe  is  looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of 
an  ordinary  observer,  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  recognised 
form  of  government  seems  to  be  justified.  Apparently  no  per- 
son, or  group  of  persons,  has  the  right  to  command,  under 
penalties  for  disobedience,  or  who  is  obeyed  by  the  community. 
There  seems  to  be  no  person  to  whom  the  whole  community 
yields  submission,  who  has  peculiar  privileges  which  are  patent 
to  observation,  or  who  is  surrounded  by  more  or  less  of  savage 
pomp  and  ceremony.  All  that  is  seen  by  a  general  superficial 
view  of  an  Australian  tribe  is,  that  there  is  a  number  of  families 
who  roam  over  certain  tracts- of  country,  in  search  of  food,  and 
that  while  they  appear  to  show  a  considerable  respect  to  the  old 
men,  all  the  males  enjoy  such  liberty  of  action,  that  each  may 
be  considered  to  do  what  seems  best  to  himself. 

A  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  such  a  tribe,  however, 
shows  that  there  must  be  some  authority  and  restraint  behind 
this  seeming  freedom,  for  it  is  found  that  there  are  well-under- 
stood customs,  or  tribal  laws,  which  are  binding  on  the  indi- 
vidual, and  which  control  him,  as  well  as  regulate  his  actions 
towards  others.  I  have  shown  in  the  chapters  on  marriages 
and  on  the  initiation  ceremonies  that  there  are  stringent  laws 
which  regulate  the  intercourse  of  sexes,  which  relate  to  the 
secret  ceremonies  of  the  tribe,  which  restrict  the  choice  of  food, 
and  so  on;  and  these  laws  or  customs  are  enforced  by  severe 
penalties,  even  in  some  cases  by  death  itself. 

It  is  quite  true  that  many  such  laws  or  customs  are  obeyed 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  765 

without  the  dread  of  physical  punishment  being  inflicted  for 
their  breach,  by  any  tribal  authority,  individual  or  collective. 
But  such  laws  or  customs  are  obeyed  because  the  native  has  been 
told,  from  his  earliest  childhood,  that  their  infraction  will  be 
followed  by  some  supernatural  personal  punishment.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  universal  law  of  mutual  avoidance  of  each  other 
by  the  man  and  his  wife's  mother.  I  know  of  no  rule  which 
is  more  implicitly  obeyed.  The  belief  is  that  some  result  of  a 
magical  nature  will  follow  a  breach  of  this  rule,  for  instance 
that  the  person's  hair  will  become  prematurely  grey.  The  near- 
est approach  to  a  personal  punishment  for  this  offence,  if  it 
can  be  so  called,  which  I  have  met  with,  was  in  the  coast  Murring 
tribes,  where  any  personal  contact,  even  accidental  touching  of 
one  by  the  other,  was  punished  by  the  man  being  compelled  to 
leave  the  district,  his  wife  returning  to  her  parents. 

This  rule  of  avoidance  would  properly  come  within  the  state- 
ment made  by  Mr.  E.  M.  Curr  where  he  says,  "the  power  which 
enforces  custom  in  our' tribes  is  for  the  most  part  an  impersonal 
one."  This  impersonal  authority  must  have  been  either  public 
opinion  or  a  supernatural  sanction.  According  to  Mr.  Curr,  it 
is  "education,"  that  is  to  say,  a  blackfellow  is  educated  from 
infancy  in  the  belief  that  a  departure  from  the  customs  of  his 
tribe  is  invariably  followed  by  one,  at  least,  of  many  possible 
evils,  such  as  becoming  prematurely  grey,  being  afflicted  with 
ophthalmia,  skin  eruptions,  or  sickness,  but  above  all,  that  it 
exposes  the  offender  to  the  danger  of  death  from  sorcery.  This 
is  undoubtedly  true  as  to  such  a  case  as  that  of  the  mother-in-law, 
or  as  to  a  breach  of  the  rule  that  a  novice  must  not  receive  food 
from  the  hand  of  a  woman  (Kurnai),  or  speak  in  the  presence 
of  one,  without  covering  his  mouth  with  the  corner  of  his  skin 
rug  or  blanket  (Yuin),  but  it  does  not  account  for  the  corpora, 
punishments  inflicted  for  other  offences. 

I  shall  detail  these  cases  at  length  further  on,  but'  as  an 
instance  will  refer  to  the  Pinya,  or  armed  party,  of  the  Dieri 
tribe,  which  goes  out  to  kill  some  man  who  is  considered  by  the 
old  men  of  the  tribe  (tribal  council)  to  have  brought  about  the 
death  of  some  one  by  evil  magic.  Such  offences  as  these  are 
therefore  punished  by  the  actual  authority  of  persons  in  the 


766  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tribe,  and  not  merely  by  public  opinion  or  the  effect  of  "educa- 
tion," and  it  is  evident  that  there  must  be  some  executive  power 
by  which  such  offences  as  these  are  dealt  with  and  punished. 

I  shall  now  show  what  this  executive  power  is,  and  how  it 
acts  in  an  Australian  tribe. 

In  the  Dieri  tribe,  as  in  all  others  of  those  kindred  to  it,  the 
oldest  man  of  a  totem  is  its  Pinnarti,  or  head.  In  each  horde 
there  is  also  a  Pinnaru,  who  may  happen  also  to  be  the  head  of 
a  totem.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  the  head  of  a  totem  or  of  a 
local  division  has  necessarily  much,  or  even  any,  influence  outside 
his  totem  or  division.  I  remember  such  an  instance  at  Lake 
Hope  where  the  Pinnatru  was,  by  reason  of  his  great  age,  the 
head  of  the  eagle-hawk  totem,  but  he  had  otherwise  little  personal 
influence,  for  he  was  neither  a  fighting-man,  a  medicine-man, 
nor  an  orator.  He  was  the  head  of  his  totem  by  reason  of  his 
age,  but  was  not  the  Pinnaru  of  the  local  division.  The  Pinnarus 
are  collectively  the  Headmen  of  the  tribe,  and  of  them  some  one 
is  superior  to  the  others.  At  the  time  when  I  knew  the  tribe,  in 
1862-63,  the  principal  Headman  was  one  Jalina-piramurana,  the 
head  of  the  Kunaura  totem,  and  he  was  recognised  as  the  head 
of  the  Dieri  tribe.  Subsequently  Mr.  S.  Gason,  as  an  officer  of 
the  South  Australian  Mounted  Police,  was  stationed  in  the  Dieri 
country  for  six  years,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  this  man. 
He  has  described  him  to  me  as  a  man  of  persuasive  eloquence,  a 
skilful  and  brave  fighting-man,  and  a  powerful  medicine-man. 
From  his  polished  manner  the  whites  called  him  "the  French- 
man." He  was  greatly  feared  by  his  own  and  the  neighbouring 
tribes.  Neither  his  brothers  (both  of  them  inferior  to  him  in 
bravery  and  oratorical  power)  nor  the  elder  men  presumed  to 
interfere  with  his  will,  or  to  dictate  to  the  tribe,  except  in  minor 
matters.  He  decided  disputes,  and  his  decisions  were  received 
without  appeal.  The  neighbouring  tribes  sent  messengers  to  him 
with  presents  of  bags,  Pitcheri,  red  ochre,  skins,  and  other 
things.  He  decided  when  and  where  the  tribal  ceremonies  were 
to  be  held,  and  his  messengers  called  together  the  tribe  from  a 
radius  of  a  hundred  miles  to  attend  them,  or  to  meet  on  inter- 
tribal matters. 

His  wonderful   oratorical  powers   made  his  hearers  believe 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  767 

anything  he  told  them,  and  always  ready  to  execute  his  com- 
mands. He  was  not  by  nature  cruel  or  treacherous,  as  were 
many  of  the  Dieri,  and  when  not  excited  was  considerate, 
patient,  and  very  hospitable.  No  one  spoke  ill  of  Jalina-pira- 
murana,  but  on  the  contrary  with  respect  and  reverence.  This 
is  understood  when  Mr.  Gason  adds  that  he  distributed  the 
presents  sent  to  him  amongst  his  friends  to  prevent  jealousy.  He 
used  to  interfere  to  prevent  fights,  even  chastising  the  offender, 
and  being  sometimes  wounded  in  so  doing.  On  such  an  occasion 
there  would  be  great  lamentation,  and  the  person  who  had 
wounded  him  was  not  infrequently  beaten  by  the  others. 

As  the  superior  Headman  of  the  Dieri,  he  presided  at  the 
meetings  of  the  Pinnarus,  sent  out  messengers  to  the  neighbour- 
ing tribes,  and  even  had  the  power  of  giving  away  young  women, 
not  related  to  him,  in  marriage,  of  separating  men  from  their 
wives,  when  they  could  not  agree,  and  of  making  fresh  matri- 
monial arrangements. 

He  periodically  visited  the  various  hordes  of  the  Dieri  tribe, 
from  which  he  also  periodically  received  presents.  Tribes  even 
at  a  distance  of  a  hundred  miles  sent  him  presents,  which  were 
passed  on  to  him  from  tribe  to  tribe. 

He  was  one  of  their  great  Kunkis  or  medicine-men,  but 
would  only  practise  his  art  on  persons  of  note,  such  as  heads 
of  totems  or  his  personal  friends. 

He  was  the  son  of  a  previous  Headman,  who  was  living 
during  Mr.  Gason's  residence  in  the  country,  and  who,  although 
too  infirm  to  join  in  the  ceremonies,  gave  advice  to  the  old  men. 
He  boasted  that  he  had  the  command  of  the  tribe  before  his  son 
acquired  it.  He  was  believed  to  be  proof  against  magical  prac- 
tices, such  as  "striking  with  the  bone." 

Jalina-piramurana  had  succeeded  to  and  indeed  eclipsed  his 
father.  He  was  the  head  of  the  Kunaura  murdti,  and  boasted 
of  being  the  "tree  of  life,"  for  the  seed  Kunaura  forms  at  times 
the  principal  source  of  vegetable  food  of  these  tribes.  He  was 
also  spoken  of  as  the  "Manyura  murdu,"  that  is,  the  plant  itself 
of  which  the  Kunaura  is  the  seed. 

I  knew  Jalina-piramurana  when  in  the  Dieri  country  before 
Mr.  Gason  went  to  it.  He  was  at  Lake  Hope,  (Pando)  as  I 


768  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

was  returning  to  the  South  Australian  settlements,  and,  to  use 
the  language  of  the  present  day,  interviewed  me,  together  with 
a  deputation  of  his  Pinnarus,  with  two  requests.  The  first  was, 
that  I  would  go  with  him  and  kill  all  the  "Kunabura-kana,"  that 
is  men  of  Kunabura,  who  were  "Malinki  kana,"  that  is,  bad  men ; 
the  second,  that  I  would  tell  the  white  men  who  were  coming 
up  to  his  country,  according  to  the  information  sent  him  by  the 
tribes  further  down,  that  they  should  "sit  down  on  the  one  side 
of  Pando,  and  the  Kana  would  sit  down  on  the  other,  so  that 
they  would  not  be  likely  to  quarrel."  I  can  say  also,  that  he 
was  a  courteous  blackfellow,  with  plenty  of  conversation.  He 
walked  with  me  for  some  miles  on  our  next  day's  journey  round 
Lake  Hope,  and  was  much  amused  at  my  remark,  when  the 
horse  I  was  leading  suddenly  terrified  him  by  neighing  close 
to  his  ear, — "Wotta  yappali  yenni,  nanto  yattana,"  that  is,  "Do 
not  fear,  the  horse  is  talking." 

I  observed  that  there  were  such  Pinnarus  in  the  tribes  to  the 
north  and  north-east  of  the  Dieri,  for  instance  the  Yaurorka 
and  Yantruwunta. 

When  going  northward  from  my  depot  at  Cooper's  Creek, 
on  the  occasion  of  my  second  expedition,  I  obtained  the  services 
of  a  young  Yantruwunta  man,  who  knew  the  country  as  far 
north  as  Sturt's  Stony  Desert.  He  belonged  to  the  small  tribal 
group  in  whose  country  my  depot  was  fixed.  My  first  stage 
was  to  a  pool  of  water,  from  which  I  could  make  a  good  de- 
parture northwards.  At  this  place  the  young  man  ran  away 
after  dark,  being  alarmed,  as  he  afterwards  told  me,  at  the 
precautions  I  took  for  the  safety  of  the  party  during  the  night. 
With  my  own  blackboy  I  tracked  him  in  the  morning  to  a  camp 
of  his  tribe  at  a  small  pool  in  the  river-bed,  about  two  miles 
distant.  Here  the  Pinnaru,  after  satisfying  himself  that  I  meant 
no  harm  to  the  guide  or  to  his  people,  sent  two  of  his  men  to 
bring  the  refugee  from  the  place  where  he  was  concealed,  and 
handed  him  over  with  an  admonition  not  to  run  away  again. 
Here  was  an  exercise  of  authority,  and  obedience  to  it. 

When  in  the  Yaurorka  country  I  camped  for  the  night  near 
the  encampment  of  one  of  the  small  groups  of  that  tribe.  Some 
of  the  old  men,  the  Pinnarus  of  the  place,  came  to  visit  me,  and 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  769 

asked  me  to  go  with  them  to  see  the  Pinna-pinnaru  (the  "Great- 
great-one"),  who  could  not  come  to  see  me.  I  went  with  them 
and  found,  sitting  in  one  of  the  huts,  the  oldest  blackfellow  I 
had  ever  seen.  The  other  Pinnarus  were  mostly  grey-headed 
and  bald,  but  he  was  so  old  as  to  be  almost  childish,  and  was 
covered  with  a  grizzly  fell  of  hair  from  head  to  foot.  The 
respect  with  which  he  was  treated  by  the  other  old  men  was  as 
marked  in  them  as  the  respect  which  they  received  from  the 
younger  men.  They  told  me  that  he  was  so  old  that  he  could  not 
walk,  and  that  when  they  travelled  some  of  the  younger  men 
carried  him. 

Such  Headmen  as  those  of  the  Dieri  tribe  appear  to  be  found 
in  the  neighbouring  tribes,  but  no  doubt  Jalina-piramurana  was 
an  exceptionally  able  and  therefore  an  unusually  influential  man. 

It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  old  men,  in  their  leisure 
time,  instructed  the  younger  ones  in  the  laws  of  the  tribe,  im- 
pressing on  them  modesty  of  behaviour  and  propriety  of  conduct, 
as  they  understood  it,  and  pointing  out  to  them  the  heinousness 
of  incest.  The  old  women  also  instructed  the  young  ones  in  the 
same  manner 

In  the  Wiimbaio  tribe  a  Headman  must  have  age,  personal 
prowess,  talents  as  a  leader,  and  a  clever  tongue.  If  a  man 
had  magical  powers,  he  might  be  feared,  but  he  would  not  be 
thereby  a  Headman.  In  one  of  their  tribal  councils  the  old 
men  spoke  first,  after  them  the  younger  men,  then  the  old  men 
directed  what  should  be  done.  There  were  also  meetings  of 
the  whole  community,  who  might  be  camped  together.  At  an 
assembly  of  that  kind  all  the  men  sat  in  a  circle  near  the  camp, 
old  men  and  young  men  together,  and  most  of  them  carried 
something  in  their  hands,  such  as  a  club.  At  one  of  these 
councils,  which  occurred  about  the  year  1850,  one  of  the  oldest 
men,  named  Pelican,  went  into  the  ring  with  spear  and  shield 
and  exhibited  an  imaginary  combat,  using  his  weapons  to  explain 
to  the  young  men  how  to  fight.  This  old  man  had  not  any 
special  claim  to  authority  excepting  that  he  was  old  and  skilful 
in  fighting.  At  times,  in  the  evening,  an  old  man  might  rise 
up  in  his  camp,  holding  his  spear  or  some  other  weapon  in  his 
hand,  and  make  an  oration.  Once  when  they  feared  that  another 


770  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tribe  might  come  up  against  them,  an  old  man  stood  up  in  the 
evening  in  this  manner  and  made  a  speech  on  the  subject 

Among  the  Mukjarawaint  some  of  the  heads  of  totems  were 
also  Headmen  of  local  groups,  but  unless  such  a  man  possessed 
qualifications  for  the  position,  some  younger  man  would  be 
chosen  in  preference  to  him.  When  the  Headman  of  a  totem 
died,  all  the  totemites  were  called  together  by  the  man  next  in 
age;  and  not  only  the  men  of  the  totem,  but  every  one — men, 
women,  boys,  and  girls.  The  women  of  the  totem  who  were 
married  were  necessarily  with  their  husbands,  and  were  not 
notified.  The  assembly  was  called  together  in  the  manner  I 
have  spoken  of  in  relation  to  "messengers." 

When  all  were  assembled  at  the  appointed  place,  they  formed 
a  ring,  the  old  men  with  their  wives  in  the  front  row,  the 
younger  men  with  their  wives  in  the  next,  and  outside  were  the 
young  men  and  the  girls  to  look  on,  but  not  to  take  any  other  part 
in  the  proceedings.  These  were  commenced  by  one  of  the  elders 
speaking,  followed  by  other  men;  finally,  the  sense  of  the  meet- 
ing was  taken,  and  then  the  old  men  stated  who  should  be  the 
Headman.  The  choice  being  thus  made,  presents  were  given 
to  the  new  head  by  the  other  Headmen,  who  had  collected  things 
from  their  people,  such  as  opossum  or  other  skin  rugs  or  weapons. 

If  a  Headman  offended  the  tribes-people,  or  was  in  some 
respects  very  objectionable  to  them,  the  other  Headmen  would 
at  some  great  tribal  meeting  consult  at  the  Jun  or  council-place, 
and  perhaps  order  him  to  be  killed.  This  probably  would  be 
carried  out  under  the  personal  direction  of  one  of  them. 

I  was  not  able  to  learn  of  an  instance  where  a  son  necessarily 
succeeded  his  father  in  this  office 

The  Wurunjerri  serve  as  an  example  of  the  practice  of  the 
tribes  which  formed  the  Kulin  nation.  The  old  men  governed 
the  tribe,  and  among  them  there  were  men  called  Ngurungaeta. 
If  a  man  was  sensible  and,  as  Berak  put  it,  "spoke  straight,"  and 
did  harm  to  no  one,  people  would  listen  to  him  and  obey  him. 
Such  a  man  would  certainly  become  a  Ngurungaeta,  if  his  father 
was  one  before  him.  It  was  he  who  called  the  people  together 
for  the  great  tribal  meetings,  sent  out  messengers,  and  according 
to  his  degree  of  authority,  gave  orders  which  were  obeyed. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  771 

Such  a  man  was  always  of  mature  age,  and  possessed  of  some 
eminent  qualities,  for  which  he  was  respected. 

At  an  expiatory  combat  he  could  put  an  end  to  it,  if  he 
thought  that  enough  had  been  done.  There  is  a  passage  in  the 
life  of  Buckley  which  bears  on  the  powers  of  the  Ngurungaeta. 
He  says,  "I  had  seen  a  race  of  children  grow  up  into  women  and 
men,  and  many  of  the  old  people  die  away,  and  by  my  harmless 
and  peaceable  manner  amongst  them  had  acquired  great  influence 
in  settling  their  disputes.  Numbers  of  murderous  rights  I  had 
prevented  by  my  interference,  which  was  received  by  them  as 
well  meant;  so  much  so  that  they  would  often  allow  me  to  go 
among  them  previous  to  a  battle  and  take  away  their  spears  and 
waddies  and  boomerangs."  This  shows  that  Buckley  had,  by 
reason  of  age  and  consideration,  grown  into  the  position  of  a 
Ngurungaeta  or  Headman.  So  far  as  my  inquiries  have  gone, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  find  out  that  such  an  interference  by  a 
Ngurungaeta,  as  spoken  of  by  Buckley,  would  be  ineffective. 
The  Kulin  would  not  have  refused  to  obey  such  an  interference, 
unless  in  a  case  where  public  opinion  happened  to  be  very 
strongly  divided  and  one  side  were  against  him.  In  the  case  of 
ceremonial  ordeals  and  expiations,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
mention  later  on,  such  interference  by  a  Headman  has  been 
effectual  in  staying  the  hands  of  his  own  men,  and  apparently 
those  of  the  other  side  also. 

Among  the  Kulin  there  was  a  Headman  in  each  local  group, 
and  some  one  of  them  was  recognised  as  being  the  head  of  all. 
Some  were  great  fighting-men,  others  were  orators,  and  one 
who  lived  at  the  time  when  Melbourne  was  established,  was  a 
renowned  maker  of  songs  and  was  considered  to  be  the  greatest 
of  all. 

If  a  Headman  had  a  son  who  was  respected  by  the  tribes- 
people  he  also  would  become  a  Ngurungaeta  in  time.  But,  if  he 
were,  from  the  native  point  of  view,  a  bad  man,  or  if  people 
did  not  like  him,  they  would  get  some  one  else,  and  most  likely 
a  relative  of  some  former  Headman,  such  as  his  brother  or 
brother's  son. 

A  Headman  could  order  the  young  men  of  the  camp  to  do 
things  for  him  and  they  would  obey  him.  He  might,  as  I  have 


772  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

heard  it  put,  say  to  the  young  men,  "Now  all  of  you  go  out,  and 
get  plenty  of  'possums  and  give  them  to  the  old  people,  not  raw 
but  cooked."  Similarly  the  wife  of  the  Ngurungaeta  could  order 
the  young  women  about. 

Each  Headman  had  another  man  "standing  beside  him,"  as 
they  say,  to  whom  he  "gave  his  words."  This  means  that  there 
was  a  second  man  of  somewhat  less  authority,  who  was  his 
comrade,  or  rather  "henchman,"  who  accompanied  him  when  he 
went  anywhere,  who  was  his  mouthpiece  and  delivered  his  orders 
to  those  whom  they  concerned.  When  the  Headman  went  out 
to  hunt  with  his  henchman,  or  perhaps  with  two  of  them,  if  he 
killed  game,  say  a  wallaby,  he  would  give  it  to  one  to  carry ; 
if  he  killed  another,  the  other  man  would  carry  it,  and  it  was 
only  when  he  obtained  a  heavy  load  that  he  carried  anything 
himself. 

The  account  of  these  Headmen  given  by  William  Thomas, 
who  was  Protector  of  the  Blacks  in  the  early  years  of  the  settle- 
ment of  Port  Phillip,  falls  into  line  with  the  particulars  which 
I  have  given.  I  have  condensed  his  statements  as  follows :  "Each 
tribe  has  a  Chief  who  directs  all  its  movements,  and  who,  wher- 
ever he  may  be,  knows  where  all  the  members  of  the  community 
are.  The  Chief,  with  the  aged  men,  makes  arrangements  for 
the  route  each  party  is  to  take,  when  the  tribe,  after  one  of  its 
periodical  meetings,  again  separates. 

"Besides  the  Chiefs,  they  have  other  eminent  men,  as  war- 
riors, counsellors,  doctors,  dreamers  who  are  also  interpreters, 
charmers  who  are  supposed  to  bring  or  drive  rain  away,  and  also 
to  bring  or  send  away  plagues,  as  occasion  may  require." 

Such  are  Mr.  Thomas's  statements.  He  had  great  oppor- 
tunities for  obtaining  information,  for,  as  he  says,  he  was  "out 
with  them  for  months,"  but  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  he 
did  not  place  on  record  the  very  many  facts  which  he  must  have 
seen  as  to  their  beliefs  and  customs,  which  would  have  been 
invaluable  now 

In  the  Yerkla-mining  tribe  the  medicine-men  are  the  Head- 
men, and  are  called  Mobung-bai,  from  mobung,  "magic."  They 
decide  disputes,  arrange  marriages,  and,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, settle  the  formalities  to  be  observed  in  combats  by  ordeal, 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  773 

and  conduct  the  ceremonies  of  initiation.  They  cut  the  gashes 
which,  when  healed,  denote  the  class  of  the  bearer,  or  his  hardi- 
hood and  prowess.  In  fact,  they  wield  authority  in  the  tribe, 
and  give  orders  where  others  only  make  requests 

When  Sydney  was  established  in  1788,  the  natives  of  Botany 
Bay,  Port  Jackson,  and  Broken  Bay  were  found  to  be  living 
distributed  into  families,  the  head,  or  senior,  of  which  exacted 
compliance  from  the  rest.  When  the  English  met  with  families, 
they  were  always  accosted  by  the  person  who  appeared  to  be 
the  eldest  of  the  party,  while  the  women,  youths  and  children 
were  kept  at  a  distance.  The  word  which  in  their  language 
signifies  "father"  was  applied  to  their  old  men;  and  when  after 
some  time,  and  by  close  observation,  they  perceived  the  authority 
with  which  Governor  Phillip  commanded,  and  the  obedience 
which  he  exacted,  they  bestowed  on  him  the  distinguishing 
appellation  of  Be-anna  or  "father."  The  title  being  conferred 
solely  on  him  (although  they  perceived  the  authority  of  masters 
over  their  servants)  places  the  true  sense  of  the  word  beyond  a 
doubt,  and  proves  that  to  those  among  them  who  enjoyed  that 
distinction  belonged  the  authority  of  a  Chief. 

When  any  of  them  went  into  the  town,  they  were  immediately 
pointed  out  by  their  companions,  or  those  natives  who  resided 
in  it,  in  a  whisper,  and  with  an  eagerness  of  manner  which,  while 
it  commanded  the  attention  of  those  to  whom  it  was  directed, 
impressed  them  likewise  with  an  idea  that  they  were  looking  at 
persons  remarkable  for  some  superior  quality  even  among  the 
savages  of  New  South  Wales. 

In  the  Kurnai  tribe,  age  was  held  in  reverence,  and  a  man's 
authority  increased  with  years.  If  he,  even  without  being  aged, 
had  naturally  intelligence,  cunning  and  courage,  beyond  his 
fellows,  he  might  become  a  man  of  note,  weighty  in  council,  and 
a  leader  in  war;  but  such  a  case  was  exceptional  and,  as  a  rule, 
authority  and  age  went  together.  The  authority  of  age  also 
attached  to  certain  women  who  had  gained  the  confidence  of 
their  tribes-people.  Such  women  were  consulted  by  the  men, 
and  had  great  weight  and  authority  in  the  tribe.  I  knew  two  of 
them,  who  being  aged,  represented  the  condition  of  the  Kurnai 
before  Gippsland  was  settled.  Together  with  the  old  men,  they 


774  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

were  the  depositaries  of  the  tribal  legends  and  customs,  and  they 
kept  alive  the  stringent  marriage  rules  to  which  I  have  referred 
elsewhere,  thus  influencing  public  opinion  very  strongly.  Pos- 
sibly the  reason  for  this  may  have  been  in  part  that  in  this  tribe 
the  women  take  part  in  the  initiation  ceremonies  up  to  a  certain 
point 

How  a  man  gradually  increased  in  influence  as  he  increased 
in  years  is  shown  by  the  case  of  the  last  Gweraeil-kurnai.  He 
was  the  man  Bunbra,  whom  I  shall  mention  when  speaking  of 
the  expiatory  combats  later  on  in  this  chapter.  I  watched  this 
man's  career  during  many  years.  Since  the  time  of  the  expiatory 
combat,  in  which  he  was  the  defendant,  the  old  men,  who  were 
successively  the  leaders  of  the  people,  had  died  off,  until  Bunbra 
came  to  be  the  oldest  man  left.  The  name  by  which,  apart  from 
his  English  name,  he  was  known,  is  Jetbolan,  or  the  Liar;  but, 
by  reason  of  age,  he  finally  became  the  Gweraeil-kurnai.  During 
the  same  time  Tulaba,  the  tribal  son  of  the  former  great  Head- 
man Bruthen-munji,  had  also  grown  into  age,  and  much  con- 
sideration attached  to  him  in  his  twofold  character,  as  one  of  the 
elders  and  as  being  a  worthy  son  of  the  former  Headman. 
During  this  time  the  pressure  of  our  civilisation  had  broken 
down  the  tribal  organisation;  the  white  man's  vices,  which  the 
Kurnai  had  acquired,  had  killed  off  a  great  number,  the  re- 
mainder had  mostly  been  gathered  into  the  mission-stations,  and 
only  a  few  still  wandered  over  their  ancestral  hunting-grounds, 
leading  their  old  lives  in  some  measure,  and  having  apparently 
abandoned  their  ancestral  customs.  When,  however,  it  was 
decided  that  the  Jeraeil  ceremony  should  be  revived  for  the 
instruction  of  their  young  men,  I  observed  with  much  interest, 
that  the  old  tribal  organisation  arose  again,  so  to  say,  out  of  the 
dust,  and  became  active.  Bunbra  who,  at  the  time  when  Bruthen- 
munji  directed  the  proceedings  of  the  Nungi-nungit  against  him, 
was  a  comparatively  young  man,  and  without  any  consideration 
in  the  tribe,  was  now  by  reason  of  his  age  its  Headman,  to  whom 
all  matters  were  referred.  To  him  messengers  were  sent,  he  gave 
orders  as  to  the  time  for  assembling,  and  the  others  obeyed  them. 
Indeed,  without  him  they  would  not  have  moved  at  all. 

At   the  Jeraeil   ceremonies   he   was  the  leader,  and   it   was 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  775 

mainly  his  voice  that  decided  questions  which  arose  and  were 
discussed  at  meetings  of  the  initiated  men.  When  during  the 
ceremonies  two  of  the  novices  were  brought  before  the  old  men 
charged  with  having  broken  some  of  the  ceremonial  rules,  it 
was  Bunbra  who  spoke  last,  and  his  directions  as  to  them  were 
followed. 

In  one  of  the  intervals  of  the  ceremonies  at  the  Jeraeil,  when 
I  was  sitting  with  some  of  the  old  men;  they  spoke  of  the  old 
times,  and  what  was  very  unusual,  of  the  old  men  who  were  now 
dead,  and  of  their  great  actions.  I  could  understand  then  how 
they  came  to  be  the  Gweraeil-kurnai  of  the  tribe.  One  of  those 
they  mentioned  was  a  man  of  the  Brataualung  clan,  who  in  a 
fight  with  one  of  the  other  clans,  ran  ahead  of  his  men  and  broke 
the  legs  of  some  of  the  enemy  with  his  hands,  leaving  them  to  be 
killed  by  his  followers.  So  also  another  man  of  the  Brayaka, 
who  lived  near  where  Rosedale  now  is,  used  in  wet  winters, 
when  the  ground  was  very  soft  with  rains,  to  run  down  the  old 
men  kangaroos,  and  thus  catch  them  with  his  hands,  and  kill 
them.  Another  old  hero  was  Bruthen-munji,  whom  I  have 
mentioned  before.  It  was  said  that  he  ran  down  one  of  the 
Brajerak,  at  a  place  now  known  as  Blackfellow's  Gully,  near 
Buchan,  and  held  him  till  his  brother,  another  fighting-man  of 
renown,  came  up  and  killed  him  with  his  club 

I  have  constantly  observed  in  those  tribes  with  which  I  have 
had  personal  acquaintance,  that  the  old  men  met  at  some  place 
apart  from  the  camp  and  discussed  matters  of  importance,  such 
as  arrangements  to  be  made  for  hunting  game,  for  festive  or 
ceremonial  meetings,  or  indeed  any  important  matter.  Having 
made  up  their  minds,  one  of  them  would  announce  the  matter 
at  another  meeting,  at  which  all  the  men  would  be  present,  sitting 
or  standing  round,  the  younger  men  remaining  at  the  outside. 
At  such  a  meeting,  the  younger  the  man  the  less  he  would  have 
to  say,  indeed,  I  never  knew  a  young  man  who  had  been  only 
lately  admitted  to  the  rights  of  manhood  presume  to  say  anything 
or  to  take  any  part  in  the  discussion.  All  that  they  have  to  do 
as  part  of  the  assembly  is  to  listen  to  what  the  elders  have  to  say. 

In  the  Dieri  tribe  such  meetings  as  these  are  composed  of  the 
heads  of  totems  or  local  divisions,  fighting-men,  medicine-men, 


776  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and,  generally  speaking,  of  old  men  of  standing  and  importance. 
That  is  to  say,  of  the  men  who  have  been  present  at  the  series 
of  ceremonies  described  in  another  chapter.  The  younger  men 
look  forward  for  years  to  the  time  when,  having  been  present  at 
the  great  Mindari  ceremony,  they  will  be  permitted  to  appear, 
and  ultimately  to  speak  at  the  council  of  men.  These  meetings 
are  so  secret  that  to  reveal  what  takes  place  at  them  is  punished 
by  death. 

Mr.  Gason,  speaking  of  these  councils,  informed  me  that  it 
was  only  after  a  long  time,  and  when  he  had  learned  to  speak 
the  Dieri  language,  that  he  was  permitted  to  be  present  at  these 
meetings.  The  proceedings  were  directed  by  the  principal  Head- 
man, and  among  the  matters  which  it  dealt  with  were :  procuring 
death  by  magic,  as  for  instance,  "by  the  bone,"  murder,  breach 
of  the  tribal  moral  code,  offences  against  tribal  customs,  reveal- 
ing the  secrets  of  the  tribal  council,  or  the  secrets  of  the  initiation 
ceremonies  to  women  or  to  the  uninitiated. 

Offences  against  the  moral  code  would  be  intercourse  with  a 
woman  of  the  same  murdu,  or  who  was  too  nearly  related  to  the 
accused.  Interference  with  the  wife  of  another  man,  she  being 
Noa-mara  to  the  offender,  would  be  merely  a  personal  matter 
to  be  revenged  by  the  injured  husband,  or  by  the  kindred  in  a 
fight. 

When  a  person  had  been  adjudged  guilty  of  having  caused 
the  death  of  another  by  magic,  he  was  killed  by  an  armed  party 
(Pinya)  sent  out  by  the  Headman. 

The  council  also  made  arrangements  for  holding  the  great 
ceremonies,  and  on  ceremonial  occasions  it  reallotted  the  several 
pairs  of  Pirraurus,  as  before  explained. 

Such  a  meeting  was  summoned  by  some  old  man,  instructed 
by  the  Headman.  If  the  matter  was  of  importance,  he  introduced 
it,  and  in  doing  so  he  adhered  to  the  ancient  customs  of  their 
fathers.  If  all  were  agreed  to  some  course  the  council  separated, 
if  not,  then  it  met  at  some  future  time. 

Everything  relating  to  the  council  is  kept  profoundly  secret 
from  those  who  have  not  the  right  to  be  present  at  it.  As  I  have 
before  said,  Mr.  Gason  was  for  over  two  years  unable  to  obtain 
permission  to  be  present  at  it.  He  sought  permission  in  the 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  777 

broken  English,  usually  spoken  to  the  natives  by  the  white  men, 
he  tried  intimidation,  and  he  tried  the  effect  of  presents,  without 
avail.  It  was  only  when  he  had  acquired  a  command  of  the  Dieri 
language,  and  a  knowledge  of  their  customs,  that  he  attained  his 
wish.  The  tribe  then  said  that  Kuchi  must  have  instructed  him ; 
and,  as  he  worked  on  their  superstitions  by  favouring  this  idea, 
the  Dieri  at  length  permitted  him  to  attend  their  council,  and 
assist  at  their  ceremonies,  until  at  length  he  was  accepted  as  a 
fully  initiated  man  when  any  great  ceremony  was  about  to  take 
place.  My  own  experience  is  much  in  line  with  that  of  Mr. 
Gason.  It  was  only  after  I  became  one  of  the  initiated  in  the 
Yuin  tribe,  that  I  was  present  at  meetings  of  the  old  men  at 
places  apart  from  the  camp,  at  which  matters  of  tribal  impor- 
tance were  discussed.  The  meeting-place  where  these  councils 
are  held  is  called  by  various  names  in  different  tribes.  For 
instance  by  the  Yuin  it  is  Katir-than,  Jun  by  the  Wotjobaluk, 
and  Jain  by  the  Jajaurung.  In  order  to  announce  a  meeting,  I 
have  seen  the  leading  man  pick  up  a  lighted  stick  from  his  camp 
fire,  and,  looking  round  at  the  other  men,  walk  off  to  the 
appointed  place. 

It  is  well  to  quote  Mr.  Gason's  own  description  to  me  of  the 
proceedings  of  a  council  at  which  he  was  present:  "I  have 
frequently  attended  at  their  councils  by  invitation,  and  on  occa- 
sions they  gave  me  permission  to  speak.  I  was  thus  able  to  save 
the  life  of  a  man  who  was  charged  with  having  caused  the  death 
by  magic  of  another  person.  Two  of  the  members  of  the  council 
also  dared  to  speak  in  favour  of  their  friend,  the  accused,  and 
they  afterwards  made  me  presents  of  several  bags  and  weapons 
for  my  advocacy  of  him.  Three  years  later,  however,  he  was 
cruelly  killed  by  order  of  the  council,  for  an  offence  which  he  had 
not  committed,  but  with  which  his  enemies  had  charged  him. 

"After  the  principal  Headman  has  spoken,  the  heads  of  totems 
address  the  assembly.  The  manner  of  speaking  is  by  the  repeti- 
tion of  broken  sentences,  tittered  in  an  excited  and  at  times 
almost  frenzied  manner.  Those  who  coincide  with  the  speaker 
repeat  his  sentences  in  a  loud  voice,  but  no  one  comments  on 
what  he  says  until  it  comes  to  his  turn  to  speak. 

"The  council  always  breaks  up  peaceably,  but  quarrels  some- 


778  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

times  follow  it,  although  the  camp  is  not  allowed  to  know  the 
real  cause  of  disagreements,  for  the  secrets  of  the  council  are 
always  kept  as  sacredly  as  those  of  a  masonic  lodge.  The  great- 
est cruelties  are  threatened  against  any  one  who  should  divulge 
its  secrets,  which  are  many.  I  have  never  heard  the  younger 
men  or  the  women  utter  a  word  which  could  convey  the  idea 
that  anything  had  been  communicated  to  them. 

"I  have  often  been  cautioned  not  to  divulge  what  I  had  there 
heard  and  seen,  nor  to  repeat  to  strangers  any  words  uttered 
there,  until  they  had  convinced  me  that  they  had  passed  through 
the  ceremony  of  Karawali  uronkana." 

In  the  Turrbal  tribe,  as  my  valued  correspondent  Mr.  T. 
Petrie  tells  me,  there  was  no  regular  council,  but  the  old  men 
met  and  consulted  on  such  matters  as  hunting,  fishing,  or  the 
death  of  any  person.  They  sent  out  messengers  when  the  time 
for  making  Kippers  came  round,  or  when  the  mullet  came  in, 
or  the  Bunya-bunya  fruit  was  ripe.  What  he  describes  is,  how- 
ever, the  council  of  which  I  speak,  and  it  falls  in  with  other  in- 
stances. In  speaking  of  the  "Bunya  tribe,"  he  also  says  that 
when  the  "council"  of  old  men  has  met,  and  decided  on  holding 
a  Bunya  feast,  they  send  out  two  medicine-men  as  messengers 
to  friendly  tribes. 

In  the  tribes  within  a  radius  of  about  fifty  miles  of  Mary- 
borough the  old  men  made  up  their  minds  as  to  the  course  to 
be  followed  in  any  matter,  by  having  afternoon  meetings  held  in 
private,  a  little  way  from  the  camp,  women  and  young  men  not 
daring  to  approach  within  hearing.  Those  of  the  old  men  who 
choose  attend  such  secret  councils,  and  in  the  evening  they  orate, 
standing  in  their  camps,  and  some  of  them  make  fine  speeches. 

The  old  men  governed  the  tribe,  but  also  consulted  the  people 
on  matters  which  had  to  be  decided.  This  they  did  by  standing 
at  their  fires  and  speaking  to  all  on  the  questions  under  considera- 
tion. 

As  the  tribes  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Aldridge  met  with  the 
Turrbal  at  great  tribal  gatherings,  his  remarks  as  to  the  council 
of  old  men  illustrates  Mr.  Petrie's  statements,  and  seem  to  show, 
as  I  have  said,  that  the  old  men  in  it  met  and  consulted  in  secret 
on  matters  relating  to  the  tribe. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  779 

In  the  Kaiabara  tribe  the  old  men  held  conferences  on  all 
matters  of  importance,  sitting  in  a  circle,  with  their  clubs  placed 
on  the  ground  before  them,  the  younger  men  being  allowed  to 
stand  round  and  listen,  but  not  to  laugh  or  speak.  One  man  at 
a  time  made  a  speech,  while  the  others  listened 

The  punishment  of  offences. — When  a  man  dies  in  the  Dieri 
tribe,  it  is  thought  he  has  been  killed  by  some  one  through  the 
action  of  evil  magic,  for  instance,  by  "pointing  with  the  bone,"  or 
"striking  with  the  bone,"  as  it  is  called,  a  practice  which  I  have 
described  elsewhere. 

When  a  man  has  been  adjudged  by  the  council  to  have  killed 
some  one  by  evil  magic,  an  armed  party  called  Pinya  is  sent  out 
to  kill  him. 

The  appearance  at  a  camp  of  one  or  more  natives  marked  with 
a  white  band  round  the  head,  with  the  point  of  the  beard  tipped 
with  human  hair,  and  with  diagonal  red  and  white  stripes  across 
the  breast  and  stomach,  is  the  sign  of  a  Pinya.  These  men  do 
not  speak,  and  their  appearance  is  a  warning  to  the  camp  to 
listen  attentively  to  the  questions  they  may  think  it  necessary  to 
put  regarding  the  whereabouts  of  the  condemned  man.  Knowing 
the  discipline  of  a  Pinya  and  its  remorseless  spirit,  any  and 
every  question  is  answered  in  terror,  and  many  a  cowardly  man 
in  his  fear  accuses  his  friend  or  even  his  relative,  and  it  is  on  this 
accusation  that  the  Pinya  throw  the  whole  of  the  responsibility 
of  the  death  they  inflict.  When  the  deed  is  done,  the  Pinya  is 
broken  up,  and  each  man  returns  to  his  home. 

A  recent  instance  of  a  Pinya  and  its  course  of  action  is  the 
following,  and  it  must  be  premised  that  under  the  circumstances 
the  Neyi  (elder  brother)  is  the  protector  of  his  Ngatata  (younger 
brother).  For  instance,  if  there  is  some  trouble  in  the  "fighting 
place"  with  a  man,  his  elder  brother  hastens  to  it,  and  calls  on 
the  adversary  to  deal  with  him.  Similarly  when  a  Pinya  has 
judicially  condemned  some  native  to  death,  the  penalty  of  death 
does  not  fall  upon  the  offender,  but  on  his  eldest  brother  at  that 
place.  In  the  case  referred  to,  a  man  with  several  companions 
came  to  a  camp  near  Lake  Hope.  A  man  had  lately  died  at 
Perigundi,  from  whence  they  came,  and  in  order  that  they  might 
be  received  by  the  people  at  Lake  Hope,  they  halted  twenty  yards 


780  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

from  the  camp  and  there  gathered  the  spears  and  boomerangs 
that  were  thrown  at  them  ceremonially  by  one  of  the  Lake  Hope 
men,  they  being  as  usual  easily  warded  off.  Then  going  nearer, 
they  again  halted  and  warded  off  the  weapons  thrown,  and  again 
moved  on,  until,  being  close  together,  the  man  from  Perigundi 
and  the  man  from  Lake  Hope  should  have  taken  hold  of  each 
other,  and  sat  down  together.  But  the  former,  not  taking  heed 
of  the  position  of  the  sun  and  being  dazzled  by  its  rays,  was 
unable  to  ward  off  the  spear  thrown  at  him,  which  entered  his 
breast  and  he  died  in  the  night.  His  companions  fled  to  Peri- 
gundi and  there  formed  a  Pinya  of  a  number  of  men,  and 
returned  to  Lake  Hope.  The  leader  of  this  was  a  man  called 
Mudla-kupa,  who  suddenly  appearing  one  evening  placed  him- 
self before  him  who  had  killed  the  Perigundi  man,  and  seizing 
his  hand  announced  his  sentence  of  death.  An  elder  brother 
of  this  man  drew  Mudla-kupa  to  one  side,  saying,  "Don't  seize 
my  Ngatata,  nor  even  me,  for  see,  there  sits  our  Neyi;  seize 
him."  At  the  same  time  he  threw  a  clod  of  earth  in  the  direction 
in  which  the  man  was.  Mudla-kupa  now  turned  to  him,  seized 
him  by  the  hand,  and  spoke  the  death  sentence  over  him,  which 
he  received  with  stoical  composure.  Mudla-kupa  led  him  to  one 
side,  when  the  second  man  of  the  Pinya  came  up,  and  as  Mudla- 
kupa  held  the  man  out  to  him  as  the  accused,  he  struck  him 
with  a  maru-wiri  and  split  his  head  open.  The  whole  Pinya 
then  fell  upon  him  with  spears  and  boomerangs.  In  order  that 
they  should  not  hear  how  he  was  being  killed,  the  other  men, 
women,  and  children  in  the  camp  made  a  great  rustling  with 
boughs  and  broken-off  bushes. 

The  same  Pinya  executed  about  the  same  time  two  Pinnarus 
(elders),  who  lived  at  other  places.  It  was  reported  that  they 
strangled  one,  and  brought  him  to  life  again  (that  is,  they 
allowed  him  to  recover) ,  and  the  following  night  they  burned  the 
froth  which  came  from  his  mouth  when  he  was  being  strangled. 
It  was  supposed  that  this  caused  his  death.  In  another  case  the 
Pinya  thrust  a  spear  into  the  side  of  the  condemned  man,  so  that, 
as  the  Kunki  (medicine-man)  said,  "his  heart  was  pierced,"  and 
then  withdrew  it.  The  Kunki  closed  the  wound  with  sinew  and 
the  man  lived  for  several  days  before  he  died.  It  was  then  said 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  781 

that  the  Kunki  killed  him,  brought  him  to  life,  and  finally  killed 
him  again. 

As  connected  with  the  Pinya,  it  may  be  well  to  state  here  the 
manner  in  which  the  blood  revenge  is  avoided  by  the  Dieri. 

When  a  death  occurs  which  would  be  followed  up  by  the 
Pinya  as  just  explained,  there  is  a  practice  which  may  be  said 
to  act  as  a  sort  of  peacemaking,  in  so  far  that  the  two  parties 
show  that  by  a  respective  bartering  of  goods,  they  put  aside 
all  enmities,  and  will  shed  no  more  blood  on  account  of  the  man 
killed,  whether  by  "giving  the  bone"  or  otherwise.  A  late 
instance  of  this  practice  called  Yut-yunto  at  Kopperamana,  will 
show  how  it  acts. 

A  Lake  Hope  man,  one  Ngurtiyilina,  who  had  lived  for  a 
long  time  at  Kopperamana,  died  in  the  year  1899,  at  a  place 
half-way  between  there  and  the  Salt  Creek.  His  elder  brother 
was  one  Mandra-pirnani,  much  feared  for  his  strength,  and  the 
blacks  among  whom  Ngurtiyilina  lived  sent  to  him  through  their 
Headman  Yut-yunto,  a  "cord,"  which  being  tied  round  his 
neck,  authorised  him  to  collect  articles  for  barter  with  them. 
These  were  collected  from  the  Kumari-kana  belonging  to  Kop- 
peramana, Kilallpanina,  and  the  surrounding  country.  When  he 
had  collected  sufficient  articles  for  barter,  messengers  were  sent 
out  to  carry  information  as  to  where  and  when  the  meeting 
would  take  place.  Mandra-pirnani  with  a  large  following  pro- 
ceeded to  the  appointed  spot,  sending  off  and  also  receiving 
messengers  by  the  way.  Meanwhile  a  great  number  of  men  and 
women  had  collected  at  the  "bartering  place,"  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  the  Yut-yunto-kana  and  his  companions.  These  had 
made  their  last  camp  a  few  miles  off  in  order  to  arrive  at  the 
appointed  place  early  in  the  day. 

On  the  following  morning  they  approached  it  in  a  column, 
with  the  Yut-yunto-kana  as  its  leader,  as  if  prepared  for  combat, 
and  the  two  contingents  of  the  other  party,  also  tinder  their 
leaders.  The  men  were  all  armed  with  boomerang,  shield  and 
spear,  and  fully  painted  as  a  Pinya.  Those  of  them  who  had 
participated  in  the  funeral  feast  had  a  ring  of  charcoal  powder 
drawn  round  the  mouth.  Immediately  behind  this  armed  band 
were  the  women  carrying  all  the  articles  provided  for  barter. 


782  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  two  parties  being  now  near  to  each  other,  the  leader  of 
the  Yut-yunto  danced  his  war-dance,  pointing  now  to  the  left 
and  now  to  the  right  with  his  spear,  while  stamping  rhythmically 
with  his  feet.  The  leader  of  the  other  party  now  came  forward, 
and,  approaching  the  leader  of  the  Yut-yunto,  ceremonially 
seized  the  cord  round  his  throat,  and  breaking  it,  cast  it  into  a 
fire.  This  being  done,  he  said,  "Wordari  yindi  workaraif"  (How 
do  you  come?)  "Yindi  tiri  workarai?"  (Do  you  come  in 
enmity?)  To  which  the  Yut-yunto  answered,  "Aai!  nganai 
murlari  workarai."  (Oh  no!  I  come  peacefully!)  Then  the 
other  said,  "That  being  so,  we  will  exchange  our  things  in  peace." 
As  a  sign  of  peace,  they  embraced  each  other,  and  then  sat  down 
amicably  together.  While  this  was  going  on,  the  inferior  leaders 
had  been  dancing  their  war-dance  opposite  each  other,  and  the 
party  of  Mandra-pirnani  was  led  round  by  the  inferior  Head- 
man to  the  left  side  of  the  bartering  place,  where  they  sat  down 
behind  him.  The  other  party  then  moved  on  to  it,  and  sat  down 
behind  their  Headman.  The  women  of  each  party  crouched 
behind  it,  carefully  concealing  the  articles  for  barter  from  the 
eyes  of  the  opposite  side. 

Now  the  leader  of  one  of  the  parties  caused  one  of  the 
articles,  a  shield  or  boomerang,  to  be  handed  to  him.  It  was 
passed  from  the  last  man  to  the  first,  all  standing  in  a  row,  and 
each  man  passing  it  between  the  legs  of  the  man  in  front  of 
him,  so  that  it  was  not  seen  until  produced  to  the  leader,  who 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  line.  He,  on  receiving  it,  threw  it  down 
between  the  parties  with  an  important  air.  Then  one  of  the 
other  side  threw  on  it  some  article  in  exchange,  for  instance,  a 
bundle  of  cord  for  tying  up  the  hair.  In  this  way  article  after 
article  was  exchanged,  and  then  the  Kumari-kana  asked,  "Are 
you  peaceable?"  In  this  case  the  reply,  I  believe,  was,  "Yes, 
we  are  well  satisfied."  Each  person  took  the  articles  he  had 
obtained  by  barter. 

If  in  these  cases  the  parties  are  not  satisfied,  there  is  first  an 
argument,  and  then  a  regulated  combat  between  all  the  men 
present 

An  instance  of  what  seems  to  have  been  the  punishment  of 
an  offence  against  the  tribe  came  partly  under  my  own  knowl- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  783 

edge.  On  my  second  expedition  I  had  with  me  one  of  the  Dieri 
from  Blanch-water,  which  was  at  the  time  the  farthest  out- 
station  in  the  far  north  of  South  Australia.  He  accompanied 
me  through  the  country  of  his  tribe,  and  beyond  it  as  far  as  the 
Diamantina  River,  and  when  about  where  Birdville  now  is, 
he  ran  away  fearing,  as  he  told  me  afterwards,  that  I  was  going 
still  farther  north.  Some  time  after  I  returned  from  the  expedi- 
tion, I  learned  that  he  had  been  killed  by  an  armed  party  from 
his  own  tribe,  who  chased  him  for  some  nine  miles  before  he 
was  overtaken  and  killed.  The  reason  given  for  this,  was  that 
he  had  been  too  familiar  with  the  white  men,  and  served  them 
as  guide. 

In  the  Tongaranka  tribe  offences  against  the  marriage  laws 
and  class  rules  were  punished  by  death,  and  the  whole  tribe 
took  the  matter  in  hand.  Individual  offences,  such  as  theft, 
were  dealt  with  by  the  individual  wronged,  by  spear  or  other 
weapon. 

In  the  southern  Kamilaroi  disputes  about  hunting-grounds, 
and  trespasses  on  them,  occasioned  numerous  parleys,  which 
sometimes  settled  the  matter.  At  one  such  meeting,  some  fifty 
years  ago,  there  were  two  white  men  with  guns  in  the  camp  of 
the  weaker  party,  who  boasted  that  with  their  assistance  they 
would  kill  all  their  opponents.  These  declared  that  they  did  not 
care,  but  would  fight.  The  friends  of  the  white  men  then  advised 
them  to  go  home,  because  if  any  disaster  happened  in  the  fight, 
their  lives  would  be  certainly  taken  for  it.  They  left,  and  a 
messenger  was  sent  to  tell  their  adversaries  that  the  white  men 
had  gone.  It  was  then  decided  that  an  equal  number  from  each 
side  should  fight  the  next  day.  But  after  all,  this  dispute  was 
settled  by  single  combat 

Among  the  tribes  of  south-western  Victoria,  in  cases  of 
blood-feud,  if  the  murderer  be  known  and  escapes  the  pursuit 
of  the  victim's  kindred,  he  gets  notice  to  appear  and  undergo 
the  ordeal  of  spear-throwing  at  the  first  great  meeting  of  the 
tribes. 

If  he  pays  no  attention  to  the  summons,  two  strong  active 
men,  called  Paet-paet,  accompanied  by  some  friends,  are  ordered 
by  the  chief  to  visit  the  camp  where  he  is  supposed  to  be  con- 


784  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

cealed  and  to  arrest  him.  They  approach  the  camp  about  the  time 
when  the  people  are  going  to  sleep,  and  halt  at  a  short  distance 
from  it.  One  of  the  Paet-paets  goes  to  one  side  of  the  camp  and 
howls  in  imitation  of  a  wild  dog.  The  other  at  the  opposite 
side  answers  him  by  imitating  the  cry  of  the  Kuurka  (owl). 
These  sounds  bring  the  Chief  to  the  front  of  his  IVuurn  (hut) 
to  listen.  One  of  the  Paet-paets  then  taps  twice  on  a  tree  with 
his  spear,  or  strikes  two  spears  together  as  a  signal  that  a  friend 
wishes  to  speak  to  him.  He  then  demands  the  culprit,  but  as 
the  demand  is  generally  met  by  a  denial  of  his  being  there,  they 
return  to  their  friends,  who  have  been  waiting  to  hear  the  result. 
If  they  still  believe  him  to  be  concealed  in  the  camp,  they  sur- 
round it  at  dawn,  stamping  and  making  a  hideous  noise  to 
frighten  the  people.  In  the  meantime  the  Chief,  anticipating 
the  second  visit,  has  very  likely  aided  the  culprit  to  escape  while 
it  was  dark. 

Persons  accused  of  wrong-doing  get  one  month's  (sic) 
notice  to  appear  before  the  assembled  tribes  and  be  tried  on  pain 
of  being  outlawed  and  killed.  When  a  man  has  been  charged 
with  an  offence,  he  goes  to  the  meeting  armed  with  two  war 
spears,  a  flat  light  shield,  and  a  boomerang.  If  he  is  found 
guilty  of  a  private  wrong,  he  is  painted  white,  and  his  brother, 
or  near  male  relative,  stands  beside  him  as  his  second.  The  latter 
has  a  heavy  shield,  a  Liangle,  and  a  boomerang,  and  the  offender 
is  placed  opposite  to  the  injured  person  and  his  friends,  who 
sometimes  number  twenty  warriors.  These  range  themselves 
at  a  distance  of  fifty  yards  from  him,  and  each  individual  throws 
four  or  five  spears  and  two  boomerangs  at  him  simultaneously 
"like  a  shower."  If  he  succeeds  in  warding  them  off  his  second 
hands  him  his  heavy  shield,  and  he  is  attacked  singly  by  his 
enemies,  who  deliver  each  one  a  blow  with  a  Liangle.  As  blood 
must  be  spilt  to  satisfy  the  injured  party,  the  trial  ends  when  he 
is  hit. 

The  following  account  of  one  of  these  ordeals  in  expiation 
was  given  to  me  by  Berak,  who  was  present  at  it.  So  far  as  I 
am  able  to  fix  the  time,  it  must  have  been  about  the  year  1840, 
and  the  locality  was  the  Merri  Creek  near  Melbourne.  It  arose 
out  of  a  belief  by  the  Bunurong  who  lived  at  Western  Port,  that 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  785 

a  man  from  Echuca,  on  the  Murray  River,  had  found  a  piece  of 
bone  of  an  opossum  which  one  of  their  tribe  had  been  eating,  and 
then  thrown  away.  They  were  told  that  he,  taking  up  this  bone 
between  two  pieces  of  wood,  had  placed  it  aside  until,  having 
procured  the  leg-bone  of  a  kangaroo,  he  put  the  piece  of  opossum 
bone  into  its  hollow  and  roasted  it  before  his  fire.  He  and  others 
then  sang  the  name  of  the  Western  Port  man  for  a  long  time 
over  it,  until  the  spear-thrower  fell  down  into  the  fire  and  the 
magic  was  complete.  This  news  was  brought  down  to  the 
Bunurong  and  some  time  after  the  man  died.  His  friends  did 
not  say  anything,  but  waited  till  a  young  man  of  the  Echuca 
tribe  came  into  the  Western  Port  District,  when  they  killed  him. 
News  of  this  was  passed  from  one  to  the  other  till  it  reached  his 
tribe,  who  sent  down  a  messenger  to  the  Bunurong  tribe,  saying 
that  they  would  have  to  meet  them  near  Melbourne.  This  was 
arranged,  and  the  old  men  said  to  the  man,  "Now,  don't  you 
run  away ;  you  must  go  and  stand  out,  and  we  will  see  that  they 
do  not  use  you  unfairly."  This  message  had  been  given  in  the 
first  instance  by  the  Meymet  to  the  Nira-baluk,  who  sent  it  on 
by  the  Wurunjerri  to  the  Bunurong.  It  was  sent  in  the  winter 
to  give  plenty  of  time  for  the  meeting,  which  took  place  on  the 
Melbourne  side  of  the  Merri  Creek.  The  people  present  were 
the  Meymet,  whose  Headman  had  not  come  with  them,  the  Bunu- 
rong with  their  Headman  Benbu,  the  Mt.  Macedon  men  with 
their  Headman  Ningu-labul,  the  Werribee  people  with  the  Head- 
man of  the  Bunurong;  finally  there  were  the  Wurunjerri  with 
their  Headman  Billi-billeri. 

All  these  people  except  the  Meymet  and  the  Bunurong  were 
onlookers,  and  each  party  camped  on  the  side  of  the  meeting- 
ground  nearest  to  their  own  country,  and  all  the  camps  faced 
the  morning  sun. 

When  the  meeting  took  place,  the  women  were  left  in  the 
camps,  and  the  men  went  a  little  way  off.  The  Bunurong  man 
stood  out  in  front  of  his  people  armed  with  a  shield.  Facing 
him  were  the  kindred  of  the  dead  Meymet  man,  some  nine  or 
ten  in  number,  who  threw  so  many  spears  and  boomerangs  at 
him  that  you  could  not  count  them.  At  last  a  reed  spear  went 
through  his  side.  Just  then  a  Headman  of  the  Buthera-baluk 


786  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

who  had  heard  what  was  to  take  place,  and  had  followed  the 
Meyniet  down  from  the  Goulburn  River,  came  running  up,  and 
went  in  between  the  two  parties,  shouting,  "Enough !"  and  turn- 
ing to  the  Meymet  said,  "You  should  now  go  back  to  your  own 
country."  This  stopped  the  spear-throwing;  they  had  had  blood, 
and  all  were  again  friends.  A  great  corrobboree  was  held  that 
night. 

Buckley  gives  an  account  of  a  somewhat  similar  case  which 
happened  in  his  tribe  the  Wudthaurung,  and  is  worth  quoting 
in  this  connection. 

In  speaking  of  an  elopement,  he  thus  describes  the  expiation 
which  followed  it,  "At  length  the  young  man  advanced  towards 
us,  and  challenged  our  men  to  fight,  an  offer  which  was  accepted 
practically  by  a  boomerang  being  thrown  at  him,  and  which 
grazed  his  leg.  A  spear  was  then  thrown,  but  he  warded  it  off 
cleverly  with  his  shield.  He  made  no  return  to  this,  until  one 
of  our  men  advanced  very  near  to  him,  with  only  a  shield  and 
waddy,  and  then  the  two  went  to  work  in  good  earnest,  until  the 
first  had  his  shield  split,  so  that  he  had  nothing  to  defend  him- 
self with  but  his  waddy.  His  opponent  took  advantage  of  this 
and  struck  him  a  tremendous  blow  on  one  side  of  the  head,  and 
knocked  him  down;  but  he  was  instantly  on  his  legs  again,  the 
blood,  however,  flowing  very  freely  over  his  back  and  shoulders. 
His  friends  then  cried  out,  'Enough!'  and  threatened  general 
hostilities  if  another  blow  was  struck.  This  had  the  desired 
effect,  and  they  soon  after  separated  quietly." 

As  a  good  instance  of  the  manner  in  which  trespasses  by 
a  person  of  one  tribe  on  the  country  of  another  tribe  were  dealt 
with,  I  take  the  case  of  a  man  of  the  Wudthaurung  tribe,  who 
unlawfully  took,  in  fact  stole,  stone  from  the  tribal  quarry  at 
Mt.  William  near  Lancefield.  I  give  it  in  almost  the  exact  words 
used  by  Berak  in  telling  me  of  it,  who  was  present  at  the 
meeting  which  took  place  in  consequence,  probably  in  the  late 
forties. 

It  having  been  found  out  that  this  man  had  taken  stone  with- 
out permission,  the  Ngurungaeta  Billi-billeri  sent  a  messenger 
to  the  Wudthaurung,  and  in  consequence  they  came  as  far  as 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  787 

the  Werribee  River,  their  boundary,  where  Billi-billeri  and  his 
people  met  them.  These  were  the  men  who  had  a  right  to  the 
quarry,  and  whose  rights  had  been  infringed.  The  place  of 
meeting  was  a  little  apart  from  the  respective  camps  of  the 
Wurun jerri  and  the  Wudthaurung. 

At  the  meeting  the  Wudthaurung  sat  in  one  place,  and  the 
Wurun  jerri  in  another,  but  within  speaking  distance.  The  old 
men  of  each  side  sat  together,  with  the  younger  men  behind 
them.  Billi-billeri  had  behind  him  Bungerim,  to  whom  he  "gave 
his  word."  The  latter  then  standing  up  said,  "Did  some  of  you 
send  this  young  man  to  take  tomahawk  stone?"  The  Headman 
of  the  Wudthaurung  replied,  "No,  we  sent  no  one."  Then  Billi- 
billeri  said  to  Bungerim,  "Say  to  the  old  men  that  they  must 
tell  that  young  man  not  to  do  so  any  more.  When  the  people 
speak  of  wanting  stone,  the  old  men  must  send  us  notice." 
Bungerim  repeated  this  in  a  loud  tone,  and  the  old  men  of 
the  Wudthaurung  replied,  "That  is  all  right,  we  will  do  so." 
Then  they  spoke  strongly  to  the  young  man  who  had  stolen 
the  stone,  and  both  parties  were  again  friendly  with  each 
other. 

At  such  a  meeting  all  the  weapons  were  left  at  the  respective 
camps,  and  each  speaker  stood  up  in  addressing  it. 

In  the  Narrinyeri  tribe  offenders  were  brought  before  the 
Tcndi  (council  of  old  men)  for  trial.  For  instance,  if  a  member 
of  one  clan  had  been  in  time  of  peace  killed  by  one  of  another 
clan,  the  clansmen  of  the  latter  would  send  to  the  friends  of  the 
murderer,  and  invite  them  to  bring  him  for  trial  before  the 
united  Tendis.  If,  after  trial,  he  were  found  guilty  of  com- 
mitting the  crime,  he  would  be  punished  according  to  his  guilt; 
if  it  were  murder,  he  would  be  handed  over  to  his  clansmen  to 
be  put  to  death  by  spearing;  if  for  what  we  should  call  "man- 
slaughter," he  would  receive  a  good  thrashing  or  be  banished 
from  his  clan,  or  be  compelled  to  go  to  his  mother's  relations. 
A  common  sentence  for  any  public  offence  was  so  many  blows 
on  the  head.  I  was  not  informed  by  Mr.  Taplin  what  he  included 
in  the  term  "public  offence."  .  .  .  . — A,  W,  HOWITT,  Native 
Tribes  of  South-East  Australia,  295-341. 


788  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  OLD  MEN  IN  AUSTRALIA 

....  Within  the  narrow  limits  of  his  own  group  the  local 
head  man  or  Alatunja  takes  the  lead ;  outside  of  his  group  no 
head  man  has  of  necessity  any  special  power.  If  he  has  any 
generally-recognised  authority,  as  some  of  them  undoubtedly 
have,  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  is  either  the  head  of  a 
numerically  important  group  or  is  himself  famous  for  his  skill 
in  hunting  or  fighting,  or  for  his  knowledge  of  the  ancient  tradi- 
tions and  customs  of  the  tribe.  Old  age  does  not  by  itself  confer 
distinction,  but  only  when  combined  with  special  ability.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  a  chief  of  the  tribe,  nor  indeed  is  there  any 
individual  to  whom  the  term  chief  can  be  applied. 

The  authority  which  is  wielded  by  an  Alatunja  is  of  a  some- 
what vague  nature.  He  has  no  definite  power  over  the  persons 
of  the  individuals  who  are  members  of  his  group.  He  it  is  who 
calls  together  the  elder  men,  who  always  consult  concerning  any 
important  business,  such  as  the  holding  of  sacred  ceremonies  or 
the  punishment  of  individuals  who  have  broken  tribal  custom, 
and  his  opinion  carries  an  amount  of  weight  which  depends  upon 
his  reputation.  He  is  not  of  necessity  recognised  as  the  most 
important  member  of  the  council  whose  judgment  must  be  fol- 
lowed, though,  if  he  be  old  and  distinguished,  then  he  will  have 
great  influence.  Perhaps  the  best  way  of  expressing  the  matter 
is  to  say  that  the  Alatunja  has,  e.v-officio,  a  position  which,  if  he 
be  a  man  of  personal  ability,  but  only  in  that  case,  enables  him 
to  wield  considerable  power  not  only  over  the  members  of  his 
own  group,  but  over  those  of  neighbouring  groups  whose  head 
men  are  inferior  in  personal  ability  to  himself. 

The  Alatunja  is  not  chosen  for  the  position  because  of  his 
ability,  the  post  is  one  which,  within  certain  limits,  is  hereditary, 
passing  from  father  to  son,  always  provided  that  the  man  is  of 
proper  designation — that  is,  for  example,  in  a  kangaroo  group 
the  Alatunja  must  of  necessity  be  a  kangaroo  man.  To  take  the 
Alice  Springs  group  as  an  example,  the  holder  of  the  office  must 
be  a  witchetty  grub  man,  and  he  must  also  be  old  enough  to 
be  considered  capable  of  taking  the  lead  in  certain  ceremonies, 
and  must  of  necessity  be  a  fully  initiated  man.  The  present 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  789 

Alatunja  inherited  the  post  from  his  father,  who  had  previously 
inherited  it  from  his  father.  The  present  holder  has  no  son  who 
is  yet  old  enough  to  be  an  Alatunja,  so  that  if  he  were  to  die 
within  the  course  of  the  next  two  or  three  years  his  brother 
would  hold  the  position,  which  would,  however,  on  the  death  of 
this  brother,  revert  to  the  present  holder's  son.  It  of  course 
occasionally  happens  that  the  Alatunja  has  no  son  to  succeed 
him,  in  which  case  he  will  before  dying  nominate  the  individual 
whom  he  desires  to  succeed  him,  who  will  always  be  either  a 
brother  or  a  brother's  son.  The  Alatunjaship  always  descends 
in  the  male  line,  and  we  are  not  aware  of  anything  which  can 
be  regarded  as  the  precise  equivalent  of  this  position  in  other 
Australian  tribes,  a  fact  which  is  to  be  associated  with  the  strong 
development  of  the  local  groups  in  this  part  of  the  continent. 

The  most  important  function  of  the  Alatunja  is  to  take  charge 
of  what  we  may  call  the  sacred  store-house,  which  has  usually 
the  form  of  a  cleft  in  some  rocky  range,  or  a  special  hole  in  the 
ground,  in  which,  concealed  from  view,  are  kept  the  sacred 
objects  of  the  group.  Near  to  this  store-house,  which  is  called 
an  Ertnatulunga,  no  woman,  child,  or  uninitiated  man  dares 
venture  on  pain  of  death. 

At  intervals  of  time,  and  when  determined  upon  by  the 
Alatunja,  the  members  of  the  group  perform  a  special  ceremony, 
called  Intichiuma,  which  will  be  described  later  on  in  detail,  and 
the  object  of  which  is  to  increase  the  supply  of  the  animal  or 
plant  bearing  the  name  of  the  particular  group  which  performs 
the  ceremony.  Each  group  has  an  Intichiuma  of  its  own,  which 
can  only  be  taken  part  in  by  initiated  men  bearing  the  group 
name.  In  the  performance  of  this  ceremony  the  Alatunja  takes 
the  leading  part ;  he  it  is  who  decides  when  it  is  to  be  performed, 
and  during  the  celebration  the  proceedings  are  carried  out  under 
his  direction,  though  he  has,  while  conducting  them,  to  follow 
out  strictly  the  customs  of  his  ancestors. 

As  amongst  all  savage  tribes  the  Australian  native  is  bound 
hand  and  foot  by  custom.  What  his  fathers  did  before  him  that 
he  must  do.  If  during  the  performance  of  a  ceremony  his 
ancestors  painted  a  white  line  across  the  forehead,  that  line  he 
must  paint.  Any  infringement  of  custom,  within  certain  limita- 


79°  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tions,  is  visited  with  sure  and  often  severe  punishment.  At  the 
same  time,  rigidly  conservative  as  the  native  is,  it  is  yet  possible 
for  changes  to  be  introduced.  We  have  already  pointed  out  that 
there  are  certain  men  who  are  especially  respected  for  their 
ability,  and  after  watching  large  numbers  of  the  tribe,  at  a 
time  when  they  were  assembled  together  for  months  to  perform 
certain  of  their  most  sacred  ceremonies,  we  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  at  a  time  such  as  this,  when  the  older  and  more 
powerful  men  from  various  groups  are  met  together,  and  when 
day  by  day  and  night  by  night  around  their  camp  fires  they 
discuss  matters  of  tribal  interest,  it  is  quite  possible  for  changes 
of  custom  to  be  introduced.  At  the  present  moment,  for  example, 
an  important  change  in  tribal  organisation  is  gradually  spreading 
through  the  tribe  from  north  to  south.  Every  now  and  then  a 
man  arises  of  superior  ability  to  his  fellows.  When  large  num- 
bers of  the  tribe  are  gathered  together — at  least  it  was  so  on  the 
special  occasion  to  which  we  allude — one  or  two  of  the  older  men 
are  at  once  seen  to  wield  a  special  influence  over  the  others. 
Everything,  as  we  have  before  said,  does  not  depend  upon  age. 
At  this  gathering,  for  example,  some  of  the  oldest  men  were 
of  no  account;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  others  not  so  old  as  they 
were,  but  more  learned  in  ancient  lore  or  more  skilled  in  matters 
of  magic,  were  looked  up  to  by  the  others,  and  they  it  was  who 
settled  everything.  It  must,  however,  be  understood  that  we 
have  no  definite  proof  to  bring  forward  of  the  actual  introduction 
by  this  means  of  any  fundamental  change  of  custom.  The  only 
thing  that  we  can  say  is  that,  after  carefully  watching  the  natives 
during  the  performance  of  their  ceremonies  and  endeavouring  as 
best  we  could  to  enter  into  their  feelings,  to  think  as  they  did, 
and  to  become  for  the  time  being  one  of  themselves,  we  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  if  one  or  two  of  the  most  powerful  men 
settled  upon  the  advisability  of  introducing  some  change,  even 
an  important  one,  it  would  be  quite  possible  for  this  to  be  agreed 
upon  and  carried  out.  That  changes  have  been  introduced,  in 
fact,  are  still  being  introduced,  is  a  matter  of  certainty;  the 
difficulty  to  be  explained  is,  how  in  face  of  the  rigid  conservatism 
of  the  native,  which  may  be  said  to  be  one  of  his  leading  features, 
such  changes  can  possibly  even  be  mooted.  The  only  possible 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  791 

chance  is  by  means  of  the  old  men,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  Arunta 
people,  amongst  whom  the  local  feeling  is  very  strong,  they  have 
opportunities  of  a  special  nature.  Without  belonging  to  the 
same  group,  men  who  inhabit  localities  close  to  one  another  are 
more  closely  associated  than  men  living  at  a  distance  from  one 
another,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  local  bond  is  strongly 
marked — indeed  so  marked  was  it  during  the  performance  of 
their  sacred  ceremonies  that  we  constantly  found  it  necessary 
to  use  the  term  "local  relationship."  Groups  which  are  contigu- 
ous locally  are  constantly  meeting  to  perform  ceremonies;  and 
among  the  Alatunjas  who  thus  come  together  and  direct  proceed- 
ings there  is  perfectly  sure,  every  now  and  again,  to  be  one  who 
stands  pre-eminent  by  reason  of  superior  ability,  and  to  him, 
especially  on  an  occasion  such  as  this,  great  respect  is  always 
paid.  It  would  be  by  no  means  impossible  for  him  to  propose  to 
the  other  older  men  the  introduction  of  a  change,  which,  after 
discussing  it,  the  Alatunjas  of  the  local  groups  gathered  together 
might  come  to  the  conclusion  was  a  good  one,  and,  if  they  did 
so,  then  it  would  be  adopted  in  that  district.  After  a  time  a 
still  larger  meeting  of  the  tribe,  with  head  men  from  a  still 
wider  area — a  meeting  such  as  the  Engwura  [which  is  described 
in  Part  II,  p.  255] — might  be  held.  At  this  the  change  locally 
introduced  would,  without  fail,  be  discussed.  The  man  who  first 
started  it  would  certainly  have  the  support  of  his  local  friends, 
provided  they  had  in  the  first  instance  agreed  upon  the  advis- 
ability of  its  introduction,  and  not  only  this,  but  the  chances  are 
that  he  would  have  the  support  of  the  head  men  of  other  local 
groups  of  the  same  designation  as  his  own.  Everything  would, 
in  fact,  depend  upon  the  status  of  the  original  proposer  of  the 
change ;  but,  granted  the  existence  of  a  man  with  sufficient  ability 
to  think  out  the  details  of  any  change,  then,  owing  partly  to  the 
strong  development  of  the  local  feeling,  and  partly  to  the  feeling 
of  kinship  between  groups  of  the  same  designation,  wherever 
their  local  habitation  may  be,  it  seems  quite  possible  that  the 
markedly  conservative  tendency  of  the  natives  in  regard  to 
customs  handed  down  to  them  from  their  ancestors  may  every 
now  and  then  be  overcome,  and  some  change,  even  a  radical  one, 
be  introduced.  The  traditions  of  the  tribe  indicate,  it  may  be 


792  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

noticed,  their  recognition  of  the  fact  that  customs  have  varied 
from  time  to  time.  They  have,  for  example,  traditions  dealing 
with  supposed  ancestors,  some  of  whom  introduced,  and  others 
of  whom  changed,  the  method  of  initiation.  Tradition  also 
indicates  ancestors  belonging  to  particular  local  groups  who 
changed  an  older  into  the  present  marriage  system,  and  these 
traditions  all  deal  with  special  powerful  individuals  by  whom  the 
changes  were  introduced.  It  has  been  stated  by  writers  such  as 
Mr.  Curr  "that  the  power  which  enforces  custom  in  our  tribes 
is  for  the  most  part  an  impersonal  one."  Undoubtedly  public 
opinion  and  the  feeling  that  any  violation  of  tribal  custom  will 
bring  down  upon  the  guilty  person  the  ridicule  and  opprobrium  of 
his  fellows  is  a  strong,  indeed  a  very  strong,  influence;  but  at 
the  same  time  there  is  in  the  tribes  with  which  we  are  personally 
acquainted  something  beyond  this.  Should  any  man  break 
through  the  strict  marriage  laws,  it  is  not  only  an  "impersonal 
power"  which  he  has  to  deal  with.  The  head  men  of  the  group 
or  groups  concerned  consult  together  with  the  elder  men,  and, 
if  the  offender,  after  long  consultation,  be  adjudged  guilty  and 
the  determination  be  arrived  at  that  he  is  to  be  put  to  death — 
a  by  no  means  purely  hypothetical  case — then  the  same  elder 
men  make  arrangements  to  carry  the  sentence  out,  and  a  party, 
which  is  called  an  "ininja,"  is  organised  for  the  purpose.  The 
offending  native  is  perfectly  well  aware  that  he  will  be  dealt  with 
by  something  much  more  real  than  an  "impersonal  power."  .... 
— SPENCER  AND  GILLEN,  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia, 
10-15. 

[TRIBAL  SECRET  SOCIETIES] 

The  operation  of  the  various  motives  which  explains  the 
formation  of  tribal  societies  explains  also  the  assumption  by 
them  of  various  functions  of  an  important  nature.  They  arouse 
the  universal  sentiments  of  curiosity,  fear,  and  awe;  they  sur- 
round themselves  with  that  veil  of  mystery  so  attractive  to  primi- 
tive minds  the  world  over,  and  they  appeal  with  ever  growing 
power  to  the  social  and  convivial  aspects  of  human  nature,  to 
feeling  of  prestige  and  exclusiveness,  and  to  the  consciousness  of 
the  very  material  privileges  connected  with  membership.  Under 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION      .  793 

these  circumstances  it  is  natural  to  find  secret  societies  of  the 
tribal  type  widespread  among  savage  and  barbarous  peoples. 
By  the  side  of  the  family  and  the  tribe  they  provide  another 
organization  which  possesses  still  greater  power  and  cohesion. 
In  their  developed  form  they  constitute  the  most  interesting  and 
characteristic  of  primitive  social  institutions. 

In  communities  destitute  of  wider  social  connections,  such 
societies  help  to  bring  about  a  certain  consciousness  of  fellowship 
and  may  often,  by  their  ramifications  throughout  different  tribes, 
become  of  much  political  importance.  African  societies  supply 
pertinent  examples.  Among  the  Korannas  of  South  Africa,  a 
fraternity  exists  whose  initiates  are  marked  by  three  cuts  on  the 
chest.  Said  one  of  their  members  to  an  inquirer :  "  'I  can  go 
through  all  the  valleys  inhabited  by  Korannas  and  by  Griquas, 
and  wherever  I  go,  when  I  open  my  coat  and  show  these  three 
cuts,  I  am  sure  to  be  well  received.'  "  After  a  Nkimba  novice 
has  acquired  the  secret  language  and  has  become  a  full  member, 
he  is  called  Mbivamvu  anjata,  and  the  members  in  the  other  dis- 
tricts "hail  him  as  a  brother,  help  him  in  his  business,  give  him 
hospitality,  and  converse  freely  with  him  in  the  mystic  language." 
Those  who  belong  to  the  Idiong  of  Old  Calabar  are  thereby 
enabled  to  travel  through  the  country  without  danger.  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Ukuku,  a  society  found  among  the  tribes  in  the 
Spanish  territory  north  of  Corisco  Bay,  sometimes  "meet  to- 
gether and  discuss  intertribal  difficulties,  thereby  avoiding  war." 
Mwetyi,  who  presides  over  the  secret  society  of  the  Shekani  and 
Bakele  of  French  Congo,  is  always  invoked  as  a  witness  to  cove- 
nants between  neighboring  tribes.  Such  treaties  are  usually 
kept ;  otherwise  Mwetyi  would  visit  the  violators  and  punish  them. 
The  Purrah  of  Sierra  Leone  was  formerly  a  most  effective  in- 
strument for  preventing  conflicts  between  the  tribes;  its  deputa- 
tions sent  out  to  make  peace  were  always  respected.  The  society 
was  organized  with  a  headman  in  every  district  who  presided 
over  the  local  and  subordinate  councils.  A  grand  council,  man- 
aged by  the  Head  Purrah  man,  had  jurisdiction  over  all  the 
branches  of  the  society.  While  the  Purrah  law  was  in  force,  no 
blood  must  be  shed  by  contending  tribes.  Transgressors  were 
punished  by  death. 


794  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

In  the  absence  of  the  stronger  political  ties  afforded  by  the 
existence  of  a  definite  chieftainship,  or  where  the  chief  is  as  yet 
endowed  with  little  power,  the  secret  societies  assume  or  ree'n- 
force  his  functions  of  social  control.  Where  the  societies  are 
still  essentially  tribal  in  character,  and  in  their  membership  in- 
clude nearly  all  the  men  of  the  tribe,  such  authority  naturally 
centres  itself  in  those  who  hold  the  higher  degrees.  Probably 
the  earliest  ruler  is  often  only  the  individual  highest  in-  the  secret 
society ;  his  power  derived  from  his  association  with  it  and  his 
orders  executed  by  it.  Thus  the  control  exercised  by  the  New 
Pomerania  chieftains  is  immensely  strengthened  by  the  circum- 
stance that  such  individuals  are  always  high  in  the  secrets  of  the 
Dukduk.  In  some  places  the  society  seems  to  be  largely  under 
the  power  of  the  chiefs.  The  importance  among  Melanesian 
peoples  of  the  Suqe  and  Tamate  of  Banks  Islands  has  always 
obscured  the  appearance  of  such  power  as  the  chiefs  would  be 
expected  to  exercise.  Any  man  who  was  conspicuous  in  his 
community  would  certainly  be  high  in  the  degrees  of  these  so- 
cieties ;  and  no  one  who  held  an  insignificant  place  in  them  could 
have  much  power  outside. 

With  growing  political  centralization,  the  judicial  and  execu- 
tive functions  of  the  secret  society  may  be  retained;  and  its 
members,  as  the  personal  agents  of  the  ruling  chief,  may  con- 
stitute the  effective  police  of  the  state.  Africa  affords  us  in- 
stances of  such  societies  in  affiliation  with  the  government. 
Members  of  the  Sindungo  order  of  Kabinda  were  originally 
secret  agents  of  the  king,  and  as  such  were  employed  to  gather 
information  and  accuse  powerful  masters  who  were  unjust  to 
their  inferiors.  The  king  of  the  Bashi-lange-Baluba  nation 
(Congo  Free  State)  is  e.v-officio  head  of  Lubuku.  Belli-paaro 
among  the  Quojas  of  Liberia  had  the  chief  or  king  of  the  tribe 
at  its  head.  Members  were  in  close  affiliation  with  the  govern- 
ment. Such  centralization  of  political  power  is  not  accomplished, 
however,  without  a  struggle.  These  societies  often  put  many 
restrictions  upon  the  influence  of  the  chiefs.  Ogboni,  among  the 
Egbas  of  Yoruba,  is  more  powerful  than  the  king.  The  Nkimba 
fraternity  likewise  once  formed  a  useful  check  to  the  greed  and 
violence  of  the  chiefs. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  795 

Where  these  societies  are  powerful  their  members  enjoy  many 
privileges  which  are  not  granted  their  less  fortunate  tribesmen. 
In  the  Dukduk  mysteries  "everything  which  by  the  uninitiated  is 
held  as  of  particular  obligation  is  here  chanted  as  something  that 
the  initiated  must  rigidly  impress  upon  the  profane,  yet  which 
for  themselves  they  may  disregard.  The  tabu  is  to  have  no  force 
for  them  except  the  great  tabu,  with  a  flock  of  hair  on  it,  and  that 
they  must  not  break  through.  All  others  they  may  transgress, 
if  only  they  do  it  slily,  and  so  as  not  to  raise  public  scandal  among 
the  women  and  the  others  who  are  bound  by  its  provisions.  They 
must  teach  the  uninitiated  that  there  are  malign  spirits  abroad  by 
night,  but  they  themselves  need  not  believe  anything  so  stupid. 

.  .  One  only  belief  do  they  profess,  and  that  is  in  the  spirit 
of  the  volcano-fires,  and  even  that  is  discarded  by  the  inner 
degree  of  the  Dukduk,  those  half-dozen  men  who  sit  within  the 
mystic  house  and  dupe  the  initiates  of  the  minor  degree  as  all 
unite  to  trick  those  outside.  And  the  reason  is  this:  the  half- 
dozen  members  of  the  most  secret  rank  profess  to  one  another 
that  no  better  system  of  governing  a  savage  community  could  be 
devised  than  this  ceremonial  mystery  of  the  Dukduk.  All  the 
Tamate  associations  of  the  Banks  Islands  have  as  their  particular 
badge  a  leaf  of  the  croton  or  a  hibiscus  flower.  To  wear  the 
badge  without  being  a  member  of  a  Tamate  society  would  sub- 
ject the  offender  to  a  fine  and  a  beating.  A  member  of  this 
society,  by  marking  with  his  badge  the  fruit  trees  or  garden  which 
he  wishes  reserved  for  any  particular  use,  may  be  sure  that  his 
taboo  wil  be  respected;  the  great  Tamate  is  behind  him.  Other 
prerogatives  of  the  members  in  Melanesian  societies  include  "the 
right  to  land  in  certain  portions  of  the  beach,  which  the  uniniti- 
ated were  prevented  from  doing  save  by  the  payment  of  a  fine — 
the  right  of  way  along  certain  parts — and,  above  all,  a  share  in 
the  fines  in  food  and  money  from  their  less-privileged  fellow- 
countrymen  or  visitors."  Purrah  of  Sierra  Leone  places  its  inter- 
dict "upon  trees,  streams,  fishing-pots,  fruit  trees,  oil  palms, 
bamboo  palms,  growing  crops,  and  in  fact  upon  all  and  everything 
that  is  required  to  be  reserved  for  any  particular  use." 

Privileges  such  as  these  readily  pass  over  into  a  much  more 
extended  system  of  social  control.  Ruling  chiefly  by  the  mys- 


796  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

terious  terror  they  inspire,  and  providing  for  infractions  of  their 
laws  the  penalties  of  death  or  heavy  fines,  the  tribal  societies  of 
Melanesia  and  Africa  represent  the  most  primitive  efforts  towards 
the  establishment  of  law  and  order.  They  recall  the  Vehm- 
gerichte  which  flourished  in  Westphalia  in  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries,  or  the  Vigilantes  and  White  Caps  of  a  more 
modern  age. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  of  these  organizations — the  Duk- 
duk  of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago— exhibits  at  once  the  good  and 
bad  features  of  the  tribal  society.  In  its  judicial  capacity  it 
fully  merits  its  description  as  an  "internationale  Rechtsgesell- 
schaft,"  providing  in  the  midst  of  conditions,  otherwise  anarchical, 
some  semblance  of  law  and  order.  Where  the  Dukduk  prevails, 
the  natives  are  afraid  to  commit  any  serious  felony.  One  ob- 
server describes  the  Dukduk  as  the  administrator  of  law,  judge, 
policeman,  and  hangman  all  in  one.  But  the  Dukduk  conception 
of  justice  is  not  modelled  on  Ulpian's  famous  definition,  for  the 
Dukduk  law  bears  down  most  unequally  upon  the  weaker  mem- 
bers of  the  community,  upon  those  who  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other have  been  unable  to  join  the  society  or  have  incurred  the 
enmity  of  its  powerful  associates.  Its  forced  contributions  im- 
poverish those  who  are  already  poor,  while  those  who  are  rich 
enough  to  join  share  in  the  profits  of  the  mystery.  The  fraternity 
exhibits  in  the  clearest  light  the  culmination  of  that  process  of 
fraud  and  intimidation  which,  having  its  roots  in  the  puberty 
institution,  becomes  more  and  more  prominent  when  the  tribal 
society  stage  is  reached. 

"There  is,"  writes  Mr.  Romilly,  who  witnessed  some  Dukduk 
initiations,  "a  most  curious  and  interesting  institution,  by  which 
the  old  men  of  the  tribe  band  themselves  together,  and,  by  work- 
ing on  the  superstitions  of  the  rest,  secure  for  themselves  a 
comfortable  old  age  and  unbounded  influence The  Duk- 
duk is  a  spirit,  which  assumes  a  visible  and  presumably  tangible 
form,  and  makes  its  appearance  at  certain  fixed  times.  Its 
arrival  is  invariably  fixed  for  the  day  the  new  moon  becomes 
visible.  It  is  announced  a  month  beforehand  by  the  old  men, 
and  is  always  said  to  belong  to  one  of  them.  During  that  month 
great  preparations  of  food  are  made,  and  should  any  young  man 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  797 

have  failed  to  provide  an  adequate  supply  on  the  occasion  of  its 
last  appearance,  he  receives  a  pretty  strong  hint  to  the  effect  that 
the  Dukduk  is  displeased  with  him,  and  there  is  no  fear  of  his 
offending  twice.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  old  men,  who 
alone  have  the  power  of  summoning  the  Dukduk  from  his  home 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  are  too  weak  to  work,  and  to  provide 
themselves  with  food  or  dewarra  the  reason  for  this  hint  seems 
to  me  pretty  obvious.  The  day  before  the  Dukduk' s  expected 
arrival  the  women  usually  disappear,  or  at  all  events  remain  in 
their  houses.  It  is  immediate  death  for  a  woman  to  look  upon 
this  unquiet  spirit.  Before  daybreak  every  one  is  assembled  on 
the  beach,  most  of  the  young  men  looking  a  good  deal  frightened. 
They  have  many  unpleasant  experiences  to  go  through  during 
the  next  fortnight,  and  the  Dukduk  is  known  to  possess  an  extra- 
ordinary familiarity  with  all  their  shortcomings  of  the  preceding 
month.  At  the  first  streak  of  dawn,  singing  and  drum-beating  is 
heard  out  at  sea,  and,  as  soon  as  there  is  enough  light  to  see 
them,  five  or  six  canoes,  lashed  together  with  a  platform  built 
over  them,  are  seen  to  be  slowly  advancing  towards  the  beach. 
Two  most  extraordinary  figures  appear  dancing  on  the  platform, 
uttering  shrill  cries,  like  a  small  dog  yelping.  They  seem  to  be 
about  ten  feet  high,  but  so  rapid  are  their  movements  that  it  is 
difficult  to  observe  them  carefully.  However,  the  outward  and 
visible  form  assumed  by  them  is  intended  to  represent  a  gigantic 
cassowary,  with  the  most  hideous  and  grotesque  of  human  faces. 
The  dress,  which  is  made  of  the  leaves  of  the  draconana,  certainly 
looks  much  like  the  body  of  this  bird,  but  the  head  is  like  noth- 
ing but  the  head  of  a  Dukduk.  It  is  a  conical-shaped  erection, 
about  five  feet  high,  made  of  very  fine  basket  work,  and  gummed 
all  over  to  give  a  surface  on  which  the  diabolical  countenance  is 
depicted.  No  arms  or  hands  are  visible,  and  the  dress  extends 
down  to  the  knees.  The  old  men,  doubtless,  are  in  the  secret, 
but  by  the  alarmed  look  on  the  faces  of  the  others  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  they  imagine  that  there  is  nothing  human  about  these 
alarming  visitors.  As  soon  as  the  canoes  touch  the  beach,  the 
two  Dukduks  jump  out,  and  at  once  the  natives  fall  back,  so  as 
to  avoid  touching  them.  If  a  Dukduk  is  touched,  even  by  acci- 
dent, he  very  frequently  tomahawks  the  unfortunate  native  on  the 


798  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

spot.  After  landing,  the  Dukditks  dance  round  each  other,  imi- 
tating the  ungainly  motion  of  the  cassowary,  and  uttering  their 
shrill  cries.  During  the  whole  of  their  stay  they  make  no  sound 
but  this.  It  would  never  do  for  them  to  speak,  for  in  that  case 
they  might  be  recognized  by  their  voices.  Nothing  more  is  to 
be  done  now  till  evening,  and  they  occupy  their  time  running 
up  and  down  the  beach,  through  the  village,  and  into  the  bush, 
and  seem  to  be  very  fond  of  turning  up  in  the  most  unexpected 
manner,  and  frightening  the  natives  half  out  of  their  wits.  Dur- 
ing the  day  a  little  house  has  been  built  in  the  bush,  for  the  Duk- 
duk.'s  benefit.  No  one  but  the  old  men  knows  exactly  where  this 
house  is,  as  it  is  carefully  concealed.  Here  we  may  suppose  the 
restless  spirit  unbends  to  a  certain  extent,  and  has  his  meals.  Cer- 
tainly no  one  would  venture  to  disturb  him.  In  the  evening  a 
vast  pile  of  food  is  collected,  and  is  borne  off  by  the  old  men 
into  the  bush,  every  man  making  his  contribution  to  the  meal. 
The  Dukduk,  if  satisfied,  maintains  a  complete  silence;  but  if  he 
does  not  think  the  amount  collected  sufficient,  he  shows  his  dis- 
approbation by  yelping  and  leaping.  When  the  food  has  been 
carried  off,  the  young  men  have  to  go  through  a  very  unpleasant 
ordeal,  which  is  supposed  to  prepare  their  minds  for  having  the 
mysteries  of  the  Dukduk  explained  to  them  at  some  very  distant 
period.  They  stand  in  rows  of  six  or  seven,  holding  their  arms 
high  above  their  heads.  When  the  Dukduks  appear  from  their 
house  in  the  bush,  one  of  them  has  a  bundle  of  stout  canes,  about 
six  feet  long,  and  the  other  a  big  club.  The  Dukduk  with  the 
canes  selects  one  of  them,  and  dances  up  to  one  of  the  young  men, 
and  deals  him  a  most  tremendous  blow,  which  draws  blood  all 
round  his  body.  There  is,  however,  on  the  young  man's  part 
no  flinching  or  sign  of  pain.  After  the  blow  with  the  cane  he  has 
to  stoop  down,  and  the  other  Dukduk  gives  him  a  blow  with 
the  club,  on  the  'tail/  which  must  be  most  unpleasant.  Each  of 
these  young  men  has  to  go  through  this  performance  some 
twenty  times  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  and  go  limping  home 
to  bed.  He  will  nevertheless  be  ready  to  place  himself  in  the 
same  position  every  night  for  the  next  fortnight.  The  time  of 
a  man's  initiation  may  and  often  does  last  for  about  twenty  years, 
and  as  the  Dukduk  usually  appears  at  every  town  six  times  in 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  799 

every  year,  the  novice  has  to  submit  to  a  considerable  amount  of 
flogging  to  purchase  his  freedom  of  the  guild.  Though  I  have 
never  witnessed  it,  the  Dukduk  has  the  right,  which  he  frequently 
exercises,  of  killing  any  man  on  the  spot.  He  merely  dances  up 
to  him,  and  brains  him  with  a  tomahawk  or  club.  Not  a  man 
would  dare  dispute  this  right,  nor  would  any  one  venture  to 
touch  the  body  afterwards.  The  Dukduks  in  such  a  case  pick  up 
the  body,  and  carry  it  into  the  bush  where  it  is  disposed  of :  how, 
one  can  only  conjecture.  Women,  if  caught  suddenly  in  the  bush, 
are  carried  off,  and  never  appear  again,  nor  are  any  inquiries 
made  after  them.  It  is  no  doubt  this  power  the  Dukduks  possess, 
of  killing  either  man  or  woman  with  impunity,  which  makes 
them  so  feared.  It  is,  above  all  things,  necessary  to  preserve 
the  mystery,  and  the  way  in  which  this  is  done  is  very  clever. 
The  man  personating  the  Dukduk  will  retire  to  his  house,  take 
off  his  dress,  and  mingle  with  the  rest  of  his  tribe,  so  as  not  to  be 
missed,  and  will  put  his  share  of  food  into  the  general  contribu- 
tion, thus  making  a  present  to  himself.  The  last  day  on  which 
the  moon  is  visible  the  Dukduks  disappear,  though  no  one  sees 
them  depart;  their  house  in  the  bush  is  burned,  and  the  dresses 
they  have  worn  are  destroyed.  Great  care  is  taken  to  destroy 
everything  they  have  touched,  the  canes  and  clubs  being  burned 
every  day  by  the  old  men. 

The  Dukduk  society  also  finds  a  fertile  source  of  revenue  in 
its  exactions  upon  the  women.  In  the  Bismarck  Archipelago, 
women  have  the  full  custody  of  their  earnings  and  as  they  work 
harder  than  the  men,  they  soon  acquire  considerable  property. 
The  Dukduk  "offers  a  very  good  means  of  preventing  unfair 
accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  women."  If  a  woman 
sees  the  Dukduk  masks,  she  is  fined  a  certain  quantity  of  dezvarra. 
The  Taraiu,  or  lodge,  is  always  tabooed  to  women,  and  a  fine  of 
thirty  to  fifty  deivarra  is  imposed  upon  the  curious  intruder. 

Many  of  the  West  African  societies  Miss  Kingsley  describes 
as  admirable  engines  of  government ;  "the  machine  as  a  machine 
for  the  people  is  splendid ;  it  can  tackle  a  tyrannous  chief,  keep 
women  in  order,  and  even  regulate  pigs  and  chickens,  as  nothing 
else  has  been  able  to  do  in  West  Africa."  As  the  African  initiate 
passes  from  grade  to  grade,  the  secrets  of  the  society  are  gradu- 


8oo  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

ally  revealed  to  him.  "Each  grade  gives  him  a  certain  function 
in  carrying  out  the  law,  and  finally  when  he  has  passed  through 
all  the  grades,  which  few  men  do,  when  he  has  finally  sworn  the 
greatest  oath  of  all,  when  he  knows  all  the  society's  heart's  secret, 
that  secret  is  'I  am  what  I  am' — the  one  word.  The  teaching  of 
that  word  is  law,  order,  justice,  morality.  Why  the  one  word 
teaches  it  the  man  who  has  reached  the  innermost  heart  of  the 
secret  society  does  not  know,  but  he  knows  two  things — one,  that 
there  is  a  law  god,  and  the  other  that,  so  says  the  wisdom  of  our 
ancestors,  his  will  must  be  worked  or  evil  will  come;  so  in  his 
generation  he  works  to  keep  the  young  people  straight — to  keep 
the  people  from  over-fishing  the  lagoons,  to  keep  the  people  from 
cutting  palm  nuts,  and  from  digging  yams  at  wrong  seasons. 
He  does  these  things  by  putting  Purroh,  or  Oru,  or  Egbo  on 
them;  Purroh,  Oru,  and  Egbo  and  Idiong  are  things  the  people 
fear." 

Egbo  of  Old  Calabar,  perhaps  the  best-developed  of  these 
societies,  is  divided  into  numerous  grades.  The  highest  of  these 
grades  is  the  Grand  Egbo,  whose  head  is  the  king  of  the  country. 
Over  the  other  grades  preside  chiefs  who  are  called  the  kings 
of  their  particular  Egbo.  Each  of  the  different  grades  has  its 
Egbo  day  when  the  Idem,  or  spiritual  representatives  of  Egbo, 
are  in  full  control.  When  the  yellow  flag  floats  from  the  king's 
house,  it  is  Brass  Egbo  day.  Only  those  who  belong  to  the  very 
highest  degrees  may  then  be  seen  in  the  streets.  During  an  Egbo 
visitation  it  would  be  death  for  any  one  not  a  member  of  the 
order  to  venture  forth;  even  members  themselves,  if  their  grade 
is  lower  than  that  which  controls  the  proceedings  for  the  day, 
would  be  severely  whipped.  When  a  man  "meets  the  parapher- 
nalia of  a  higher  grade  of  Egbo  than  that  to  which  he  belongs, 
he  has  to  act  as  if  he  were  lame,  and  limp  along  past  it  humbly, 
as  if  the  sight  of  it  had  taken  all  the  strength  out  of  him." 
Though  the  society  is  in  many  cases  an  agent  of  much  oppression, 
it  seemingly  does  not  lack  its  good  side.  It  has  jurisdiction  over 
all  crimes  except  witchcraft.  Its  procedure  is  especially  interest- 
ing. A  person  "with  a  grievance  in  a  district  under  Egbo  has 
only  to  rush  into  the  street,  look  out  for  a  gentleman  connected 
with  the  Egbo  Society,  slap  him  on  the  waistcoat  place,  and  that 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  801 

gentleman  has  then  and  there  at  once  to  drop  any  private  matter 
of  his  own  he  may  be  engaged  in,  call  together  the  Grade  of  Egbo 
he  belongs  to — there  are  eleven  grades  of  varying  power — and 
go  into  the  case.  Or,  if  an  Egbo  gentleman  is  not  immediately 
get-at-able,  the  complainant  has  only  to  rush  to  the  Egbo  House 
— there  is  one  in  every  town — and  beat  the  Egbo  drum,  and  out 
comes  the  Egbo  Grade,  who  have  charge  for  that  day."  The 
offender  will  then  be  promptly  punished,  or  the  complainant  him- 
self, if  the  offence  be  trivial.  Calabar  people  who  find  it  neces- 
sary to  be  absent  on  a  journey,  place  their  property  under  the 
protection  of  Egbo  by  fastening  the  badge  of  the  society  to  their 
houses.  A  trader,  whether  a  European  or  an  influential  Effik, 
usually  joins  the  society  and  endeavors  to  reach  the  higher 
degrees.  Lower  grades  cannot  call  out  Egbo  to  proceed  against 
higher  grades ;  debtors  belonging  to  such  classes  "flip  their 
fingers  at  lower  grade  creditors."  But  a  trader  can  call  out  his 
own  class  of  Egbo  "and  send  it  against  those  of  his  debtors  who 
may  be  of  lower  grades,  and  as  the  Egbo  methods  of  delivering 
its  orders  to  pay  up  consist  in  placing  Egbo  at  a  man's  door-way, 
and  until  it  removes  itself  from  the  doorway  the  man  dare  not 
venture  outside  his  house,  it  is  most  successful." 

Other  African  societies  exhibit  functions  similar  to  those  of 
Egbo.  Sindungo  of  the  Loango  tribes  is  employed  for  debt- 
collecting  purposes.  Any  man  who  has  a  debt  outstanding  against 
another  may  complain  to  the  head  of  the  society.  The  masked 
Sindungo  are  then  sent  out  to  demand  payment.  Their  simple 
procedure  consists  in  wholesale  robbery  of  the  debtor's  property 
if  the  proper  sums  are  not  immediately  forthcoming.  The  Zang- 
beto  of  Porto  Novo  constitutes  the  night  police.  The  young 
men  of  the  upper  class  who  compose  the  society  have  the  right 
to  arrest  any  one  in  town  and  out  of  doors  after  nine  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  The  organization  is  a  valuable  safeguard  against 
robberies  and  incendiary  fires.  In  Lagos,  criminals  condemned 
to  death  are  given  over  to  Oro,  who  is  said  to  devour  the  bodies ; 
their  clothes  are  afterward  found  entangled  in  the  branches  of 
lofty  trees.  Sometimes  the  headless  corpse  of  one  of  these  un- 
fortunates is  left  in  the  forest  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town  ;  no 
one  would  dare  to  bury  it.  Ogboni,  a  powerful  society  in  most 


802  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

parts  of  the  Yoruba  country,  in  Ibadan,  is  little  more  than  the 
public  executioner.  Egungun  and  Belli-paaro  have  similar 
duties.  Nkimba  members  employ  themselves  in  catching  witches. 
At  night  they  fill  the  village  with  their  cries  as  they  run  through 
the  deserted  streets.  Common  natives  must  not  be  caught  outside 
the  house,  but  despite  this  regulation,  the  simple  folk  "rejoice 
that  there  is  such  an  active  police  against  witches,  maladies,  and 
all  misfortunes." 

The  problem  of  maintaining  masculine  authority  over  the 
women  is  readily  solved  in  Africa,  where  the  secret  societies  are 
powerful.  An  account,  by  an  old  writer,  of  the  famous  Mumbo 
Jumbo  order  found  among  the  Mandingoes  of  the  Soudan,  fur- 
nishes a  good  description  of  the  procedure  followed  by  numerous 
other  societies: — 

"On  the  6th  of  May,  at  Night,  I  was  visited  by  a  Mumbo 
Jumbo,  an  Idol,  which  is  among  the  Mundingoes  a  kind  of  cun- 
ning Mystery.  It  is  dressed  in  a  long  Coat  made  of  the  Bark  of 
Trees,  with  a  Tuft  of  fine  Straw  on  the  Top  of  it,  and  when  the 
Person  wears  it,  it  is  about  eight  or  nine  Foot  high.  This  is  a 
Thing  invented  by  the  Men  to  keep  their  Wives  in  awe,  who  are 
so  ignorant  (or  at  least  are  obliged  to  pretend  to  be  so)  as  to 
take  it  for  a  Wild  Man;  and  indeed  no  one  but  what  knows  it, 
would  take  it  to  be  a  Man,  by  reason  of  the  dismal  Noise  it  makes, 
and  which  but  few  of  the  Natives  can  manage.  It  never  comes 
abroad  but  in  the  Night-time,  which  makes  it  have  the  better 
Effect.  Whenever  the  Men  have  any  Dispute  with  the  Women, 
this  Mumbo  Jumbo  is  sent  for  to  determine  it;  which  is,  I  may 
say,  always  in  Favour  of  the  Men.  Whoever  is  in  the  Coat,  can 
order  the  others  to  do  what  he  pleases,  either  fight,  kill,  or  make 
Prisoner ;  but  it  must  be  observed,  that  no  one  is  allowed  to  come 
armed  into  its  Presence.  When  the  women  hear  it  coming,  they 
run  awray  and  hide  themselves;  but  if  you  are  acquainted  with 
the  Person  that  has  the  Coat  on,  he  will  send  for  them  all  to  come 
and  sit  down,  and  sing  or  dance,  as  he  pleases  to  order  them ;  and 
if  any  refuse  to  come,  he  will  send  the  People  for  them,  and  then 
whip  them.  Whenever  any  one  enters  into  this  Society,  they 
swear  in  the  most  solemn  manner  never  to  divulge  it  to  any 
Woman,  or  any  Person  that  is  not  enter'd  into  it,  which  they 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  803 

never  allow  to  Boys  under  sixteen  Years  of  Age.  This  thing  the 
People  swear  by,  and  the  Oath  is  so  much  observed  by  them,  that 
they  reckon  as  irrevocable,  as  the  Grecians  thought  Jove  did  of 

old,  when  he  swore  by  the  River  Styx There  are  very  few 

Towns  of  any  Note  but  what  have  got  one  of  these  Coats,  which 
in  the  Daytime  is  fixt  upon  a  large  Stick  near  the  Town,  where 
it  continues  till  Night,  the  proper  Time  of  using  it."  Mungo  Park, 
who  witnessed  the  procedure  of  the  society,  adds  that  when  a 
woman  is  to  be  punished  for  a  real  or  suspected  departure  from 
the  path  of  virtue,  she  "is  stripped  naked,  tied  to  a  post,  and 
severely  scourged  with  Mumbo's  rod,  amidst  the  shouts  and 
derision  of  the  whole  assembly ;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  the  rest 
of  the  women  are  the  loudest  in  their  exclamations  on  this  occa- 
sion against  their  unhappy  sister." 

In  the  Yoruba  villages  Oro  is  the  great  bugbear  god.  The 
Ogboni  society,  whose  members  are  the  personal  representatives 
of  the  god,  use  the  bull-roarer,  the  voice  of  Oro,  to  keep  the 
women  in  subjection.  No  woman  may  see  the  bull-roarer  and 
live.  Governor  Moloney  says,  "I  have  seen  even  persons  pro- 
fessing to  be  Christians  awe-struck  in  its  presence."  The  pres- 
ence of  Oro  in  Yoruba  towns  brings  about  an  enforced  seclusion 
of  women  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  until  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  On  the  great  Oro  days  women  must  remain  indoors 
from  daybreak  till  noon.  Egungun  (literally  "Bones"),  another 
Yoruba  bugbear,  is  supposed  to  be  a  dead  man  risen  from  the 
grave.  He  is  "the  whip  and  the  cucking-stool  apotheosized." 
Adult  males  know  that  Egungun  is  a  mortal,  "but  if  a  woman 
swears  falsely  by  him,  or  even  says  that  he  is  not  a  tenant  of  the 
grave,  she  would  lose  her  life."  Mwetyi  and  Nda  of  Southern 
Guinea  tribes  are  similar  creations  of  the  secret  societies  to  keep 
the  women  in  subjection. — KUTTON  WEBSTER,  Primitive  Secret 
Societies,  106-20.  (Copyright  by  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1908.) 

THE  IROQUOIS  CONFEDERACY 

....  The  Iroquois  have  furnished  an  excellent  illustration 
of  the  manner  in  which  a  confederacy  is  formed  by  natural  growth 
sisted  by  skillful  legislation.  Originally  emigrants  from  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  and  probably  a  branch  of  the  Dakota  stock,  they 


804  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

first  made  their  way  to  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  set- 
tled themselves  near  Montreal.  Forced  to  leave  this  region  by 
the  hostility  of  surrounding  tribes,  they  sought  the  central  region 
of  New  York.  Coasting  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario  in 
canoes,  for  their  numbers  were  small,  they  made  their  first  set- 
tlement at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswego  river,  where,  according  to 
their  traditions,  they  remained  for  a  long  period  of  time.  They 
were  then  in  at  least  three  distinct  tribes,  the  Mohawks,  the  On- 
ondagas,  and  the  Senecas.  One  tribe  subsequently  established 
themselves  at  the  head  of  the  Canandaigua  lake  and  became  the 
Senecas.  Another  tribe  occupied  the  Onondaga  Valley  and  be- 
came the  Onondagas.  The  third  passed  eastward  and  settled 
first  at  Oneida  near  the  site  of  Utica,  from  which  place  the  main 
portion  removed  to  the  Mohawk  Valley  and  became  the  Mo- 
hawks. Those  who  remained  became  the  Oneidas.  A  portion 
of  the  Onondagas  or  Senecas  settled  along  the  eastern  shore 
of  the  Cayuga  lake  and  became  the  Cayugas.  New  York,  before 
its  occupation  by  the  Iroquois,  seems  to  have  been  a  part  of  the 
area  of  the  Algonkin  tribes.  According  to  Iroquois  traditions 
they  displaced  its  anterior  inhabitants  as  they  gradually  extended 
their  settlements  eastward  to  the  Hudson,  and  westward  to  the 
Genesee.  Their  traditions  further  declare  that  a  long  period  of 
time  elapsed  after  their  settlement  in  New  York  before  the  con- 
federacy was  formed,  during  which  they  made  common  cause 
against  their  enemies  and  thus  experienced  the  advantages  of  the 
federal  principle  both  for  aggression  and  defense.  They  resided 
in  villages,  which  were  usually  surrounded  with  stockades,  and 
subsisted  upon  fish  and  game,  and  the  products  of  a  limited 
horticulture.  In  numbers  they  did  not  at  any  time  exceed  20,000 
souls,  if  they  ever  reached  that  number.  Precarious  subsistence 
and  incessant  warfare  repressed  numbers  in  all  the  aboriginal 
tribes,  including  the  Village  Indians  as  well.  The  Iroquois  were 
enshrouded  in  the  great  forests,  which  then  overspread  New 
York,  against  which  they  had  no  power  to  contend.  They  were 
first  discovered  A.  D.  1608.  About  1675,  they  attained  their 
culminating  point  when  their  dominion  reached  over  an  area  re- 
markably large,  covering  the  greater  parts  of  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Ohio,  and  portions  of  Canada  north  of  Lake  On- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  805 

tario.  At  the  time  of  their  discovery  they  were  the  higiiest  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Red  Race  north  of  New  Mexico  in  intelli- 
gence and  advancement,  although  perhaps  inferior  to  some  of  the 
Gulf  tribes  in  the  arts  of  life.  In  the  extent  and  quality  of  their 
mental  endowments  they  must  be  ranked  among  the  highest  In- 
dians in  America 

When  the  confederacy  was  formed,  about  A.  D.  1400-1450, 
....  the  Iroquois  in  five  independent  tribes,  occupied  terri- 
tories contiguous  to  each  other,  and  spoke  dialects  of  the  same 
language  which  were  mutually  intelligible.  Beside  these  facts 
certain  gentes  were  common  in  the  several  tribes  as  has  been 
shown.  In  their  relations  to  each  other,  as  separate  parts  of 
the  same  gens,  these  common  gentes  afforded  a  natural  and  en- 
during basis  for  a  confederacy.  With  these  elements  existing, 
the  formation  of  a  confederacy  became  a  question  of  intelligence 
and  skill.  Other  tribes  in  large  numbers  were  standing  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  relations  in  different  parts  of  the  continent  with- 
out confederating.  The  fact  that  the  Iroquois  tribes  accom- 
plished the  work  affords  evidence  of  their  superior  capacity. 
Moreover,  as  the  confederacy  was  the  ultimate  stage  of  organi- 
zation among  the  American  aborigines  its  existence  would  be 
expected  in  the  most  intelligent  tribes  only. 

It  is  affirmed  by  the  Iroquois  that  the  confederacy  was  formed 
by  a  council  of  wise-men  and  chiefs  of  the  five  tribes  which  met 
for  that  purpose  on  the  north  shore  of  Onondaga  lake,  near  the 
site  of  Syracuse;  and  that  before  its  session  was  concluded  the 
organization  was  perfected,  and  set  in  immediate  operation.  At 
their  periodical  councils  for  raising  up  sachems  they  still  explain 
its  origin  as  the  result  of  one  protracted  effort  of  legislation. 
It  was  probably  a  consequence  of  a  previous  alliance  for  mutual 
defense,  the  advantages  of  which  they  had  perceived  and  which 
they  sought  to  render  permanent. 

The  origin  of  the  plan  is  ascribed  to  a  mythical,  or,  at  least, 
traditionary  person,  Hd-yo-went'-hd,  the  Hiawatha  of  Longfel- 
low's celebrated  poem,  who  was  present  at  this  council  and  the 
central  person  in  its  management.  In  his  communications  with 
the  council  he  used  a  wise-man  of  the  Onondagas,  Da-ga-no-we'- 
da,  as  an  interpreter  and  speaker  to  expound  the  structure  and 


806  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

principles  of  the  proposed  confederacy.  The  same  tradition  fur- 
ther declares  that  when  the  work  was  accomplished  Hd-yo-went'- 
hd  miraculously  disappeared  in  a  white  canoe,  which  arose  with 
him  in  the  air  and  bore  him  out  of  their  sight.  Other  prodigies, 
according  to  this  tradition,  attended  and  signalized  the  formation 
of  the  confederacy,  which  is  still  celebrated  among  them  as  a 
masterpiece  of  Indian  wisdom.  Such  in  truth  it  was ;  and  it  will 
remain  in  history  as  a  monument  of  their  genius  in  developing 
gentile  institutions.  It  will  also  be  remembered  as  an  illustra- 
tion of  what  tribes  of  mankind  have  been  able  to  accomplish 
in  the  art  of  government  while  in  the  Lower  Status  of  barbarism, 
and  under  the  disadvantages  this  condition  implies. 

Which  of  the  two  persons  was  the  founder  of  the  confederacy 
it  is  difficult  to  determine.  The  silent  Hd-yo-went'-hd  was,  not 
unlikely,  a  real  person  of  Iroquois  lineage;  but  tradition  has  en- 
veloped his  character  so  completely  in  the  supernatural  that  he 
loses  his  place  among  them  as  one  of  their  number.  If  Hiawatha 
were  a  real  person,  Da-gd-no-we'-dd  must  hold  a  subordinate 
place ;  but,  if  a  mythical  person  invoked  for  the  occasion,  then 
to  the  latter  belongs  the  credit  of  planning  the  confederacy. 

The  Iroquois  affirm  that  the  confederacy  as  formed  by  this 
council,  with  its  powers,  functions,  and  mode  of  administration, 
has  come  down  to  them  through  many  generations  to  the  present 
time  with  scarcely  a  change  in  its  internal  organization.  When 
the  Tuscaroras  were  subsequently  admitted,  their  sachems  were 
allowed  by  courtesy  to  sit  as  equals  in  the  general  council,  but  the 
original  number  of  sachems  was  not  increased,  and  in  strictness 
those  of  the  Tuscaroras  formed  no  part  of  the  ruling  body. 

The  general  features  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  may  be 
summarized  in  the  following  propositions : 

I.  The  confederacy  was  a  union  of  Five  Tribes,  composed 
of  common  gentes,  under  one  government  on  the  basis  of  equal- 
ity; each  Tribe  remaining  independent  in  all  matters  pertaining 
to  local  self-government. 

II.  It  created   a   General   Council   of   Sachems,   who  were 
limited  in  number,  equal  in  rank  and  authority,  and  invested 
with  supreme  powers  over  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  Con- 
federacy. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  807 

III.  Fifty   Sachemships   were   created   and   named   in   per- 
petuity in  certain  gentes  of  the  several  Tribes ;  with  power  in 
these  gentes  to  fill  vacancies  as  often  as  they  occurred,  by  elec- 
tion from  among  their  respective  members,  and  with  the  further 
power  to  depose  from  office  for  cause;  but  the  right  to  invest 
these  Sachems  with  office  was  reserved  to  the  General  Council. 

IV.  The  Sachems  of  the  Confederacy  were  also  Sachems 
in  their  respective  Tribes,  and  with  the  Chiefs  of  these  Tribes 
formed  the  Council  of  each,  which  was  supreme  over  all  matters 
pertaining  to  the  Tribe  exclusively. 

V.  Unanimity  in  the  Council  of  the  Confederacy  was  made 
essential  to  every  public  act. 

VI.  In  the  General  Council  the  Sachems  voted  by  Tribes, 
which  gave  to  each  Tribe  a  negative  upon  the  others. 

VII.  The  Council  of  each  Tribe  had  power  to  convene  the 
General  Council;  but  the  latter  had  no  power  to  convene  itself. 

VIII.  The  General  Council  was  open  to  the  orators  of  the 
people  for  the  discussion  of  public  questions;  but  the  Council 
alone  decided. 

IX.  The  Confederacy  had  no  chief  Executive  Magistrate, 
or  official  head. 

X.  Experiencing  the  necessity  for  a  General  Military  Com- 
mander they  created  the  office  in  a  dual  form,  that  one  might 
neutralize  the  other.    The  two  principal  War-chiefs  created  were 
made  equal  in  powers. 

These  several  propositions  will  be  considered  and  illustrated, 
but  without  following  the  precise  form  or  order  in  which  they 
are  stated. 

At  the  institution  of  the  confederacy  fifty  permanent  sachem- 
ships  were  created  and  named,  and  made  perpetual  in  the  gentes 
to  which  they  were  assigned.  With  the  exception  of  two,  which 
were  filled  but  once,  they  have  been  held  by  as  many  different 
persons  in  succession  as  generations  have  passed  away  between 
that  time  and  the  present.  The  name  of  each  sachemship  is  also 
the  personal  name  of  each  sachem  while  he  holds  the  office,  each 
one  in  succession  taking  the  name  of  his  predecessor.  These 
sachems,  when  in  session,  formed  the  council  of  the  confederacy 
in  which  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  powers  were 


8o8  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

vested,  although  such  a  discrimination  of  functions  had  not  come 
to  be  made.  To  secure  order  in  the  succession,  the  several  gentes 
in  which  these  offices  were  made  hereditary  were  empowered  to 
elect  successors  from  among  their  respective  members  when 
vacancies  occurred,  as  elsewhere  explained.  As  a  further  meas- 
ure of  protection  to  their  own  body  each  sachem,  after  his  elec- 
tion and  its  confirmation,  was  invested  with  his  office  by  a  council 
of  the  confederacy.  When  thus  installed  his  name  was  "taken 
away"  and  that  of  the  sachemship  was  bestowed  upon  him.  By 
this  name  he  was  afterwards  known  among  them.  They  were 
all  upon  equality  in  rank,  authority,  and  privileges. 

These  sachemships  were  distributed  unequally  among  the 
five  tribes;  but  without  giving  to  either  a  preponderance  of 
power;  and  unequally  among  the  gentes  of  the  last  three  tribes. 
The  Mohawks  had  nine  sachems,  the  Oneidas  nine,  the  Onon- 
dagas  fourteen,  the  Cayugas  ten,  and  the  Senecas  eight.  This 
was  the  number  at  first,  and  it  has  remained  the  number  to  the 
present  time. 

Two  of  these  sachemships  have  been  filled  but  once  since 
their  creation.  Ha-yo-went'-ha  and  Da-ga-no-we'-da  consented 
to  take  the  office  among  the  Mohawk  sachems,  and  to  leave  their 
names  in  the  list  upon  condition  that  after  their  demise  the  two 
should  remain  thereafter  vacant.  They  were  installed  upon  these 
terms,  and  the  stipulation  has  been  observed  to  the  present  day. 
At  all  councils  for  the  investiture  of  sachems  their  names  are 
still  called  with  the  others  as  a  tribute  of  respect  to  their  memory. 
The  general  council,  therefore,  consisted  of  but  forty-eight 
members. 

Each  sachem  had  an  assistant  sachem,  who  was  elected  by 
the  gens  of  his  principal  from  among  its  members,  and  who  was 
installed  with  the  same,  forms  and  ceremonies.  He  was  styled 
an  "aid."  It  was  his  duty  to  stand  behind  his  superior  on  all 
occasions  of  ceremony,  to  act  as  his  messenger,  and  in  general 
to  be  subject  to  his  directions.  It  gave  to  the  aid  the  office  of 
chief,  and  rendered  probable  his  election  as  the  successor  of  his 
principal  after  the  decease  of  the  latter.  In  their  figurative 
language  these  aids  of  the  sachems  were  styled  "Braces  in  the 
Long  House,"  which  symbolized  the  confederacy. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  809 

The  names  bestowed  upon  the  original  sachems  became  the 
names  of  their  respective  successors  in  perpetuity.  For  example, 
upon  the  demise  of  Gd-ne-o-di'-yo,  one  of  the  eight  Seneca 
sachems,  his  successor  would  be  elected  by  the  Turtle  gens  in 
which  this  sachemship  was  hereditary,  and  when  raised  up  by 
the  general  council  he  would  receive  this  name,  in  place  of  his 
own,  as  a  part  of  the  ceremony.  On  several  different  occasions 
I  have  attended  their  councils  for  raising  up  sachems  both  at  the 
Onondaga  and  Seneca  reservations,  and  witnessed  the  ceremonies 
herein  referred  to.  Although  but  a  shadow  of  the  old  confed- 
eracy now  remains,  it  is  fully  organized  with  its  complement  of 
sachems  and  aids,  with  the  exception  of  the  Mohawk  tribe  which 
removed  to  Canada  about  1775.  Whenever  vacancies  occur  their 
places  are  filled,  and  a  general  council  is  convened  to  install  the 
new  sachems  and  their  aids.  The  present  Iroquois  are  also  per- 
fectly familiar  with  the  structure  and  principles  of  the  ancient 
confederacy. 

For  all  purposes  of  tribal  government  the  five  tribes  were 
independent  of  each  other.  Their  territories  were  separated  by 
fixed  boundary  lines,  and  their  tribal  interests  were  distinct.  The 
eight  Seneca  sachems,  in  conjunction  with  the  other  Seneca 
chiefs,  formed  the  council  of  the  tribe  by  which  its  affairs  were 
administered,  leaving  to  each  of  the  other  tribes  the  same  control 
over  their  separate  interests.  As  an  organization  the  tribe  was 
neither  weakened  nor  impaired  by  the  confederate  compact. 
Each  was  in  vigorous  life  within  its  appropriate  sphere,  presenting 
some  analogy  to  our  own  states  within  an  embracing  republic. 
It  is  worthy  of  remembrance  that  the  Iroquois  commended  to 
our  forefathers  a  union  of  the  colonies  similar  to  their  own  as 
early  as  1755.  They  saw  in  the  common  interests  and  common 
speech  of  the  several  colonies  the  elements  for  a  confederation, 
which  was  as  far  as  their  vision  was  able  to  penetrate. 

The  tribes  occupied  positions  of  entire  equality  in  the  con- 
federacy in  rights,  privileges,  and  obligations.  Such  special  im- 
munities as  were  granted  to  one  or  another  indicate  no  intention 
to  establish  an  unequal  compact,  or  to  concede  unequal  privileges. 
There  were  organic  provisions  apparently  investing  particular 
tribes  with  superior  power;  as,  for  example,  the  Onondagas 


8io  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

were  allowed  fourteen  sachems  and  the  Senecas  but  eight ; 
and  a  larger  body  of  sachems  would  naturally  exercise  a  stronger 
influence  in  council  than  a  smaller.  But  in  this  case  it  gave  no 
additional  power,  because  the  sachems  of  each  tribe  had  an 
equal  voice  in  forming  a  decision,  and  a  negative  upon  the  others. 
When  in  council  they  agreed  by  tribes,  and  unanimity  in  opinion 
was  essential  to  every  public  act.  The  Onondagas  were  made 
"Keepers  of  the  Wampum,"  and  "Keepers  of  the  Council  Brand," 
the  Mohawks,  "Receivers  of  Tribute"  from  subjugated  tribes, 
and  the  Senecas  "Keepers  of  the  Door"  of  the  Long  House. 
These  and  some  other  similar  provisions  were  made  for  the 
common  advantage. 

The  cohesive  principle  of  the  confederacy  did  not  spring  ex- 
clusively from  the  benefits  of  an  alliance  for  mutual  protection, 
but  had  a  deeper  foundation  in  the  bond  of  kin.  The  confederacy 
rested  upon  the  tribes  ostensibly,  but  primarily  upon  common 
gentes.  All  the  members  of  the  same  gens,  whether  Mohawks, 
Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  or  Senecas,  were  brothers  and 
sisters  to  each  other  in  virtue  of  their  descent  from  the  same 
common  ancestor;  and  they  recognized  each  other  as  such  with 
the  fullest  cordiality.  When  they  met  the  first  inquiry  was  the 
name  of  each  other's  gens,  and  next  the  immediate  pedigree  of 
their  respective  sachems ;  after  which  they  were  usually  able  to 
find,  under  their  peculiar  system  of  consanguinity,  the  relation- 
ship in  which  they  stood  to  each  other.  Three  of  the  gentes, 
namely,  the  Wolf,  Bear  and  Turtle,  were  common  to  the  first 
tribes ;  these  and  three  others  were  common  to  three  tribes. 
In  effect  the  Wolf  gens,  through  the  division  of  an  original 
tribe  into  five,  was  now  in  five  divisions,  one  of  which 
was  in  each  tribe.  It  was  the  same  with  the  Bear  and  the  Turtle 
gentes.  The  Deer,  Snipe  and  Hawk  gentes  were  common  to 
the  Senecas,  Cayugas  and  Onondagas.  Between  the  separated 
parts  of  each  gens,  although  its  members  spoke  different  dialects 
of  the  same  language,  there  existed  a  fraternal  connection  which 
linked  the  nations  together  with  indissoluble  bonds.  When  the 
Mohawk  of  the  Wolf  gens  recognized  an  Oneida,  Onondaga, 
Cayuga  or  Seneca  of  the  same  gens  as  a  brother,  and  when  the 
members  of  the  other  divided  gentes  did  the  same,  the  relation- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  811 

ship  was  not  ideal,  but  a  fact  founded  upon  consanguinity,  and 
upon  faith  in  an  assured  lineage  older  than  their  dialects  and 
coeval  with  their  unity  as  one  people.  In  the  estimation  of  an 
Iroquois  every  member  of  his  gens  in  whatever  tribe  was  as 
certainly  a  kinsman  as  an  own  brother.  This  cross-relationship 
between  persons  of  the  same  gens  in  the  different  tribes  is  still 
preserved  and  recognized  among  them  in  all  its  original  force. 
It  explains  the  tenacity  with  which  the  fragments  of  the  old 
confederacy  still  cling  together.  If  either  of  the  five  tribes  had 
seceded  from  the  confederacy  it  would  have  severed  the  bond  of 
kin,  although  this  would  have  been  felt  but  slightly.  But  had  they 
fallen  into  collision  it  would  have  turned  the  gens  of  the  Wolf 
against  their  gentile  kindred,  Bear  against  Bear,  in  a  word  brother 
against  brother.  The  history  of  the  Iroquois  demonstrates  the 
reality  as  well  as  persistency  of  the  bond  of  kin,  and  the  fidelity 
with  which  it  was  respected.  During  the  long  period  through 
which  the  confederacy  endured,  they  never  fell  into  anarchy, 
nor  ruptured  the  organization.  The  "Long  House"  (Ho-de'-no- 
sote)  was  made  the  symbol  of  the  confederacy;  and  they  styled 
themselves  the  "People  of  the  Long  House"  (Ho-de'-no-sau-nee}. 

The  valley  of  Onondaga;  as  the  seat  of  the  central  tribe,  and 
the  place  where  the  Council  Brand  was  supposed  to  be  perpetually 
burning,  was  the  usual  though  not  the  exclusive  place  for  holding 
the  councils  of  the  confederacy.  In  ancient  times  it  was  sum- 
moned to  convene  in  the  autumn  of  each  year;  but  public  exi- 
gencies often  rendered  its  meeting  more  frequent.  Each  tribe  had 
power  to  summon  the  council,  and  to  appoint  the  time  and  place 
of  meeting  at  the  council-house  of  either  tribe,  when  circum- 
stances rendered  a  change  from  the  usual  place  at  Onondaga 
desirable.  But  the  council  had  no  power  to  convene  itself. 

Originally  the  principal  object  of  the  council  was  to  raise  up 
sachems  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  ranks  of  the  ruling  body  occa- 
sioned by  death  or  deposition ;  but  it  transacted  all  other  business 
which  concerned  the  common  welfare.  In  course  of  time,  as  they 
multiplied  in  numbers  and  their  intercourse  with  foreign  tribes 
became  more  extended,  the  council  fell  into  three  distinct  kinds, 
which  may  be  distinguished  as  Civil,  Mourning  and  Religious. 


8i2  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

The  first  declared  war  and  made  peace,  sent  and  received  em- 
bassies, entered  into  treaties  with  foreign  tribes,  regulated  the 
affairs  of  subjugated  tribes,  and  took  all  needful  measures  to 
promote  the  general  welfare.  The  second  raised  up  sachems  and 
invested  them  with  office.  It  received  the  name  of  Mourning 
Council  because  the  first  of  its  ceremonies  was  the  lament  for 
the  deceased  ruler  whose  vacant  place  was  to  be  filled.  The  third 
was  held  for  the  observance  of  a  general  religious  festival.  It 
was  made  an  occasion  for  the  confederated  tribes  to  unite  under 
the  auspices  of  a  general  council  in  the  observance  of  general 
religious  rites.  But  as  the  Mourning  Council  was  attended  with 
many  of  the  same  ceremonies  it  came,  in  time,  to  answer  for  both. 
It  is  now  the  only  council  they  hold,  as  the  civil  powers  of  the 
confederacy  terminated  with  the  supremacy  over  them  of  the 
state. 

Invoking  the  patience  of  the  reader,  it  is  necessary  to  enter 
into  some  details  with  respect  to  the  mode  of  transacting  busi- 
ness at  the  Civil  and  Mourning  Councils.  In  no  other  way  can 
the  archaic  condition  of  society  under  gentile  institutions  be  so 
readily  illustrated. 

If  an  overture  was  made  to  the  confederacy  by  a  foreign 
tribe,  it  might  be  done  through  either  of  the  five  tribes.  It 
was  the  prerogative  of  the  council  of  the  tribe  addressed  to  de- 
termine whether  the  affair  was  of  sufficient  importance  to  require 
a  council  of  the  confederacy.  After  reaching  an  affirmative  con- 
clusion, a  herald  was  sent  to  the  nearest  tribes  in  position,  on  the 
east  and  on  the  west,  with  a  belt  of  wampum,  which  contained 
a  message  to  the  effect  that  a  civil  council  (Ho-de-os'-sek)  would 
meet  at  such  a  place  and  time,  and  for  such  an  object,  each  of 
which  was  specified.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  tribe  receiving  the 
message  to  forward  it  to  the  tribe  next  in  position,  until  the  noti- 
fication was  made  complete.1  No  council  ever  assembled  unless 
it  was  summoned  under  the  prescribed  forms. 

*A  civil  council,  which  might  be  called  by  either  nation,  was  usually 
summoned  and  opened  in  the  following  manner :  If,  for  example,  the 
Onondagas  made  the  call,  they  would  send  heralds  to  the  Oneidas  on  the 
east,  and  the  Cayugas  on  the  west  of  them,  with  belts  containing  an  invita- 
tion to  meet  at  the  Onondaga  council-grove  on  such  a  day  of  such  a  moon, 
for  purposes  which  were  also  named.  It  would  then  become  the  duty  of  the 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  813 

When  the  sachems  met  in  council,  at  the  time  and  place 
appointed,  and  the  usual  reception  ceremony  had  been  performed, 
they  arranged  themselves  in  two  divisions  and  seated  them- 
selves upon  opposite  sides  of  the  council-fire.  Upon  one  side 
were  the  Mohawk,  Onondaga,  and  Seneca  sachems.  The  tribes 
they  represented  were,  when  in  council,  brother  tribes  to  each 
other  and  father  tribes  to  the  other  two.  In  like  manner  their 
sachems  were  brothers  to  each  other  and  fathers  to  those 
opposite.  They  constituted  a  phratry  of  tribes  and  of  sachems,  by 
an  extension  of  the  principle  which  united  gentes  in  a  phratry. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  fire  were  the  Oneida  and  Cayuga, 
and,  at  a  latter  day,  the  Tuscarora  sachems.  The  tribes  they  rep- 
resented were  brother  tribes  to  each  other,  and  son  tribes  to  the 
opposite  three.  Their  sachems  also  were  brothers  to  each  other, 

Cayugas  to  send  the  same  notification  to  the  Senecas,  and  of  the  Oneidas  to 
notify  the  Mohawks.  If  the  council  was  to  meet  for  peaceful  purposes,  then 
each  sachem  was  to  bring  with  him  a  bundle  of  fagots  of  white  cedar,  typical 
of  peace ;  if  for  warlike  objects  then  the  fagots  were  to  be  of  red  cedar, 
emblematical  of  war. 

At  the  day  appointed  the  sachems  of  the  several  nations,  with  their 
followers,  who  usually  arrived  a  day  or  two  before  and  remained  encamped 
at  a  distance,  were  received  in  a  formal  manner  by  the  Onondaga  sachems 
at  the  rising  of  the  sun.  They  marched  in  separate  processions  from  their 
camps  to  the  council-grove,  each  bearing  his  skin  robe  and  bundle  of  fagots, 
where  the  Onondaga  sachems  awaited  them  with  a  concourse  of  people.  The 
sachems  then  formed  themselves  into  a  circle,  an  Onondaga  sachem,  who  by 
appointment  acted  as  master  of  the  ceremonies,  occupying  the  side  toward 
the  rising  sun.  At  a  signal  they  marched  round  the  circle  moving  by  the 
north.  It  may  be  here  observed  that  the  rim  of  the  circle  toward  the  north 
is  called  the  "cold  side,"  (o-to'-wa-ga)  ;  that  on  the  west  "the  side  toward 
the  setting  sun,"  (he-ga-kwas'-gwa) ;  that  on  the  south  "the  side  of  the  high 
sun,"  (en-de-ih'-kwa) ;  and  that  on  the  east  "the  side  of  the  rising  sun," 
(t'-ka-grit-kas'-gwa).  After  marching  three  times  around  on  the  circle  single 
file,  the  head  and  foot  of  the  column  being  joined,  the  leader  stopped  on 
the  .rising  sun  side,  and  deposited  before  him  his  bundle  of  fagots.  In 
this  he  was  followed  by  the  others,  one  at  a  time,  followed  by  the  north, 
thus  forming  an  inner  circle  of  fagots.  After  this  each  sachem  spread  his 
skin  robe  in  the  same  order,  and  sat  down  upon  it,  cross-legged,  behind 
his  bundle  of  fagots,  with  his  assistant  sachem  standing  behind  him.  The 
master  of  the  ceremonies,  after  a  moment's  pause,  arose,  drew  from  his 
pouch  two  pieces  of  dry  wood  and  a  piece  of  punk  with  which  he  proceeded 
to  strike  fire  by  friction.  When  fire  was  thus  obtained,  he  stepped  within 


814  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  sons  of  those  in  the  opposite  division.  They  formed  a 
second  tribal  phratry.  As  the  Oneidas  were  a  subdivision  of 
the  Mohawks,  and  the  Cayugas  a  subdivision  of  the  Onondagas 
or  Senecas,  they  were  in  reality  junior  tribes;  whence  their  rela- 
tion of  seniors  and  juniors,  and  the  application  of  the  phratric 
principle.  When  the  tribes  are  named  in  council  the  Mohawks 
by  precedence  are  mentioned  first.  Their  tribal  epithet  was  "The 
Shield"  (Da-ga-e-o'-da).  The  Onondagas  came  next  under  the 
epithet  of  "Name- Bearer"  (Ho-de-san-na'-ge-td),  because  they 
had  been  appointed  to  select  and  name  the  fifty  original  sachems.2 
Next  in  order  of  precedence  were  the  Senecas,  under  the  epithet 
of  "Door-Keeper"  (Ho-nan-ne-ho'-ont).  They  were  made  per- 
petual keepers  of  the  western  door  of  the  Long  House.  The 

the  ^circle  and  set  fire  to  his  own  bundle,  and  then  to  each  of  the  others  in 
the  order  in  which  they  were  laid.  When  they  were  well  ignited,  and  at  a 
signal  from  the  master  of  the  ceremonies,  the  sachems  arose  and  marched 
three  times  around  the  Burning  Circle,  going  as  before  by  the  north.  Each 
turned  from  time  to  time  as  he  walked,  so  as  to  expose  all  sides  of  his 
person  to  the  warming  influence  of  the  fires.  This  typified  that  they  warmed 
their  affections  for  each  other  in  order  that  they  might  transact  the  business 
of  the  council  in  friendship  and  unity.  They  then  reseated  themselves  each 
upon  his  own  robe.  After  this  the  master  of  the  ceremonies  again  rising  to 
his  feet,  filled  and  lighted  the  pipe  of  peace  from  his  own  fire.  Drawing 
three  whiffs,  one  after  the  other,  he  blew  the  first  toward  the  zenith,  the 
second  toward  the  ground,  and  the  third  toward  the  sun.  By  the  first  act 
he  returned  thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  the  preservation  of  his  life  during 
the  past  year,  and  for  being  permitted  to  be  present  at  this  council.  By  the 
second,  he  returned  thanks  to  his  Mother,  the  Earth,  for  her  various  pro- 
ductions which  had  ministered  to  his  sustenance.  And  by  the  third,  he 
returned  thanks  to  the  Sun  for  his  never-failing  light,  ever  shining  upon  all. 
These  words  were  not  repeated,  but  such  is  the  purport  of  the  acts  them- 
selves. He  then  passed  the  pipe  to  the  first  upon  his  right  toward  the  north, 
who  repeated  the  same  ceremonies,  and  then  passed  it  to  the  next,  and  so 
on  around  the  burning  circle.  The  ceremony  of  smoking  the  calumet  also 
signified  that  they  pledged  to  each  other  their  faith,  their  friendship,  and 
their  honor. 

These  ceremonies  completed  the  opening  of  the  council,  which  was  then 
declared  to  be  ready  for  the  business  upon  which  it  had  been  convened. 

"Tradition  declares  that  the  Onondagas  deputed  a  wise-man  to  visit  the 
territories  of  the  tribes  and  select  and  name  the  new  sachems  as  circum- 
stances should  prompt :  which  explains  the  unequal  distribution  of  the 
office  among  the  several  gentes. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  815 

Oneidas,  under  the  epithet  of  "Great  Tree"  (Ne-ar'-de-on-dar'- 
go-war),  and  the  Cayugas,  under  that  of  "Great  Pipe"  (So-tius'- 
ho-gwar-to-war) ,  were  named  fourth  and  fifth.  The  Tusca- 
roras,  who  came  late  into  the  confederacy,  were  named  last, 
and  had  no  distinguishing  epithet.  Forms,  such  as  these,  were 
more  important  in  ancient  society  than  we  would  be  apt  to 
suppose. 

It  was  customary  for  the  foreign  tribe  to  be  represented  at 
the  council  by  a  delegation  of  wise-men  and  chiefs,  who  bore 
their  proposition  and  presented  it  in  person.  After  the  council 
was  formally  opened  and  the  delegation  introduced,  one  of  the 
sachems  made  a  short  address,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
thanked  the  Great  Spirit  for  sparing  their  lives  and  permitting 
them  to  meet  together;  after  which  he  informed  the  delegation 
that  the  council  was  prepared  to  hear  from  them  upon  the 
affair  for  which  it  had  convened.  One  of  the  delegates  then 
submitted  their  proposition  in  form,  and  sustained  it  by  such 
arguments  as  he  was  able  to  make.  Careful  attention  was  given 
by  the  members  of  the  council  that  they  might  clearly  compre- 
hend the  matter  in  hand.  After  the  address  was  concluded, 
the  delegation  withdrew  from  the  council  to  await  at  a  distance 
the  result  of  its  deliberations.  It  then  became  the  duty  of  the 
sachems  to  agree  upon  an  answer,  which  was  reached  through  the 
ordinary  routine  of  debate  and  consultation.  When  a  decision 
had  been  made,  a  speaker  was  appointed  to  communicate  the 
answer  of  the  council,  to  receive  which  the  delegation  were  re- 
called. The  speaker  was  usually  chosen  from  the  tribe  at  whose 
instance  the  council  had  been  convened.  It  was  customary  for 
him  to  review  the  whole  subject  in  a  formal  speech,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  acceptance,  in  whole  or  in  part,  or  the  re- 
jection of  the  proposition  were  announced  with  the  reasons 
therefor.  Where  an  agreement  was  entered  upon,  belts  of  wam- 
pum were  exchanged  as  evidence  of  its  terms.  With  these  pro- 
ceedings the  council  terminated. 

"This  belt  preserves  my  words"  was  a  common  remark  of 
an  Iroquois  chief  in  council.  He  then  delivered  the  belt  as 
the  evidence  of  what  he  had  said.  Several  such  belts  would  be 
given  in  the  course  of  a  negotiation  to  the  opposite  party.  In 


816  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

the  reply  of  the  latter  a  belt  would  be  returned  for  each  propo- 
sition accepted.  The  Iroquois  experienced  the  necessity  for 
an  exact  record  of  some  kind  of  a  proposition  involving  their 
faith  and  honor  in  its  execution,  and  they  devised  this  method 
to  place  it  beyond  dispute. 

Unanimity  among  the  sachems  was  required  upon  all  public 
questions,  and  essential  to  the  validity  of  every  public  act.  It 
was  a  fundamental  law  of  the  confederacy.3  They  adopted  a 
method  for  ascertaining  the  opinions  of  the  members  of  the 
council  which  dispensed  with  the  necessity  of  casting  votes. 
Moreover,  they  were  entirely  unacquainted  with  the  principle  of 
majorities  and  minorities  in  the  action  of  councils.  They  voted 
in  council  by  tribes,  and  the  sachems  of  each  tribe  were  required 
to  be  of  one  mind  to  form  a  decision.  Recognizing  unanimity 
as  a  necessary  principle,  the  founders  of  the  confederacy  divided 
the  sachems  of  each  tribe  into  classes  as  a  means  for  its  attain- 
ment. [Morgan  illustrates  this  division  by  a  table,  page  130.] 
No  sachem  was  allowed  to  express  an  opinion  in  council  in  the 
nature  of  a  vote  until  he  had  first  agreed  with  the  sachem  or 
sachems  of  his  class  upon  the  opinion  to  be  expressed,  and  had 
been  appointed  to  act  as  speaker  for  the  class.  Thus  the  eight 
Seneca  sachems  being  in  four  classes  could  have  but  four  opin- 
ions, and  the  ten  Cayuga  sachems,  being  in  the  same  number  of 
classes,  could  have  but  four.  In  this  manner  the  sachems  in 
each  class  were  first  brought  to  unanimity  among  themselves. 
A  cross-consultation  was  then  held  between  the  four  sachems 
appointed  to  speak  for  the  four  classes;  and  when  they  had 
agreed,  they  designated  one  of  their  number  to  express  their 
resulting  opinion,  which  was  the  answer  of  their  tribe.  When  the 
sachems  of  the  several  tribes  had,  by  this  ingenious  method,  be- 

3  At  the  beginning  of  the  American  revolution  the  Iroquois  were  unable 
to  agree  upon  a  declaration  of  war  against  our  confederacy  for  want  of 
unanimity  in  council.  A  number  of  the  Oneida  sachems  resisted  the  propo- 
sition and  finally  refused  their  consent.  As  neutrality  was  impossible  with 
the  Mohawks  and  the  Senecas  were  determined  to  fight,  it  was  resolved 
that  each  tribe  might  engage  in  the  war  upon  its  own  responsibility,  or 
remain  neutral.  The  war  against  the  Eries,  against  the  Neutral  Nation  and 
Susquehannocks,  and  the  several  wars  against  the  French,  were  resolved 
upon  in  general  council.  Our  colonial  records  are  largely  filled  with  negotia- 
tions with  the  Iroquois  confederacy. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  817 

come  of  one  mind  separately,  it  remained  to  compare  their  sev- 
eral opinions,  and  if  they  agreed  the  decision  of  the  council 
was  made.  If  they  failed  of  agreement  the  measure  was  de- 
feated, and  the  council  was  at  an  end.  The  five  persons  appointed 
to  express  the  decision  of  the  five  tribes  may  possibly  explain 
the  appointment  and  the  functions  of  the  six  electors,  so  called,  in 
the  Aztec  confederacy,  which  will  be  noticed  elsewhere. 

By  this  method  of  gaining  assent  the  equality  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  several  tribes  were  recognized  and  preserved. 
If  any  sachem  was  obdurate  or  unreasonable,  influences  were 
brought  to  bear  upon  him,  through  the  preponderating  senti- 
ment, which  he  could  not  well  resist;  so  that  it  seldom  hap- 
pened that  inconvenience  or  detriment  resulted  from  their  ad- 
herence to  the  rule.  Whenever  all  efforts  to  procure  unanim- 
ity had  failed,  the  whole  matter  was  laid  aside  because  further 
action  had  become  impossible. 

The  induction  of  new  sachems  into  office  was  an  event  of 
great  interest  to  the  people,  and  not  less  to  the  sachems  who  re- 
tained thereby  some  control  over  the  introduction  of  new  mem- 
bers into  their  body.  To  perform  the  ceremony  of  raising  up 
sachems  the  general  council  was  primarily  instituted.  It  was 
named  at  the  time,  or  came  afterwards  to  be  called,  the  Mourning 
Council  (Hen-nun-du-nuh'-seh,)  because  it  embraced  the  twofold 
object  of  lamenting  the  death  of  the  departed  sachem  and  of  in- 
stalling his  successor.  Upon  the  death  of  a  sachem,  the  tribe  in 
which  the  loss  had  occurred  had  power  to  summon  a  general 
council,  and  to  name  the  time  and  place  of  its  meeting.  A 
herald  was  sent  out  with  a  belt  of  wampum,  usually  the  official 
belt  of  the  deceased  sachem  given  to  him  at  his  installation, 
which  conveyed  this  laconic  message; — "the  name"  (mentioning 
that  of  the  late  ruler)  "calls  for  a  council."  It  also  announced 
the  day  and  place  of  convocation.  In  some  cases  the  official 
belt  of  the  sachem  was  sent  to  the  central  council-fire  at  Onon- 
daga  immediately  after  his  burial,  as  a  notification  of  his  demise, 
and  the  time  for  holding  the  council  was  determined  afterwards. 

The  Mourning  Council,  with  the  festivities  which  followed 
the  investiture  of  sachems  possessed  remarkable  attractions  for 
the  Iroquois.  They  flocked  to  its  attendance  from  the  most  dis- 


8i8  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

tant  localities  with  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  It  was  opened  and 
conducted  with  many  forms  and  ceremonies,  and  usually  lasted 
five  days.  The  first  was  devoted  to  the  prescribed  ceremony 
of  lamentations  for  the  deceased  sachem,  which,  as  a  religious 
act,  commenced  at  the  rising  of  the  sun.  At  this  time  the  sachems 
of  the  tribe,  with  whom  the  council  was  held,  marched  out  fol- 
lowed by  their  tribesmen,  to  receive  formally  the  sachems  and 
people  of  the  other  tribes,  who  had  arrived  before  and  remained 
encamped  at  some  distance  waiting  for  the  appointed  day.  After 
exchanging  greetings,  a  procession  was  formed  and  the  lament 
was  chanted  in  verse,  with  responses,  by  the  united  tribes,  as 
they  marched  from  the  place  of  reception  to  the  place  of  council. 
The  lament,  with  the  responses  in  chorus,  was  a  tribute  of  re- 
spect to  the  memory  of  the  departed  sachem,  in  which  not  only  his 
gens,  but  his  tribe,  and  the  confederacy  itself  participated.  It 
was  certainly  a  more  delicate  testimonial  of  respect  and  affection 
than  would  have  been  expected  from  a  barbarous  people.  This 
ceremonial,  with  the  opening  of  the  council,  concluded  the  first 
day's  proceedings.  On  the  second  day,  the  installation  ceremony 
commenced,  and  it  usually  lasted  into  the  fourth.  The  sachems 
of  the  several  tribes  seated  themselves  in  two  divisions,  as  at 
the  civil  council.  When  the  sachem  to  be  raised  up  belonged  to 
either  of  the  three  senior  tribes  the  ceremony  was  performed 
by  the  sachems  of  the  junior  tribes,  and  the  new  sachem  was  in- 
stalled as  a  father.  In  like  manner,  if  he  belonged  to  either  of 
the  three  junior  tribes  the  ceremony  was  performed  by  the 
sachems  of  the  senior  tribes,  and  the  new  sachem  was  installed 
as  a  son.  These  special  circumstances  are  mentioned  to  show 
the  peculiar  character  of  their  social  and  governmental  life. 
To  the  Iroqnois  these  forms  and  figures  of  speech  were  full  of 
significance. 

Among  other  things,  the  ancient  wampum  belts,  into  which 
the  structure  and  principles  of  the  confederacy  "had  been  talked," 
to  use  their  expression,  were  produced  and  read  or  interpreted 
for  the  instruction  of  the  newly  inducted  sachem.  A  wise-man, 
not  necessarily  one  of  the  sachems,  took  these  belts  one  after  the 
other  and  walking  to  and  fro  between  the  two  divisions  of 
sachems,  read  from  them  the  facts  which  they  recorded.  Ac- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  819 

cording  to  the  Indian  conception,  these  belts  can  tell  by  means 
of  an  interpreter,  the  exact  rule,  provision  of  transaction 
talked  into  them  at  the  time,  and  of  which  they  were  the  ex- 
clusive record.  A  strand  of  wampum  consisting  of  strings  of 
purple  and  white  shell  beads,  or  a  belt  woven  with  figures  formed 
by  beads  of  different  colors,  operated  on  the  principle  of  asso- 
ciating a  particular  fact  with  a  particular  string  or  figure;  thus 
giving  a  serial  arrangement  to  the  facts  as  well  as  fidelity  to  the 
memory.  These  strands  and  belts  of  wampum  were  the  only 
visible  records  of  the  Iroquois;  but  they  required  those  trained 
interpreters  who  could  draw  from  their  strings  and  figures 
the  records  locked  up  in  their  remembrance.  One  of  the  Onon- 
daga  sachems  (Ho-no-ive-n&'-to)  was  made  "Keeper  of  the  Wam- 
pum," and  two  aids  were  raised  up  with  him  who  were  required 
to  be  versed  in  its  interpretation  as  well  as  the  sachem.  The 
interpretation  of  these  several  belts  and  strings  brought  out, 
in  the  address  of  the  wise-man,  a  connected  account  of  the  oc- 
currences at  the  formation  of  the  confederacy.  The  tradition 
was  repeated  in  full,  and  fortified  in  its  essential  parts  by  ref- 
erence to  the  record  contained  in  these  belts.  Thus  the  council 
to  raise  up  sachems  became  a  teaching  council,  which  maintained 
in  perpetual  freshness  in  the  minds  of  the  Iroquois  the  structure 
and  principles  of  the  confederacy,  as  well  as  the  history  of  its 
formation.  These  proceedings  occupied  the  council  until  noon 
each  day;  the  afternoon  being  devoted  to  games  and  amuse- 
ments. At  twilight  each  day  a  dinner  in  common  was  served 
to  the  entire  body  in  attendance.  It  consisted  of  soup  and  boiled 
meat  cooked  near  the  council-house,  and  served  directly  from 
the  kettle  in  wooden  bowls,  trays,  and  ladles.  Grace  was  said 
before  the  feast  commenced.  It  was  a  prolonged  exclamation 
by  a  single  person  on  a  high  shrill  note,  falling  down  in  ca- 
dences into  stillness,  followed  by  a  response  in  chorus  by  the 
people.  The  evenings  were  devoted  to  the  dance.  With  these 
ceremonies,  continued  for  several  days,  and  with  the  festivities 
that  followed,  their  sachems  were  inducted  into  office. 

By  investing  their  sachems  with  office  through  a  general 
council,  the  framers  of  the  confederacy  had  in  view  the  three- 
fold object  of  a  perpetual  succession  in  the  gens,  the  benefits 


820  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

of  a  free  election  among  its  members,  and  a  final  supervision  of 
the  choice  through  the  ceremony  of  investiture.  To  render  the 
latter  effective  it  should  carry  with  it  the  power  to  reject  the 
nominee.  Whether  the  right  to  invest  was  purely  functional, 
or  carried  with  it  the  right  to  exclude,  I  am  unable  to  state. 
No  case  of  rejection  is  mentioned.  The  scheme  adopted  by  the 
Iroquois  to  maintain  a  ruling  body  of  sachems  may  claim,  in 
several  respects,  the  merit  of  originality,  as  well  as  of  adapta- 
tion to  their  condition.  In  form  an  oligarchy,  taking  this  term 
in  its  best  sense,  it  was  yet  a  representative  democracy  of  the 
archaic  type.  A  powerful  popular  element  pervaded  the  whole 
organism  and  influenced  its  action.  It  is  seen  in  the  right  of 
the  gentes  to  elect  and  depose  their  sachems  and  chiefs,  in  the 
right  of  the  people  to  be  heard  in  council  through  orators  of 
their  own  selection,  and  in  the  voluntary  system  in  the  military 
service.  In  this  and  the  next  succeeding  ethnical  period  demo- 
cratic principles  were  the  vital  element  of  gentile  society. 

The  Iroquois  name  for  a  sachem  (Ho-yar-na-go'-zvar),  which 
signifies  "a  counselor  of  the  people,"  was  singularly  appropriate 
to  a  ruler  in  a  species  of  free  democracy.  It  not  only  defines 
the  office  well,  but  it  also  suggests  the  analogous  designation  of 
the  members  of  the  Grecian  council  of  chiefs.  The  Grecian 
chiefs  were  styled  "councilors  of  the  people."  From  the  nature 
and  tenure  of  the  office  among  the  Iroquois  the  sachems  were  not 
masters  ruling  by  independent  right,  but  representatives  holding 
from  the  gentes  by  free  election.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  an 
office  which  originated  in  savagery,  and  continued  through  the 
three  sub-periods  of  barbarism,  should  reveal  so  much  of  its 
archaic  character  among  the  Greeks  after  the  gentile  organiza- 
tion had  carried  this  portion  of  the  human  family  to  the  confines 
of  civilization.  It  shows  further  how  deeply  inwrought  in  the 
human  mind  the  principle  of  democracy  had  become  under 
gentilism. 

The  designation  for  a  chief  of  the  second  grade,  Ha-sa-no- 
w'd'-na,  "an  elevated  name,"  indicates  an  appreciation  by  bar- 
barians of  the  ordinary  motives  for  personal  ambition.  It  also 
reveals  the  sameness  of  the  nature  of  man,  whether  high  up  or 
low  down  upon  the  rounds  of  the  ladder  of  progress.  The 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  821 

celebrated  orators,  wise-men  and  war-chiefs  of  the  Iroquois 
were  chiefs  of  the  second  grade  almost  without  exception.  One 
reason  for  this  may  be  found  in  the  organic  provision  which 
confined  the  duties  of  the  sachem  to  the  affairs  of  peace.  An- 
other may  have  been  to  exclude  from  the  ruling  body  their 
ablest  men,  lest  their  ambitious  aims  should  disturb  its. action. 
As  the  office  of  chief  was  bestowed  in  reward  of  merit,  it  fell 
necessarily  upon  their  ablest  men.  Red- Jacket,  Brandt,  Garan- 
gula,  Cornplanter,  Farmer's  Brother,  Frost,  Johnson,  and  other 
well  known  Iroquois,  were  chiefs  as  distinguished  from  sachems. 
None  of  the  long  lines  of  sachems  have  become  distinguished  in 
American  annals,  with  the  exception  of  Logan,  Handsome  Lake, 
and  at  a  recent  day,  Ely  S.  Parker.  The  remainder  have  left  no 
remembrance  behind  them  extending  beyond  the  Iroquois. 

At  the  time  the  confederacy  was  formed  To-do-d'd'-ho  was 
the  most  prominent  and  influential  of  the  Onondaga  chiefs.  His 
accession  to  the  plan  of  a  confederacy,  in  which  he  would  ex- 
perience a  diminution  of  power,  was  regarded  as  highly  meri- 
torious. He  was  raised  up  as  one  of  the  Onondaga  sachems  and 
his  name  placed  first  in  the  list.  Two  assistant  sachems  were 
raised  up  with  him  to  act  as  his  aids  and  to  stand  behind  him 
on  public  occasions.  Thus  dignified,  this  sachemship  has  since 
been  regarded  by  the  Iroquois  as  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
forty-eight,  from  the  services  rendered  by  the  first  To-do-d'd'-ho. 
The  circumstance  was  early  seized  upon  by  the  inquisitive  col- 
onists to  advance  the  person  who  held  this  office  to  the  position 
of  king  of  the  Iroquois ;  but  the  misconception  was  refuted,  and 
the  institutions  of  the  Iroquois  were  relieved  of  the  burden  of 
an  impossible  feature.  In  the  general  council  he  sat  among  his 
equals.  The  confederacy  had  no  chief  executive  magistrate. 

Under  a  confederacy  of  tribes  the  office  of  general  (Hos- 
ga-a-geh'-da-go-wa) ,  "Great  War  Soldier,"  makes  its  first  appear- 
ance. Cases  would  now  arise  when  the  several  tribes  in  their 
confederate  capacity  would  be  engaged  in  war;  and  the  neces- 
sity for  a  general  commander  to  direct  the  movements  of  the 
united  bands  would  be  felt.  The  introduction  of  this  office  as 
a  permanent  feature  in  the  government  was  a  great  event  in 
the  history  of  human  progress.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  dif- 


822  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

ferentiation  of  the  military  from  the  civil  power,  which,  when 
completed,  changed  essentially  the  external  manifestation  of  the 
government.  But  even  in  later  stages  of  progress,  when  the 
military  spirit  predominated,  the  essential  character  of  the  gov- 
ernment was  not  changed.  Gentilism  arrested  usurpation.  With 
the  rise  of  the  office  of  general,  the  government  was  gradually 
changed  from  a  government  of 'one  power,  into  a  government  of 
two  powers.  The  functions  of  government  became,  in  course  of 
time,  co-ordinated  between  the  two.  This  new  office  was  the 
germ  of  that  of  a  chief  executive  magistrate ;  for  out  of  the  gen- 
eral came  the  king,  the  emperor,  and  the  president,  as  elsewhere 
suggested.  The  office  sprang  from  the  military  necessities  of 
society,  and  had  a  logical  development.  For  this  reason  its  first 
appearance  and  subsequent  growth  have  an  important  place  in 
this  discussion.  In  the  course  of  this  volume  I  shall  attempt  to 
trace  the  progressive  development  of  this  office,  from  the  Great 
War  Soldier  of  the  Iroquois  through  the  Teutcli  of  the  Aztecs,  to 
the  Basileus  of  the  Grecian  and  the  Rex  of  the  Roman  tribes ; 
among  all  of  whom,  through  three  successive  ethnical  periods, 
the  office  was  the  same,  namely,  that  of  a  general  in  a  military 
democracy.  Among  the  Iroquois,  the  Aztecs,  and  the  Romans 
the  office  was  elective,  or  confirmative,  by  a  constituency.  Pre- 
sumptively, it  was  the  same  among  the  Greeks  of  the  traditionary 
period.  It  is  claimed  that  the  office  of  basileus  among  the  Gre- 
cian tribes  in  the  Homeric  period  was  hereditary  from  father 
to  son.  This  is  at  least  doubtful.  It  is  such  a  wide  and  total 
departure  from  the  original  tenure  of  the  office  as  to  require 
positive  evidence  to  establish  the  fact.  An  election,  or  con- 
firmation by  a  constituency,  would  still  be  necessary  under  gentile 
institutions.  If  in  numerous  instances  it  were  known  that 
the  office  had  passed  from  father  to  son  this  might  have  sug- 
gested the  inference  of  hereditary  succession,  now  adopted  as 
historically  true,  while  succession  in  this  form  did  not  exist. 
Unfortunately,  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  organization  and 
usages  of  society  in  the  traditionary  period  is  altogether  want- 
ing. Great  principles  of  human  action  furnish  the  safest  guide 
when  their  operation  must  have  been  necessary.  It  is  far  more 
probable  that  hereditary  succession,  when  it  first  came  in,  was 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  823 

established  by  force,  than  by  the  free  consent  of  the  people; 
and  that  it  did  not  exist  among  the  Grecian  tribes  in  the  Homeric 
period. 

When  the  Iroquois  confederacy  was  formed,  or  soon  after  that 
event,  two  permanent  war-chief  ships  were  created  and  named, 
and  both  were  assigned  to  the  Seneca  tribe.  One  of  them 
(Ta-wan'-ne-ars,  signifying  needle-breaker)  was  made  hereditary 
in  the  Wolf,  and  the  other  (So-no'-so-wd,  signifying  great  oyster 
shell)  in  the  Turtle  gens.  The  reason  assigned  for  giving  them 
both  to  the  Senecas  was  the  greater  danger  of  attack  at  the  west 
end  of  their  territories.  They  were  elected  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  sachems,  were  raised  up  by  a  general  council,  and  were 
equal  in  rank  and  power.  Another  account  states  that  they 
were  created  later.  They  discovered  immediately  after  the  con- 
federacy was  formed  that  the  structure  of  the  Long  House  was 
incomplete  because  there  were  no  officers  to  execute  the  military 
commands  of  the  confederacy.  A  council  was  convened  to 
remedy  the  omission,  which  established  the  two  perpetual  war- 
chiefs  named.  As  general  commanders  they  had  charge  of  the 
military  affairs  of  the  confederacy,  and  the  command  of  its  joint 
forces  when  united  in  a  general  expedition.  Governor  Black- 
snake,  recently  deceased,  held  the  office  first  named,  thus  showing 
that  the  succession  has  been  regularly  maintained.  The  creation 
of  two  principal  war-chiefs  instead  of  one,  and  with  equal  powers, 
argues  a  subtle  and  calculating  policy  to  prevent  the  domination 
of  a  single  man  even  in  their  military  affairs.  They  did  without 
experience  precisely  as  the  Romans  did  in  creating  two  consuls 
instead  of  one,  after  they  had  abolished  the  office  of  rex.  Two 
consuls  would  balance  the  military  power  between  them,  and 
prevent  either  from  becoming  supreme.  Among  the  Iroquois 

this  office  never  became  influential — LEWIS  H.  MORGAN, 

Ancient  Society,  124-48.   (Copyright  by  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  1877.) 

WYANDOT  GOVERNMENT 

In  the  social  organization  of  the  Wyandots  four  groups  are 
recognized — the  family,  the  gens,  the  phratry,  and  the  tribe. 

The  family,  as  the  term  is  here  used,  is  nearly  synonymous 
with  the  household.  It  is  composed  of  the  persons  who  occupy 


824  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

one  lodge,  or,  in  their  permanent  wigwams,  one  section  of  a  com- 
munal dwelling.  These  permanent  dwellings  are  constructed  in 
an  oblong  form,  of  poles  interwoven  with  bark.  The  fire  is 
placed  in  line  along  the  center,  and  is  usually  built  for  two  fam- 
ilies, one  occupying  the  place  on  each  side  of  the  fire.  The  head 
of  the  family  is  a  woman. 

The  gens  is  an  organized  body  of  consanguineal  kindred  in 
the  female  line.  "The  woman  carries  the  gens,"  is  the  formulated 
statement  by  which  a  Wyandot  expresses  the  idea  that  descent  is 
in  the  female  line.  Each  gens  has  the  name  of  some  animal,  the 
ancient  of  such  animal  being  its  tutelar  god.  Up  to  the  time  that 
the  tribe  left  Ohio,  eleven  gentes  were  recognized,  as  follows : 

Deer,  Bear,  Highland  Turtle  (striped),  Highland  Turtle 
(black),  Mud  Turtle,  Smooth  Large  Turtle,  Hawk,  Beaver,  Wolf, 
Sea  Snake,  and  Porcupine. 

In  speaking  of  an  individual  he  is  said  to  be  a  wolf,  a  bear, 
or  a  deer  as  the  case  may  be,  meaning  thereby  that  he  belongs 
to  that  gens ;  but  in  speaking  of  the  body  of  people  comprising  a 
gens,  they  are  said  to  be  relatives  of  the  wolf,  the  bear,  or  the 
deer,  as  the  case  may  be. 

There  is  a  body  of  names  belonging  to  each  gens,  so  that  each 
person's  name  indicates  the  gens  to  which  he  belongs.  These 
names  are  derived  from  the  characteristics,  habits,  attitudes,  or 
mythologic  stories  connected  with  the  tutelar  god. 

There  are  four  phratries  in  the  tribe,  the  three  gentes  Bear, 
Deer,  and  Striped  Turtle  constituting  the  first;  the  Highland 
Turtle,  Black  Turtle,  and  Smooth  Large  Turtle  the  second;  the 
Hawk,  Beaver,  and  Wolf  the  third,  and  the  Sea  Snake  and  Porcu- 
pine the  fourth. 

This  unit  in  their  organization  has  a  mythologic  basis,  and 
is  chiefly  used  for  religious  purposes,  in  the  preparation  of  medi- 
cines, and  in  festivals  and  games. 

The  eleven  gentes,  as  four  phratries,  constitute  the  tribe. 

Each  gens  is  a  body  of  consanguineal  kindred  in  the  female 
line,  and  each  gens  is  allied  to  other  gentes  by  consanguineal  kin- 
ship through  the  male  line,  and  by  affinity  through  marriage. 

To  be  a  member  of  a  tribe  it  is  necessary  to  be  a  member  of 
a  gens ;  to  be  a  member  of  a  gens  it  is  necessary  to  belong  to  some 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  825 

family;  and  to  belong  to  a  family  a  person  must  have  been  born 
in  the  family  so  that  his  kinship  is  recognized,  or  he  must  be 
adopted  into  a  family  and  become  a  son,  brother,  or  some  definite 
relative ;  and  this  artificial  relationship  gives  him  the  same  stand- 
ing as  actual  relationship  in  the  family,  in  the  gens,  in  the  phratry, 
and  in  the  tribe. 

Thus  a  tribe  is  a  body  of  kindred. 

Of  the  four  groups  thus  described,  the  gens,  the  phratry,  and 
the  tribe  constitute  the  series  of  organic  units;  the  family,  or 
household  as  here  described,  is  not  a  unit  of  the  gens  or  phratry, 
as  two  gentes  are  represented  in  each — the  father  must  belong  to 
one  gens,  and  the  mother  and  her  children  to  another. 

Society  is  maintained  by  the  establishment  of  government ;  for 
rights  must  be  recognized  and  duties  performed. 

In  this  tribe  there  is  found  a  complete  differentiation  of  the 
military  from  the  civil  government. 

The  civil  government  inheres  in  a  system  of  councils  and 
chiefs. 

In  each  gens  there  is  a  council,  composed  of  four  women, 
called  Yu-wai-yu-wa'-na.  These  four  women  councillors  select 
a  chief  of  the  gens  from  its  male  members — that  is,  from  their 
brothers  and  sons.  This  gentile  chief  is  the  head  of  the  gentile 
council. 

The  council  of  the  tribe  is  composed  of  the  aggregated  gentile 
councils.  The  tribal  council,  therefore,  is  composed  one-fifth  of 
men  and  four-fifths  of  women. 

The  sachem  of  the  tribe,  or  tribal  chief,  is  chosen  by  the 
chiefs  of  the  gentes. 

There  is  sometimes  a  grand  council  of  the  gens,  composed  of 
the  councilors  of  the  gens  proper  and  all  the  heads  of  households 
and  leading  men — brothers  and  sons. 

There  is  also  sometimes  a  grand  council  of  the  tribe,  com- 
posed of  the  council  of  the  tribe  proper  and  the  heads  of  house- 
holds of  the  tribe,  and  all  the  leading  men  of  the  tribe. 

These  grand  councils  are  convened  for  special  purposes. 

The  four  women  councillors  of  the  gens  are  chosen  by  the 
heads  of  households,  themselves  being  women.  There  is  no 
formal  election,  but  frequent  discussion  is  had  over  the  matter 


826  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

from  time  to  time,  in  which  a  sentiment  grows  up  with  the  gens 
and  throughout  the  tribe  that,  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  any 
councillor,  a  certain  person  will  take  her  place. 

In  this  manner  there  is  usually  one,  two,  or  more  potential 
councillors  in  each  gens  who  are  expected  to  attend  all  the  meet- 
ings of  the  council,  though  they  take  no  part  in  the  deliberations 
and  have  no  vote. 

When  a  woman  is  installed  as  councillor  a  feast  is  prepared 
by  the  gens  to  which  she  belongs,  and  to  this  feast  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  tribe  are  invited.  The  woman  is  painted  and  dressed 
in  her  best  attire  and  the  sachem  of  the  tribe  places  upon  her 
head  the  gentile  chaplet  of  feathers,  and  announces  in  a  formal 
manner  to  the  assembled  guests  that  the  woman  has  been  chosen 
a  councillor.  The  ceremony  is  followed  by  feasting  and  dan- 
cing, often  continued  late  into  the  night. 

The  gentile  chief  is  chosen  by  the  council  women  after  con- 
sultation with  the  other  women  and  men  of  the  gens.  Often  the 
gentile  chief  is  a  potential  chief  through  a  period  of  probation. 
During  this  time  he  attends  the  meetings  of  the  council,  but  takes 
no  part  in  the  deliberations,  and  has  no  vote. 

At  his  installation,  the  council  women  invest  him  with  an 
elaborately  ornamented  tunic,  place  upon  his  head  a  chaplet  of 
feathers,  and  paint  the  gentile  totem  on  his  face.  The  sachem  of 
the  tribe  then  announces  to  the  people  that  the  man  has  been 
made  chief  of  the  gens,  and  admitted  to  the  council.  This  is 
also  followed  by  a  festival. 

The  sachem  of  the  tribe  is  selected  by  the  men  belonging  to 
the  council  of  the  tribe.  Formerly  the  sachemship  inhered  in 
the  Bear  gens,  but  at  present  he  is  chosen  from  the  Deer  gens, 
from  the  fact,  as  the  Wyandots  say,  that  death  has  carried  away 
all  the  wise  men  of  the  Bear  gens. 

The  chief  of  the  Wolf  gens  is  the  herald  and  the  sheriff  of 
the  tribe.  He  superintends  the  erection  of  the  council-house  and 
has  the  care  of  it.  He  calls  the  council  together  in  a  formal 
manner  when  directed  by  the  sachem.  He  announces  to  the  tribe 
all  the  decisions  of  the  council,  and  executes  the  directions  of 
the  council  and  of  the  sachem. 

Gentile  councils  are  held  frequently  from  day  to  day  and 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  827 

from  week  to  week,  and  are  called  by  the  chief  whenever  deemed 
necessary.  When  matters  before  the  council  are  considered  of 
great  importance,  a  grand  council  of  the  gens  may  be  called. 

The  tribal  council  is  held  regularly  on  the  night  of  the  full 
moon  of  each  lunation  and  at  such  other  times  as  the  sachem 
may  determine ;  but  extra  councils  are  usually  called  by  the 
sachem  at  the  request  of  a  number  of  councillors. 

Meetings  of  the  gentile  councils  are  very  informal,  but  the 
meetings  of  the  tribal  councils  are  conducted  with  due  ceremony. 
When  all  the  persons  are  assembled,  the  chief  of  the  Wolf  gens 
calls  them  to  order,  fills  and  lights  a  pipe,  sends  one  puff  of  smoke 
to  the  heavens,  and  another  to  the  earth.  The  pipe  is  then 
handed  to  the  sachem,  who  fills  his  mouth  with  smoke,  and,  turn- 
ing from  left  to  right  with  the  sun,  slowly  puffs  it  out  over  the 
heads  of  the  councillors,  who  are  sitting  in  a  circle.  He  then 
hands  the  pipe  to  the  man  on  his  left,  and  it  is  smoked  in  turn 
by  each  person  until  it  has  been  passed  around  the  circle.  The 
sachem  then  explains  the  object  for  which  the  council  is  called. 
Each  person  in  the  way  and  manner  he  chooses  tells  what  he 
thinks  should  be  done  in  the  case.  If  a  majority  of  the  council 
is  agreed  as  to  action,  the  sachem  does  not  speak,  but  may  simply 
announce  the  decision.  But  in  some  cases  there  may  be  pro- 
tracted debate,  which  is  carried  on  with  great  deliberation.  In 
case  of  a  tie,  the  sachem  is  expected  to  speak.  It  is  considered 
dishonorable  for  any  man  to  reverse  his  decision  after  having 
spoken. 

Such  are  the  organic  elements  of  the  Wyandot  government. 

It  is  the  function  of  government  to  preserve  rights  and 
enforce  the  performance  of  duties.  Rights  and  duties  are  cor- 
relative. Rights  imply  duties,  and  duties  imply  rights.  The 
right  inhering  in  the  party  of  the  first  part  imposes  a  duty  on 
the  party  of  the  second  part.  The  right  and  its  co-relative  duty 
are  inseparable  parts  of  a  relation  that  must  be  maintained  by 
government ;  and  the  relations  which  governments  are  estab- 
lished to  maintain  may  be  treated  under  the  general  head  of 
rights.  In  Wyandot  government  these  rights  may  be  classed  as 
follows:  i,  rights  of  marriage;  2,  rights  to  names;  3,  rights  to 
personal  adornments;  4,  rights  of  order  in  encampments  and 


828  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

migrations;  5,  rights  of  property;  6,  rights  of  person;  7,  rights 
of  community;  8,  rights  of  religion. 

To  maintain  rights,  rules  of  conduct  are  established,  not  by 
formal  enactment,  but  by  regulated  usage.  Such  custom-made 
laws  may  be  called  regulations. 

Marriage  between  members  of  the  same  gens  is  forbidden, 
but  consanguineal  marriages  between  persons  of  different  gentes 
are  permitted.  For  example,  a  man  may  not  marry  his  mother's 
sister's  daughter,  as  she  belongs  to  the  same  gens  with  himself; 
but  he  can  marry  his  father's  sister's  daughter,  because  she  be- 
belongs  to  a  different  gens. 

Husbands  retain  all  their  rights  and  privileges  in  their  own 
gentes,  though  they  live  with  the  gentes  of  their  wives.  Chil- 
dren, irrespective  of  sex,  belong  to  the  gens  of  the  mother.  Men 
and  women  must  marry  within  the  tribe.  A  woman  taken  to 
wife  from  without  the  tribe  must  first  be  adopted  into  some 
family  of  a  gens  other  than  that  to  which  the  man  belongs.  That 
a  woman  may  take  for  a  husband  a  man  without  the  tribe  he 
must  also  be  adopted  into  the  family  of  some  gens  other  than 
that  of  the  woman.  What  has  been  called  by  some  ethnologists 
endogamy  and  exogamy  are  correlative  parts  of  one  regulation, 
and  the  Wyandots,  like  all  other  tribes  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge  in  North  America,  are  both  endogamous  and 
exogamous. 

Polygamy  is  permitted,  but  the  wives  must  belong  to  dif- 
ferent gentes.  The  first  wife  remains  the  head  of  the  house- 
hold. Polyandry  is  prohibited. 

A  man  seeking  a  wife  consults  her  mother,  sometimes  direct, 
and  sometimes  through  his  own  mother.  The  mother  of  the 
girl  advises  with  the  women  councillors  to  obtain  their  consent, 
and  the  young  people  usually  submit  quietly  to  their  decision. 
Sometimes  the  women  councillors  consult  with  the  men. 

When  a  girl  is  betrothed,  the  man  makes  such  presents  to  the 
mother  as  he  can.  It  is  customary  to  consummate  the  marriage 
before  the  end  of  the  moon  in  which  the  betrothal  is  made. 
Bridegroom  and  bride  make  promises  of  faithfulness  to  the 
parents  and  women  councillors  of  both  parties.  It  is  customary 
to  give  a  marriage  feast,  in  which  the  gentes  of  both  parties  take 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  829 

part.  For  a  short  time  at  least,  bride  and  groom  live  with  the 
bride's  mother,  or  rather  in  the  original  household  of  the  bride. 

The  time  when  they  will  set  up  housekeeping  for  themselves 
is  usually  arranged  before  marriage. 

In  the  event  of  the  death  of  the  mother,  the  children  belong 
to  her  sister  or  to  her  nearest  female  kin,  the  matter  being  settled 
by  the  council  women  of  the  gens.  As  the  children  belong  to 
the  mother,  on  the  death  of  the  father  the  mother  and  chil- 
dren are  cared  for  by  her  nearest  male  relative  until  subsequent 
marriage. 

It  has  been  previously  explained  that  there  is  a  body  of  names, 
the  exclusive  property  of  each  gens.  Once  a  year,  at  the  green- 
corn  festival,  the  council  women  of  the  gens  select  the  names 
for  the  children  born  during  the  previous  year,  and  the  chief  of 
the  gens  proclaims  these  names  at  the  festival.  No  person  may 
change  his  name,  but  every  person,  man  or  woman,  by  honorable 
or  dishonorable  conduct,  or  by  remarkable  circumstance,  may 
win  a  second  name  commemorative  of  deed  or  circumstance, 
which  is  a  kind  of  title. 

Each  clan  has  a  distinctive  method  of  painting  the  face,  a 
distinctive  chaplet  to  be  worn  by  the  gentile  chief  and  council 
women  when  they  are  inaugurated,  and  subsequently  at  festival 
occasions,  and  distinctive  ornaments  for  all  its  members,  to  be 
used  at  festivals  and  religious  ceremonies. 

The  camp  of  the  tribe  is  in  an  open  circle  or  horse-shoe,  and 
the  gentes  camp  in  the  following  order,  beginning  on  the  left  and 
going  around  to  the  right: 

Deer,  Bear,  Highland  Turtle  (striped),  Highland  Turtle 
(black),  Mud  Turtle,  Smooth  Large  Turtle,  Hawk,  Beaver, 
Wolf,  Sea  Snake,  Porcupine. 

The  order  in  which  the  households  camp  in  the  gentile  group 
is  regulated  by  the  gentile  councillors  and  adjusted  from  time  to 
time  in  such  a  manner  that  the  oldest  family  is  placed  on  the 
left,  and  the  youngest  on  the  right.  In  migrations  and  expe- 
ditions the  order  of  travel  follows  the  analogy  of  encampment. 

Within  the  area  claimed  by  the  tribe  each  gens  occupies  a 
smaller  tract  for  the  purpose  of  cultivation.  The  right  of  the 
gens  to  cultivate  a  particular  tract  is  a  matter  settled  in  the  coun- 


830  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

cil  of  the  tribe,  and  the  gens  may  abandon  one  tract  for  another 
only  with  the,  consent  of  the  tribe.  The  women  councillors 
partition  the  gentile  land  among  the  householders,  and  the  house- 
hold tracts  are  distinctly  marked  by  them.  The  ground  is  re- 
partitioned  once  in  two  years.  The  heads  of  households  are 
responsible  for  the  cultivation  of  the  tract,  and  should  this  duty 
be  neglected  the  council  of  the  gens  calls  the  responsible  parties 
to  account. 

Cultivation  is  communal ;  that  is,  all  of  the  able-bodied  women 
of  the  gens  take  part  in  the  cultivation  of  each  household  tract 
in  the  following  manner : 

The  head  of  the  household  sends  her  brother  or  son  into  the 
forest  or  to  the  stream  to  bring  in  game  or  fish  for  a  feast; 
then  the  able-bodied  women  of  the  gens  are  invited  to  assist  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  land,  and  when  this  work  is  done  a  feast 
is  given. 

The  wigwam  or  lodge  and  all  articles  of  the  household  belong 
to  the  woman — the  head  of  the  household — and  at  her  death 
are  inherited  by  her  eldest  daughter,  or  nearest  of  female  kin. 
The  matter  is  settled  by  the  council  women.  If  the  husband  die 
his  property  is  inherited  by  his  brother  or  his  sister's  son,  except 
such  portion  as  may  be  buried  with  him.  His  property  consists 
of  his  clothing,  hunting  and  fishing  implements,  and  such  articles 
as  are  used  personally  by  himself. 

Usually  a  small  canoe  is  the  individual  property  of  the  man. 
Large  canoes  are  made  by  the  male  members  of  the  gentes,  and 
are  the  property  of  the  gentes. 

Each  individual  has  a  right  to  freedom  of  person  and  se- 
curity from  personal  and  bodily  injury,  unless  adjudged  guilty  of 
crime  by  proper  authority. 

Each  gens  has  the  right  to  the  services  of  all  its  women  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  Each  gens  has  the  right  to  the 
service  of  all  its  male  members  in  avenging  wrongs,  and  the 
tribe  has  the  right  to  the  service  of  all  its  male  members  in 
time  of  war. 

Each  phratry  has  the  right  to  certain  religious  ceremonies 
and  the  preparation  of  certain  medicines. 

Each  gens  has  the  exclusive  right  to  worship  its  tutelar  god, 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  831 

and  each  individual  has  the  exclusive  right  to  the  possession  and 
use  of  a  particular  amulet. 

The  violations  of  right  are  crimes.  Some  of  the  crimes 
recognized  by  the  Wyandots  are  as  follows:  i,  adultery;  2,  theft; 
3,  maiming;  4,  murder;  5,  treason;  6,  witchcraft. 

A  maiden  guilty  of  fornication  may  be  punished  by  her 
mother  or  female  guardian,  but  if  the  crime  is  flagrant  and 
repeated,  so  as  to  become  a  matter  of  general  gossip,  and  the 
mother  fails  to  correct  it,  the  matter  can  be  taken  up  by  the 
council  women  of  the  gens. 

A  woman  guilty  of  adultery,  for  the  first  offense  is  pun- 
ished by  having  her  hair  cropped ;  for  repeated  offenses  her 
left  ear  is  cut  off. 

The  punishment  for  theft  is  twofold  restitution.  When  the 
prosecutor  and  prosecuted  belong  to  the  same  gens,  the  trial 
is  before  the  council  of  the  gens,  and  from  it  there  is  no  appeal. 
If  the  parties  involved  are  of  different  gentes,  the  prosecutor, 
through  the  head  of  his  household,  lays  the  matter  before  the 
council  of  his  own  gens ;  by  it  the  matter  is  laid  before  the 
gentile  council  of  the  accused  in  a  formal  manner.  Thereupon 
it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  council  of  the  accused  to  investigate  the 
facts  for  themselves,  and  to  settle  the  matter  with  the  council  of 
the  plaintiff.  Failure  thus  to  do  is  followed  by  retaliation  in 
the  seizure  of  any  property  of  the  gens  which  may  be  found. 

Maiming  is  compounded,  and  the  method  of  procedure  in 
prosecution  is  essentially  the  same  as  for  theft. 

In  the  case  of  murder,  if  both  parties  are  members  of  the 
same  gens,  the  matter  is  tried  by  the  gentile  council  on  complaint 
of  the  head  of  the  household,  but  there  may  be  an  appeal  to 
the  council  of  the  tribe.  Where  the  parties  belong  to  different 
gentes,  complaint  is  formally  made  by  the  injured  party,  through 
the  chief  of  his  gens,  in  the  following  manner: 

A  wooden  tablet  is  prepared,  upon  which  is  inscribed  the 
totem  or  heraldic  emblem  of  the  injured  man's  gens,  and  a 
picture-writing  setting  forth  the  offense  follows. 

The  gentile  chief  appears  before  the  chief  of  the  council 
of  the  offender,  and  formally  states  the  offense,  explaining  the 
picture-writing,  which  is  then  delivered. 


832  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

A  council  of  the  offender's  gens  is  thereupon  called  and  a 
trial  is  held.  It  is  the  duty  of  this  council  to  examine  the  evi- 
dence for  themselves  and  to  come  to  a  conclusion  without  further 
presentation  of  the  matter  on  the  part  of  the  person  aggrieved. 
Having  decided  the  matter  among  themselves,  they  appear  before 
the  chief  of  the  council  of  the  aggrieved  party  to  offer  compen- 
sation. 

If  the  gens  of  the  offender  fail  to  settle  the  matter  with  the 
gens  of  the  aggrieved  party,  it  is  the  duty  of  his  nearest  relative 
to  avenge  the  wrong.  Either  party  may  appeal  to  the  council  of 
the  tribe.  The  appeal  must  be  made  in  due  form,  by  the  pres- 
entation of  a  tablet  of  accusation. 

Inquiry  into  the  effect  of  a  failure  to  observe  prescribed 
formalities  developed  an  interesting  fact.  In  procedure  against 
crime,  failure  in  formality  is  not  considered  a  violation  of  the 
rights  of  the  accused,  but  proof  of  his  innocence.  It  is  con-, 
sidered  supernatural  evidence  that  the  charges  are  false.  In 
trials  for  all  offenses  forms  of  procedure  are,  therefore,  likely 
to  be  earnestly  questioned. 

Treason  consists  in  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  medicine 
preparations  or  giving  other  information  or  assistance  to  enemies 
of  the  tribe,  and  is  punished  by  death.  The  trial  is  before  the 
council  of  the  tribe. 

Witchcraft  is  punished  by  death,  stabbing,  tomahawking,  or 
burning.  Charges  of  witchcraft  are  investigated  by  the  grand 
council  of  the  tribe.  When  the  accused  is  adjudged  guilty,  he 
may  appeal  to  supernatural  judgment.  The  test  is  by  fire.  A 
circular  fire  is  built  on  the  ground,  through  which  the  accused 
must  run  from  east  to  west  and  from  north  to  south.  If  no  in- 
jury is  received  he  is  adjudged  innocent;  if  he  falls  into  the  fire 
he  is  adjudged  guilty.  Should  a  person  accused  or  having  the 
general  reputation  of  practicing  witchcraft  become  deaf,  blind, 
or  have  sore  eyes,  earache,  headache,  or  other  diseases  consid- 
ered loathsome,  he  is  supposed  to  have  failed  in  practicing  his 
arts  upon  others,  and  to  have  fallen  a  victim  to  them  himself. 
Such  cases  are  most  likely  to  be  punished. 

The  institution  of  outlawry  exists  among  the  Wyandots  in  a 
peculiar  form.  An  outlaw  is  one  who  by  his  crimes  has  placed 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  833 

himself  without  the  protection  of  his  clan.  A  man  can  be  de- 
clared an  outlaw  by  his  own  clan,  who  thus  publish  to  the  tribe 
that  they  will  not  defend  him  in  case  he  is  injured  by  another. 
But  usually  outlawry  is  declared  only  after  trial  before  the  tribal 
council. 

The  method  of  procedure  is  analogous  to  that  in  case  of 
murder.  When  the  person  has  been  adjudged  guilty  and  sen- 
tence of  outlawry  declared,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  chief  of  the  Wolf 
clan  to  make  known  the  decision  of  the  council.  This  he  does 
by  appearing  before  each  clan  in  the  order  of  its  encampment, 
and  declaring  in  terms  the  crime  of  the  outlaw  and  the  sentence 
of  outlawry,  which  may  be  either  of  two  grades. 

In  the  lowest  grade  it  is  declared  that  if  the  man  shall  there- 
after continue  in  the  commission  of  similar  crimes,  it  will  be 
lawful  for  any  person  to  kill  him;  and  if  killed,  rightfully  or 
wrongfully,  his  clan  will  not  avenge  his  death. 

Outlawry  of  the  highest  degree  makes  it  the  duty  of  any* 
member  of  the  tribe  who  may  meet  with  the  offender  to  kill 
him. 

The  management  of  military  affairs  inheres  in  the  military 
council  and  chief.  The  military  council  is  composed  of  all^  the 
able-bodied  men  of  the  tribe ;  the  military  chief  is  chosen  by  the 
council  from  the  Porcupine  gens.  Each  gentile  chief  is  respon- 
sible for  the  military  training  of  the  youth  under  his  authority. 
There  is  usually  one  or  more  potential  military  chiefs,  who  are 
the  close  companions  and  assistants  of  the  chief  in  time  of  war, 
and  in  case  of  the  death  of  the  chief,  take  his  place  in  the  order 
of  seniority. 

Prisoners  of  war  are  adopted  into  the  tribe  or  killed.  To 
be  adopted  into  the  tribe,  it  is  necessary  that  the  prisoner  should 
be  adopted  into  some  family.  The  warrior  taking  the  prisoner 
has  the  first  right  to  adopt  him,  and  his  male  or  female  relatives 
have  the  right  in  the  order  of  their  kinship.  If  no  one  claims 
the  prisoner  for  this  purpose,  he  is  caused  to  run  the  gauntlet  as 
a  test  of  his  courage. 

If  at  his  trial  he  behaves  manfully,  claimants  are  not  want- 
ing, but  if  he  behaves  disgracefully  he  is  put  to  death. 

There  is  an  interesting  institution  found  among  the  Wyan- 


834  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

dots,  as  among  some  other  of  our  North  American  tribes, 
namely,  that  of  fellowhood.  Two  young  men  agree  to  be  per- 
petual friends  to  each  other,  or  more  than  brothers.  Each  re- 
veals to  the  other  the  secrets  of  his  life,  and  counsels  with  him 
on  matters  of  importance  and  defends  him  from  wrong  and  vio- 
lence, and  at  his  death  is  chief  mourner. 

The  government  of  the  Wyandots,  with  the  social  organiza- 
tion upon  which  it  is  based,  affords  a  typical  example  of  tribal 
government  throughout  North  America.  Within  that  area  there 
are  several  hundred  distinct  governments.  In  so  great  a  number 
there  is  great  variety,  and  in  this  variety  we  find  different  degrees 
of  organization,  the  degrees  of  organization  being  determined 
by  the  differentiation  of  the  functions  of  the  government  and  the 
correlative  specialization  of  organic  elements. 

Much  has  yet  to  be  done  in  the  study  of  these  governments 
before  safe  generalizations  may  be  made.  But  enough  is  known 
to  warrant  the  following  statement : 

Tribal  government  in  North  America  is  based  on  kinship  in 
that  the  fundamental  units  of  social  organization  are  bodies  of 
consanguineal  kindred  either  in  the  male  or  female  line ;  these 
units  being  what  has  been  well  denominated  "gentes." 

These  "gentes"  are  organized  into  tribes  by  ties  of  relation- 
ship and  affinity,  and  this  organization  is  of  such  a  character 
that  the  man's  position  in  the  tribe  is  fixed  by  his  kinship.  There 
is  no  place  in  a  tribe  for  any  person  whose  kinship  is  not  fixed, 
and  only  those  persons  can  be  adopted  into  the  tribe  who  are 
adopted  into  some  family  with  artificial  kinship  specified.  The 
fabric  of  Indian  society  is  a  complex  tissue  of  kinship.  The 
warp  is  made  of  streams  of  kinship  blood,  and  the  woof  of 
marriage  ties. 

With  most  tribes  military  and  civil  affairs  are  differentiated. 
The  functions  of  civil  government  are  in  general  differentiated 
only  to  this  extent,  that  executive  functions  are  performed  by 
chiefs  and  sachems,  but  these  chiefs  and  sachems  are  also  mem- 
bers of  the  council.  The  council  is  legislature  and  court.  Per- 
haps it  were  better  to  say  that  the  council  is  the  court  whose 
decisions  are  law,  and  that  the  legislative  body  properly  has  not 
been  developed. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  835 

In  general,  crimes  are  well  defined.  Procedure  is  formal,  and 
forms  are  held  as  of  such  importance  that  error  therein  is  prima 
facie  evidence  that  the  subject-matter  formulated  was  false. 

When  one  gens  charges  crime  against  a  member  of  another, 
it  can  of  its  own  motion  proceed  only  to  retaliation.  To  prevent 
retaliation,  the  gens  of  the  offender  must  take  the  necessary  steps 
to  disprove  the  crime,  or  to  compound  or  punish  it.  The  charge 
once  made  is  held  as  just  and  true  until  it  has  been  disproved, 
and  in  trial  the  cause  of  the  defendant  is  first  stated.  The  anger 
of  the  prosecuting  gens  must  be  placated. 

In  the  tribal  governments  there  are  many  institutions,  cus- 
toms, and  traditions  which  give  evidence  of  a  former  condition 
in  which  society  was  based  not  upon  kinship,  but  upon  marriage. 

From  a  survey  of  the  facts  it  seems  highly  probable  that 
kinship  society,  as  it  exists  among  the  tribes  of  North  America, 
has  developed  from  connubial  society,  which  is  discovered  else- 
where on  the  globe.  In  fact,  there  are  a  few  tribes  that  seem 
scarcely  to  have  passed  that  indefinite  boundary  between  the 
two  social  states.  Philologic  research  leads  to  the  same 
conclusion. 

Nowhere  in  North  America  have  a  people  been  discovered 
who  have  passed  beyond  tribal  society  to  national  society  based 
on  property,  i.  e.,  that  form  of  society  which  is  characteristic  of 
civilization.  Some  peoples  may  not  have  reached  kinship  so- 
ciety; none  have  passed  it. 

Nations  with  civilized  institutions,  art  with  palaces,  mono- 
theism as  the  worship  of  the  Great  Spirit,  all  vanish  from  the 
priscan  condition  of  North  America  in  the  light  of  anthropologic 
research.  Tribes  with  the  social  institutions  of  kinship,  art  with 
its  highest  architectural  development  exhibited  in  the  structure 
of  communal  dwellings,  and  polytheism  in  the  worship  of  mythic 
animals  and  nature-gods  remain. — J.  W.  POWELL,  Reports  of  the 
Bureau  of  Ethnology,  i  :59-69. 

HOSPITALITY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  INDIANS 

When  America  was  discovered  in  its  several  parts  the  Indian 
tribes  were  found  in  dissimilar  conditions.  The  least  advanced 
tribes  were  without  the  art  of  pottery,  and  without  horticulture, 


836  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

and  were,  therefore,  in  savagery.  But  in  the  arts  of  life  they 
were  advanced  as  far  as  is  implied  by  its  Upper  Status,  which 
found  them  in  possession  of  the  bow  and  arrow.  Such  were  the 
tribes  in  the  Valley  of  the  Columbia,  in  the  Hudson  Bay  Terri- 
tory, in  parts  of  Canada,  California,  and  Mexico,  and  some  of 
the  coast  tribes  of  South  America.  The  use  of  pottery  and  the 
cultivation  of  maize  and  plants,  were  unknown  among  them. 
They  depended  for  subsistence  upon  fish,  bread,  roots,  and 
game.  The  second  class  were  intermediate  between  them  and  the 
Village  Indians.  They  subsisted  upon  fish  and  game  and  the 
products  of  a  limited  horticulture,  and  were  in  the  Lower  Status 
of  barbarism.  Such  were  the  Iroquois,  the  New  England  and 
Virginia  Indians,  the  Creeks,  Cherokees,  and  Choctaws,  the 
Shawnees,  Miamis,  Mandans,  Minnitarees,  and  other  tribes  of 
the  United  States  east  of  the  Missouri  River,  together  with 
certain  tribes  of  Mexico  and  South  America  in  the  same  condition 
of  advancement.  Many  of  them  lived  in  villages,  some  of  which 
were  stockaded,  but  village  life  was  not  as  distinctive  and  com- 
mon among  them  as  it  was  among  the  most  advanced  tribes. 
The  third  class  were  the  Village  Indians  proper,  who  depended 
almost  exclusively  upon  horticulture  for  subsistence,  cultivating 
maize  and  plants  by  irrigation.  They  constructed  joint  tenement 
houses  of  adobe  bricks  and  stone,  usually  more  than  one  story 
high.  Such  were  the  tribes  of  New  Mexico,  Mexico,  Central 
America,  and  upon  the  plateau  of  the  Andes.  These  tribes  were 
in  the  Middle  Status  of  barbarism. 

The  weapons,  arts,  usages,  and  customs,  inventions,  archi- 
tecture, institutions,  and  form  of  government  of  all  alike  bear 
the  impress  of  a  common  mind,  and  reveal,  in  their  wide  range, 
the  successive  stages  of  development  of  the  same  original  con- 
ceptions. Our  first  mistake  consisted  in  overrating  the  degree 
of  advancement  of  the  Village  Indians,  in  comparison  with  that 
of  the  other  tribes ;  our  second  in  underrating  that  of  the  latter ; 
from  which  resulted  a  third,  that  of  separating  one  from  the 
other,  and  regarding  them  as  different  races.  The  evidence  of 
their  unity  of  origin  has  now  accumulated  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
leave  no  reasonable  doubt  upon  the  question.  The  first  two 
classes  of  tribes  always  held  the  preponderating  power,  at  least 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  837 

in  North  America,  and  furnished  the  migrating  bands  which  re- 
plenished the  ranks  of  the  Village  Indians,  as  well  as  the  con- 
tinent, with  inhabitants.  It  remained  for  the  Village  Indians  to 
invent  the  process  of  smelting  iron  ore  to  attain  to  the  Upper 
Status  of  barbarism,  and,  beyond  that,  to  invent  a  phonetic  al- 
phabet to  reach  the  first  stage  of  civilization.  One  entire  ethni- 
cal period  intervened  between  the  highest  class  of  Indians  and 
the  beginning  of  civilization. 

It  seems  singular  that  the  Village  Indians,  who  first  became 
possessed  of  maize,  the  great  American  cereal,  and  of  the  art 
of  cultivation,  did  not  rise  to  supremacy  over  the  continent.  With 
their  increased  numbers  and  more  stable  subsistence  they  might 
have  been  expected  to  extend  their  power  and  spread  their  mi- 
grating bands  over  the  most  valuable  areas  to  the  gradual  dis- 
placement of  the  ruder  tribes.  But  in  this  respect  they  signally 
failed.  The  means  of  sustaining  life  among  the  latter  were  re- 
markably persistent.  The  higher  culture  of  the  Village  Indians, 
such  as  it  was,  did  not  enable  them  to  advance,  either  in  their 
weapons  or  in  the  art  of  war,  beyond  the  more  barbarous  tribes, 
except  as  a  superior  house  architecture  tended  to  render  their 
villages  and  their  habitations  impregnable  to  Indian  assault. 
Moreover,  in  the  art  of  government,  they  had  not  been  able  to 
rise  above  gentile  institutions  and  establish  political  society. 
This  fact  demonstrates  the  impossibility  of  privileged  classes  and 
of  potentates,  under  their  institutions,  with  power  to  enforce 
the  labor  of  the  people  for  the  erection  of  palaces  for  their  use, 
and  explains  the  absence  of  such  structures. 

Horticulture  and  other  domestic  arts  spread  from  the  Village 
Indians  to  the  tribes  in  the  Lower  Status  of  barbarism,  and  thus 
advanced  them  materially  in  their  onward  progress  toward  the 
higher  conditions  of  the  Village  Indians.  Numerous  tribes  were 
thus  raised  out  of  savagery  into  barbarism  by  appropriating  the 
arts  of  life  of  tribes  above  them.  This  process  has  been  a  con- 
stant phenomenon  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  It  is  well 
illustrated  in  America,  where  the  Red  Race,  one  in  origin  and 
possessed  of  homogeneous  institutions,  were  in  three  different 
ethnical  conditions  or  stages  of  culture. 

There  are  certain  usages  and  customs  of  the  Indian  tribes 


838  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

generally  which  tend  to  explain  their  plan  of  life — their  large 
households,  their  houses,  and  their  house  architecture.  They 
deserve  a  careful  consideration  and  even  further  investigation 
beyond  the  bounds  of  our  present  knowledge.  The  influence  of 
American  civilization  has  very  generally  broken  up  their  old  plan 
of  life,  and  introduced  a  new  one  more  analogous  to  our  own. 
It  has  been  much  the  same  in  Spanish  America.  The  old  usages 
and  customs,  in  the  particulars  about  to  be  stated,  have  now  so 
far  disappeared  in  their  pure  forms  that  their  recovery  is  not 
free  from  difficulty.  Those  to  be  considered  are  the  following: 

I.     The  law  of  hospitality. 
II.     Communism  in  living. 

III.  The  ownership  of  lands  in  common. 

IV.  The  practice  of  having  but  one  prepared  meal  each  day 
— a  dinner. 

V.  Their  separation  at  meals,  the  men  eating  first  and  by 
themselves  and  the  women  and  children  afterwards. 

The  discussion  will  be  confined  to  the  period  of  European 
discovery  and  to  later  periods  while  these  practices  remained. 
The  object  will  be  to  show  that  these  usages  and  customs  existed 
among  them  when  America  was  discovered  in  its  several  parts, 
and  that  they  remained  in  practice  for  some  time  after  these 
several  periods. 

Among  the  Iroquois  hospitality  was  an  established  usage. 
If  a  man  entered  an  Indian  house  in  any  of  their  villages,  whether 
a  villager,  a  tribesman,  or  a  stranger,  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
women  therein  to  set  food  before  him.  An  omission  to  do  this 
would  have  been  a  discourtesy  amounting  to  an  affront.  If 
hungry,  he  ate;  if  not  hungry,  courtesy  required  that  he  should 
taste  the  food  and  thank  the  giver.  This  would  be  repeated  at 
every  house  he  entered,  and  at  whatever  hour  in  the  day.  As  a 
custom  it  was  upheld  by  a  rigorous  public  sentiment.  The  same 
hospitality  was  extended  to  strangers  from  their  own  and  from 
other  tribes.  Upon  the  advent  of  the  European  race  among  them 
it  was  also  extended  to  them.  This  characteristic  of  barbarous 
society,  wherein  food  was  the  principal  concern  of  life,  is  a  re- 
markable fact.  The  law  of  hospitality,  as  administered  by  the 
American  aborigines,  tended  to  the  final  equalization  of  sub- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  839 

sistence.  Hunger  and  destitution  could  not  exist  at  one  end  of  an 
Indian  village  or  in  one  section  of  an  encampment  while  plenty 
prevailed  elsewhere  in  the  same  village  or  encampment.  It  re- 
veals a  plan  of  life  among  them  at  the  period  of  European  dis- 
covery which  has  not  been  sufficiently  considered. 

A  singular  illustration  of  the  powerful  influence  of  the  custom 
upon  the  Indian  mind  came  to  my  notice  some  years  ago  at  the 
Seneca  Reservation  in  New  York.  A  Seneca  chief,  well  to  do 
in  the  world,  with  farm  lands  and  domestic  animals  which  af- 
forded him  a  comfortable  subsistence,  ha<^  lost  his  wife  by  death, 
and  his  daughter,  educated  in  the  usages  of  civilized  life,  took 
the  position  of  housekeeper.  The  old  man,  referring  to  the  an- 
cient custom,  requested  his  daughter  to  keep  the  usual  food 
constantly  prepared  ready  to  offer  to  any  person  who  entered 
their  house,  saying  that  he  did  not  wish  to  see  this  custom  of 
their  forefathers  laid  aside.  Their  changed  condition,  and  par- 
ticularly the  adoption  of  the  regular  meals  of  civilized  society, 
for  the  time  of  which  the  visitor  might  reasonably  be  expected 
to  wait,  did  not  in  his  mind  outweigh  the  sanctity  of  the  custom. 

In  July,  1743,  John  Bartram  made  a  journey  from  Philadel- 
phia to  Onondaga  to  attend,  with  Conrad  Weisar,  a  council  of 
the  Onondaga,  Mohawk,  Oneida,  and  Cayuga  chiefs.  At  Shamo- 
kin  he  quartered  with  a  trader  who  had  an  Indian  wife,  and  at  a 
village  of  the  Delawares.  "As  soon  as  we  alighted,'  he  re- 
marks, "they  showed  us  where  to  lay  our  luggage,  and  then 
brought  us  a  bowl  of  boiled  squashes,  cold.  This  I  then  thought 
poor  entertainment,  but  before  I  came  back  I  had  learned  not 
to  despise  good  Indian  food.  This  hospitality  is  agreeable  to  the 
honest  simplicity  of  ancient  times,  and  is  so  persistently  adhered 
to  that  not  only  what  is  already  dressed  is  immediately  set  before 
a  traveler,  but  the  most  pressing  business  is  postponed  to  pre- 
pare the  best  they  can  get  for  him,  keeping  it  as  a  maxim  that  he 
must  always  be  hungry.  Of  this  we  found  the  good  effects  in 
the  flesh  and  bread  they  got  ready  for  us."  We  have  here  a 
perfect  illustration  among  the  Delawares  of  the  Iroquois  rule  to 
set  food  before  a  person  when  he  first  entered  the  house.  Al- 
though they  had  in  this  case  nothing  better  than  boiled  squash 
to  offer,  it  was  done  immediately,  after  which  they  commenced 


840  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

preparing  a  more  substantial  repast.  Delaware  and  Iroquois 
usages  were  the  same. 

The  council  at  Onondaga  lasted  two  days,  at  the  close  of 
which  they  had  each  day  a  dinner  in  common.  "This  council 
[first  day]  was  followed  by  a  feast.  At  four  o'clock  we  all  dined 
together  upon  four  great  kettles  of  Indian-corn  soup,  which  we 

emptied,  and  then  every  chief  retired  to  his  home The 

conference  [second  day]  held  till  three,  after  which  we  dined. 
The  repast  consisted  of  three  great  kettles  of  Indian-corn  soup, 
or  thin  hominy,  with  dried  eels  and  other  fish  boiled  in  it,  and 
one  kettle  full  of  young  squashes  and  their  flowers  boiled  in 
water,  and  a  little  meal  mixed.  This  dish  was  but  weak  food. 
Last  of  all  was  served  a  great  bowlfull  of  Indian  dumplings 
made  of  new  soft  corn  cut  or  scraped  off  the  cob,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  some  boiled  beans,  lapped  well  in  Indian-corn  leaves. 
This  is  good  hearty  provision." 

"Again,"  he  remarks,  "we  prepared  for  setting  forward,  and 
many  of  the  chiefs  came  once  more  to  make  their  farewells. 
Some  of  them  brought  us  provisions  for  our  journey.  We  shook 
hands  again  and  set  out  at  nine." 

One  of  the  earliest  notices  of  the  hospitality  of  the  Indian 
tribes  of  the  United  States  was  by  the  expedition  of  Philip 
Amidas  and  Arthur  Barlow,  under  the  auspices  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  which  visited  the  Algonkin  tribes  of  North  Carolina 
in  the  summer  of  1584.  They  landed  at  the  Island  of  Wocoken, 
off  Albemarle  Sound,  when  "there  came  down  from  all  parts 
great  store  of  people,"  whose  chief  was  Granganimeo.  "He  was 
very  just  of  his  promises,  for  oft  we  trusted  him,  and  would 
come  within  his  day  to  keep  his  word.  He  sent  us  commonly 
every  day  a  brace  of  ducks,  conies,  hares,  and  fish,  sometimes 

melons,  walnuts,  cucumbers,  pease,  and  divers  roots After 

this  acquaintance,  myself,  with  seven  more,  went  thirty  miles  into 
the  river  Occam,  that  runneth  toward  the  city  Skicoack.  and  the 
evening  following  we  came  to  an  isle  called  Roanoak,  from  the 
harbor  where  we  entered  seven  leagues :  At  the  north  end  were 
nine  houses,  builded  with  cedar,  fortified  round  with  sharp  trees 
[palisaded]  and  the  entrance  like  a  turnpike  [turnspit].  When 
we  came  towards  it,  the  wife  of  Granganimeo  came  running  out 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  841 

to  meet  us  (her  husband  was  absent),  commanding  her  people 
to  draw  our  boat  ashore  for  beating  on  the  billows.  Others  she 
appointed  to  carry  us  on  their  backs  aland,  others  to  bring  our 
oars  into  the  house  for  stealing.  When  we  came  into  the  other 
room  (for  there  were  five  in  the  house)  she  caused  us  to  sit 
down  by  a  great  fire ;  and  after  took  off  our  clothes  and  washed 
them,  of  some  our  stockins,  and  some  our  feet  in  warm  water; 
and  she  herself  took  much  pains  to  see  all  things  well  ordered 
and  to  provide  us  victuals.  After  we  had  thus  dried  ourselves 
she  brought  us  into  an  inner  room,  where  she  sat  on  the  board 
standing  along  the  house,  somewhat  like  frumenty,  sodden 
venison,  and  roasted  fish ;  in  like  manner  melons  raw,  boiled  roots, 
and  fruits  of  divers  kinds.  Their  drink  is  commonly  water 
boiled,  with  ginger,  sometimes  with  sassafras,  and  wholesome 

herbs A  more  kind,  loving  people  cannot  be.  Beyond 

this  isle  is  the  main  land,  and  the  great  river  Occam,  on  which 
standeth  a  town  called  Pomeiok." 

This  is  about  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  English  picture  we  have 
of  Indian  life  and  of  English  and  Indian  intercourse  in  America. 
It  is  highly  creditable  to  both  parties;  to  the  Indians  for  their 
unaffected  kindness  and  hospitality,  and  to  the  English  for  their 
appreciation  of  both,  and  for  the  absence  of  any  act  of  injustice. 
At  the  same  time  it  was  simply  an  application  by  the  natives  of 
their  rules  of  hospitality  among  themselves  to  their  foreign  vis- 
itors, and  not  a  new  thing  in  their  experience. 

In  the  narrative  of  the  expedition  of  Hernando  de  Soto  to 
Florida  in  1539,  by  a  gentleman  of  Elvas,  there  are  references 
to  the  customs  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  South  Carolina,  the 
Cherokees,  Choctas,  and  Chichasas,  and  some  of  the  tribes  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  whom  the  expedition  visited  one  after  an- 
other. They  are  brief  and  incomplete,  but  sufficiently  indicate 
the  point  we  are  attempting  to  illustrate.  It  was  a  hostile  rather 
than  a  friendly  visitation,  and  the  naturally  free  hospitality  of 
the  natives  was  frequently  checked  and  turned  into  enmity,  but 
many  instances  of  friendly  intercourse  are  mentioned  in  this 
narrative.  "The  fourth  of  April  the  governor  passed  by  a  town 
called  Altamata,  and  the  tenth  of  the  month  he  came  to  Ocute. 
The  cacique  sent  him  two  thousand  Indians  with  a  present,  to 


842  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

wit,  many  conies  and  partridges,  bread  of  maize,  two  hens,  and 
many  dogs."  Again :  "Two  leagues  before  we  came  to  Chiaha, 
there  met  him  fifteen  Indians  loaded  with  maize  which  the 
cacique  had  sent;  and  they  told  him  on  his  behalf  that  he  waited 
his  coming  with  twenty  barns  full  of  it."  "At  Coga  the  chief 
commanded  his  Indians  to  void  their  houses,  wherein  the  gov- 
ernor and  his  men  were  lodged.  There  was  in  the  barns  and  in 
the  fields  great  store  of  maize  and  French  beans.  The  country 
was  greatly  inhabited  with  many  great  towns  and  many  sown 
fields  which  reached  from  one  to  the  other."  After  crossing  the 
Mississippi,  of  which  De  Soto  was  the  first  discoverer,  he 
"rested  in  Pacaha  forty  days,  in  all  which  time  the  two  caciques 
served  him  with  great  store  of  fish,  mantles,  and  skins,  and 
strove  who  should  do  him  greatest  service." 

The  justly  celebrated  Moravian  missionary,  John  Hecke wel- 
der, obtained,  through  a  long  experience,  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Indian  tribes.  He 
was  engaged  in  direct  missionary  labor,  among  the  Delawares 
and  Munsees  chiefly,  for  fifteen  years  (1771-1786)  on  the  Mus- 
kingum  and  Cuyahoga  in  Ohio,  where,  besides  the  Delawares 
and  Munsees,  he  came  in  contact  with  the  Tuscaroras  and  other 
tribes  of  Iroquois  lineage.  He  was  conversant  with  the  usages 
and  customs  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York.  His  general  knowledge  justifies  the  title  of  his  work, 
"History,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations,  who  once 
inhabited  Pennsylvania  and  the  neighboring  States,"  and  gives 
the  highest  credibility  to  his  statements. 

In  discussing  the  general  character  of  the  Indians,  he  re- 
marks as  follows :  "They  think  that  he  [the  Great  Spirit]  made 
the  earth  and  all  that  it  contains  for  the  common  good  of  man- 
kind; when  he  stocked  the  country  that  he  gave  them  with 
plenty  of  game,  it  was  not  for  the  benefit  of  a  few,  but  of  all. 
Everything  was  given  in  common  to  the  sons  of  men.  What- 
ever liveth  on  the  land,  whatsoever  groweth  out  of  the  earth,  and 
all  that  is  in  the  rivers  and  waters  flowing  through  the  same, 
was  given  jointly  to  all,  and  every  one  is  entitled  to  his  share. 
From  this  principle  hospitality  flows  as  from  its  source.  With 
them  it  is  not  a  virtue,  but  a  strict  duty;  hence  they  are  never 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  843 

in  search  of  excuses  to  avoid  giving,  but  freely  supply  their 
neighbors'  wants  from  the  stock  prepared  for  their  own  use. 
They  give  and  are  hospitable  to  all  without  exception,  and  will 
always  share  with  each  other  and  often  with  the  stranger  to  the 
last  morsel.  They  rather  would  lie  down  themselves  on  an  empty 
stomach  than  have  it  laid  to  their  charge  that  they  had  neglected 
their  duty  by  not  satisfying  the  wants  of  the  stranger,  the  sick, 
or  the  needy.  The  stranger  has  a  claim  to  their  hospitality, 
partly  on  account  of  his  being  at  a  distance  from  his  family 
and  friends,  and  partly  because  he  has  honored  them  with  his 
visit  and  ought  to  leave  them  with  a  good  impression  on  his 
mind;  the  sick  and  the  poor  because  they  have  a  right  to  be 
helped  out  of  the  common  stock,  for  if  the  meat  they  have  been 
served  with  was  taken  from  the  woods  it  was  common  to  all 
before  the  hunter  took  it ;  if  corn  or  vegetables,  it  had  grown  out 
of  the  common  ground,  yet  not  by  the  power  of  man,  but  by  that 
of  the  Great  Spirit." 

This  is  a  clear  and  definite  statement  of  the  principle  of  hos- 
pitality as  it  was  observed  by  the  Indian  tribes  at  the  epoch  of 
their  discovery,  with  the  Indians'  reasons  on  which  the  obli- 
gations rested.  We  recognize  in  this  law  of  hospitality  a  con- 
spicuous virtue  of  mankind  in  barbarism. 

Lewis  and  Clarke  refer  to  the  usages  of  the  tribes  of  the 
Missouri,  which  were  precisely  the  same  as  those  of  the  Iroquois. 
"It  is  the  custom  of  all  the  nations  on  the  Missouri,"  they  re- 
mark, "to  offer  every  white  man  food  and  refreshments  when 
he  first  enters  their  tents."  This  was  simply  applying  their  rules 
of  hospitality  among  themselves  to  their  white  visitors. 

About  i837-'38  George  Catlin  wintered  at  the  Mandan  Vil- 
lage, on  the  Upper  Missouri.  He  was  an  accurate  and  intelli- 
gent observer,  and  his  work  on  the  "Manners  and  Customs  of 
the  North  American  Indians"  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  Ameri- 
can ethnography.  The  principal  Mandan  village,  which  then 
contained  fifty  houses  and  fifteen  hundred  people,  was  sur- 
rounded with  a  palisade.  It  was  well  situated  for  game,  but  they 
did  not  depend  exclusively  upon  this  source  of  subsistence.  They 
cultivated  maize,  squashes,  pumpkins,  and  tobacco  in  garden 
beds,  and  gathered  wild  berries  and  a  species  of  turnip  on  the 


844  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

prairies.  "Buffalo  meat,  however,"  says  Mr.  Catlin,  "is  the  great 
staple  and  staff  of  life  in  this  country,  and  seldom,  if  ever, 

fails  to  afford  them  an  abundant  means  of  subsistence 

During  the  summer  and  fall  months  they  use  the  meat  fresh, 
and  cook  it  in  a  great  variety  of  ways — by  roasting,  broiling, 
boiling,  stewing,  smoking,  &c.,  and,  by  boiling  the  ribs  and  joints 
with  the  marrow  in  them,  make  a  delicious  soup,  which  is  uni- 
versally used  and  in  vast  quantities.  The  Mandans,  I  find,  have 
no  regular  or  stated  times  for  their  meals,  but  generally  eat  about 
twice  in  the  twenty- four  hours.  The  pot  is  always  boiling  over 
the  fire,  and  any  one  who  is  hungry,  either  from  the  household 
or  from  any  other  part  of  the  village,  has  a  right  to  order  it 
taken  off  and  to  fall  to,  eating  as  he  pleases.  Such  is  an  un- 
varying custom  among  the  North  American  Indians,  and  I  very 
much  doubt  whether  the  civilized  world  have  in  their  institu- 
tions any  system  which  can  properly  be  called  more  humane  and 
charitable.  Every  man,  woman,  or  child  in  Indian  communi- 
ties is  allowed  to  enter  any  one's  lodge,  and  even  that  of  the  chief 
of  the  nation,  and  eat  when  they  are  hungry,  provided  misfor- 
tune or  necessity  has  drawn  them  to  it.  Even  so  can  the  poorest 
and  most  worthless  drone  of  the  nation,  if  he  is  too  lazy  to  hunt 
or  to  supply  himself;  he  can  walk  into  any  lodge,  and  every  one 
will  share  with  him  as  long  as  there  is  anything  to  eat.  He,  how- 
ever, who  thus  begs  when  he  is  able  to  hunt,  pays  dear  for  his 
meat,  for  he  is  stigmatized  with  the  disgraceful  epithec  of  pol- 
troon and  beggar."  Mr.  Catlin  puts  the  case  rather  strongly 
when  he  turns  the  free  hospitality  of  the  household  into  a  right  of 
the  guest  to  entertainment  independently  of  their  consent.  It 
serves  to  show  that  the  provisions  of  the  household,  which,  as 
he  elsewhere  states,  consisted  of  from  twenty  to  forty  persons, 
were  used  in  common,  and  that  each  household  shared  their  pro- 
visions in  the  exercise  of  hospitality  with  any  inhabitant  of  the 
village  who  came  to  the  house  hungry,  and  with  strangers  from 
other  tribes  as  well.  Moreover,  he  speaks  of  this  hospitality 
as  universal  amongst  the  Indian  tribes.  It  is  an  important  state- 
ment, because  few  men  in  the  early  period  of  intercourse  with 
the  western  tribes  have  traveled  so  extensively  among  them. 

The  tribes  of  the  Columbia  Valley  lived  upon  fish,  bread- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  845 

roots,  and  game.  Food  was  abundant  at  certain  seasons,  but 
there  were  times  of  scarcity  even  in  this  favored  area.  What- 
ever provisions  they  had  were  shared  freely  with  each  other,  with 
guests,  and  with  strangers.  Lewis  and  Clarke,  in  1804-1806, 
visited  in  their  celebrated  expedition  the  tribes  of  the  Missouri 
and  of  the  Valley  of  the  Columbia.  They  experienced  the  same 
generous  hospitality  whenever  the  Indian  possessed  any  food 
to  offer,  and  their  account  is  the  first  we  have  at  all  special  of 
these  numerous  tribes.  Frequent  references  are  made  to  their 
hospitality.  The  Nez  Perces  "set  before  them  a  small  piece  of 
buffalo  meat,  some  dried  salmon,  berries,  and  several  kinds  of 
roots.  Among  these  last  is  one  which  is  round  and  much  like  an 
onion  in  appearance,  and  sweet  to  the  taste.  It  is  called  quamash, 
and  is  eaten  either  in  its  natural  state  or  boiled  into  a  kind  of 
soup  or  made  into  a  cake,  which  is  then  called  pasheco.  After 
the  long  abstinence,  this  was  a  sumptuous  treat;  and  we  re- 
turned the  kindness  of  the  people  by  a  few  small  presents,  and 
then  went  on  in  company  with  one  of  the  chiefs  to  a  second  vil- 
lage, in  the  same  plain,  at  a  distance  of  two  miles.  Here  the 
party  was  treated  with  great  kindness,  and  passed  the  night." 
Of  another  tribe  they  remark,  "As  we  approached  the  village 
most  of  the  women,  though  apprised  of  our  being  expected, 
fled  with  their  children  into  the  neighboring  woods.  The  men, 
however,  received  us  without  any  apprehension,  and  gave  us 
a  plentiful  supply  of  provisions.  The  plains  were  now  crowded 
with  Indians,  who  came  to  see  the  persons  of  the  whites  and 
the  strange  things  they  brought  with  them ;  but  as  our  guide  was 
perfectly  a  stranger  to  their  language  we  could  converse  by 
signs  only." 

The  Indians  of  the  Columbia,  unlike  the  tribes  previously 
named,  boiled  their  food  in  wooden  vessels,  or  in  ground  cavities 
lined  with  skins,  by  means  of  heated  stones.  They  were  igno- 
rant of  pottery.  "On  entering  one  of  their  houses  he  [Captain 
Clarke]  found  it  crowded  with  men,  women  and  children,  who 
immediately  provided  a  mat  for  him  to  sit  on,  and  one  of  the 
party  undertook  to  prepare  something  to  eat.  He  began  by 
bringing  in  a  piece  of  pine  wood  that  had  drifted  down  the 
river,  which  he  split  into  small  pieces  with  a  wedge  made  of  the 


846  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

elk's  horn  by  means  of  a  mallet  of  stone  curiously  carved.  The 
pieces  were  then  laid  on  the  fire,  and  several  round  stones  placed 
upon  them.  One  of  the  squaws  now  brought  a  bucket  of  water, 
in  which  was  a  large  salmon  about  half  dried,  and  as  the  stones 
became  heated  they  were  put  into  the  bucket  until  the  salmon 
was  sufficiently  boiled  for  use.  It  was  then  taken  out,  put  on 
a  platter  of  rushes  neatly  made,  and  laid  before  Captain  Clarke, 
and  another  was  boiled  for  each  of  his  men." 

One  or  two  additional  cases,  of  which  a  large  number  are 
mentioned  by  these  authors,  will  sufficiently  illustrate  the  prac- 
tice of  hospitality  of  these  tribes  and  its  universality.  They 
went  to  a  village  of  seven  houses  of  the  Chilluckittequaw  tribe 
and  to  the  house  of  the  chief.  "He  received  us  kindly,"  they 
remark,  "and  set  before  us  pounded  fish,  filberts,  nuts,  the 
berries  of  the  sacacommis,  and  white  bread  made  of  roots. 
....  The  village  is  a  part  of  the  same  nation  with  the  village 
we  passed  above,  the  language  of  the  two  being  the  same,  and 
their  houses  of  similar  form  and  materials,  and  calculated  to 
contain  about  thirty  souls.  The  inhabitants  were  unusually  hos- 
pitable and  good  humored."  While  among  the  Shoshonees,  and 
before  arriving  at  the  Columbia,  they  "reached  an  Indian  lodge 
of  brush  inhabited  by  seven  families  of  the  Shoshonees.  They 
behaved  with  great  civility,  and  gave  the  whole  party  as  much 
boiled  salmon  as  they  could  eat,  and  added  a  present  of  several 
dried  salmon  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  chokechinies ;"  and 
Captain  Lewis  remarks  of  the  same  people,  that  "an  Indian  in- 
vited him  into  his  bower,  and  gave  him  a  small  morsel  of  boiled 
antelope,  and  a  piece  of  fresh  salmon  roasted.  This  was  the 
first  salmon  he  had  seen,  and  perfectly  satisfied  him  that  he 
was  now  on  the  waters  of  the  Pacific."  Thus  far  among  the 
tribes  we  find  a  literal  repetition  of  the  rule  of  hospitality  as 
practiced  by  the  Iroquois.  Mr.  Dall,  speaking  of  the  Aleuts, 
says,  "hospitality  was  one  of  their  prominent  traits,"  and  Powers, 
of  the  Porno  Indians  of  California  remarks,  that  they  would  "al- 
ways divide  the  last  morsel  of  dried  salmon  with  genuine  savage 
thriftlessness,"  and  of  the  Mi-oal'-a-wa-gun,  that,  "like  all  Cali- 
fornia Indians,  they  are  very  hospitable." 

Father  Marquette  and  Lieutenant  Joliet,  who  first  discovered 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  847 

the  Upper  Mississippi  in  1673,  had  friendly  intercourse  with 
some  of  the  tribes  on  its  eastern  bank,  and  were  hospitably  en- 
tertained by  them.  "The  council  being  over,  we  were  invited 
to  a  feast,  which  consisted  of  four  dishes.  The  first  was  a  dish 
of  sagamite — that  is,  some  Indian  meal  boiled  in  water  and 
seasoned  with  grease — the  master  of  ceremonies  holding  a 
spoonful  of  it,  which  he  put  thrice  into  my  mouth  and  then  did 
the  like  to  M.  Joliet.  The  second  dish  consisted  of  three  fish, 
whereof  he  took  a  piece,  and  having  taken  out  the  bones  and 
blown  upon  it  to  cool  it,  he  put  it  into  my  mouth.  The  third 
dish  was  a  large  dog,  which  they  had  killed  on  purpose,  but  un- 
derstanding that  we  did  not  eat  this  animal,  they  sent  it  away. 
The  fourth  was  a  piece  of  buffalo  meat,  of  which  they  put  the 
fattest  pieces  into  our  mouths." 

Lower  down  the  river,  below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  they 
fell  in  with  another  tribe,  of  whom  they  speak  as  follows :  "We 
therefore  disembarked  and  went  to  their  village.  They  enter- 
tained us  with  buffalo  and  bear's  meat  and  white  plums,  which 
were  excellent.  We  observed  they  had  guns,  knives,  axes, 
shovels,  glass  beads,  and  bottles  in  which  they  put  their  powder. 
They  wear  their  hair  long  as  the  Iroquois,  and  their  women  are 
dressed  as  the  Hurons." 

In  1766  Jonathan  Carver  visited  the  Dakota  tribes  of  the 
Mississippi,  the  Sauks  and  Foxes,  and  Winnebagos  of  Wis- 
consin, and  the  O  jib  was  of  Upper  Michigan.  He  spoke  gen- 
erally of  the  hospitality  of  these  tribes  as  follows :  "No  people 
are  more  hospitable,  kind,  and  free  than  the  Indians.  They  will 
readily  share  with  any  of  their  own  tribe  the  last  part  of  their 
provisions,  and  even  with  those  of  a  different  nation,  if  they 
chance  to  come  in  when  they  are  eating.  Though  they  do  not 
keep  one  common  stock,  yet  that  community  of  goods  which  is 
so  prevalent  among  them,  and  their  generous  disposition,  render 
it  nearly  of  the  same  effect."  The  "community  of  goods,  which 
is  so  prevalent  among  them,"  is  explained  by  their  large  house- 
holds formed  of  related  families,  who  shared  their  provisions 
in  common.  The  "seven  families  of  Shoshonees"  in  one  house, 
and  also  the  houses  "crowded  with  men,  women,  and  children," 


848  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

mentioned  by  Lewis  and  Clarke,  are  fair  samples  of  Indian 
households  in  the  early  period. 

We  turn  again  to  the  southern  tribes  of  the  United  States, 
the  Cherokes,  Choctas,  Chickasas,  and  Confederated  Creek 
tribes.  James  Adair,  whose  work  was  published  in  1775,  re- 
marks generally  upon  their  usages  in  the  following  language: 
"They  are  so  hospitable,  kind-hearted,  and  free,  that  they  would 
share  with  those  of  their  own  tribe  the  last  part  of  their  own 
provisions,  even  to  a  single  ear  of  corn;  and  to  others,  if  they 
called  when  they  were  eating;  for  they  have  no  stated  meal 
time.  An  open  generous  temper  is  a  standing  virtue  among 
them;  to  be  narrow-hearted,  especially  to  those  in  want,  or  to 
any  of  their  own  family,  is  accounted  a  great  crime,  and  to  re- 
flect scandal  on  the  rest  of  the  tribe.  Such  wretched  misers 

they  brand  with  bad  characters The   Cherokee   Indians 

have  a  pointed  proverbial  expression  to  the  same  effect — sinna- 
wah  na  wora,  the  great  hawk  is  at  home.  However,  it  is  a  very 
rare  thing  to  find  any  of  them  of  a  narrow  temper ;  and  though 
they  do  not  keep  one  promiscuous  common  stock,  yet  it  is  to 
the  very  same  effect;  for  every  one  has  his  own  family  or  tribe, 
and  when  one  of  them  is  speaking,  either  of  the  individuals  or 
habitations  of  any  of  his  tribe,  he  says,  'he  is  of  my  house,'  or 
'it  is  my  house.'  ....  When  the  Indians  are  traveling  in  their 
own  country,  they  inquire  for  a  house  of  their  own  tribe 
[gens]  ;  and  if  there  be  any,  they  go  to  it,  and  are  kindly  re- 
ceived, though  they  never  saw  the  persons  before — they  eat, 
drink,  and  regale  themselves  with  as  much  freedom  as  at  their 
own  table,  which  is  the  solid  ground  covered  with  a  bear-skin. 
....  Every  town  has  a  state-house  or  synedrion,  as  the  Jewish 
sanhedrim,  where  almost  every  night,  the  head  men  convene 
about  public  business ;  or  the  town's  people  to  feast,  sing,  dance, 
and  rejoice  in  the  divine  presence,  as  will  fully  be  described 
hereafter.  And  if  a  stranger  calls  there,  he  is  treated  with 
the  greatest  civility  and  hearty  kindness — he  is  sure  to  find 
plenty  of  their  simple  home  fare,  and  a  large  cane-bed  covered 
with  the  softened  skins  of  bears  or  buffaloes  to  sleep  on.  But, 
when  his  lineage  is  known  to  the  people  (by  a  stated  custom 
they  are  slow  in  greeting  one  another),  his  relations,  if  he  has  any 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  849 

there,  address  him  in  a  familiar  way,  invite  him  home,  and  treat 
him  as  a  kinsman."  All  these  tribes  were  organized  in  gentes 
or  clans,  and  the  gentes  of  each  tribe  were  usually  reintegrated  in 
two  or  more  phratries.  It  is  the  gens  to  which  Mr.  Adair  refers 
when  he  speaks  of  the  "family,"  "relations,"  and  "lineage."  We 
find  among  them  the  same  rule  of  hospitality,  substantially,  as 
prevailed  among  the  Iroquois. 

It  is  a  reasonable  conclusion,  therefore,  that  among  all  the 
tribes,  north  of  New  Mexico,  the  law  of  hospitality,  as  prac- 
ticed by  the  Iroquois,  was  universally  recognized;  and  that  in 
all  Indian  villages  and  encampments  without  distinction  the 
hungry  were  fed  through  the  open  hospitality  of  those  who 
possessed  a  surplus.  Notwithstanding  this  generous  custom, 
it  is  well  known  that  the  Northern  Indians  were  often  fearfully 
pressed  for  the  means  of  subsistence  during  a  portion  of  each 
year.  A  bad  season  for  their  limited  productions,  and  the  ab- 
sence of  accumulated  stores,  not  unfrequently  engendered 
famine  over  large  districts.  From  the  severity  of  the  struggle 
for  subsistence,  it  is  not  surprising  that  immense  areas  were 
entirely  uninhabited,  that  other  large  areas  were  thinly  peopled, 
and  that  dense  population  nowhere  existed. 

Among  the  Village  Indians  of  New  Mexico  the  same  hos- 
pitality is  now  extended  to  Americans  visiting  their  pueblos, 
and  which  presumptively  is  simply  a  reflection  of  their  usage 
among  themselves  and  toward  other  tribes.  In  1852  Dr.  Ten- 
broeck,  assistant  surgeon  United  States  Army,  accompanied  his 
command  to  the  Moki  pueblos.  In  his  journal  he  remarks : 
"Between  eleven  and  twelve  to-day  we  arrived  at  the  first  towns 
of  Moki.  All  the  inhabitants  turned  out,  crowding  the  streets 
and  house-tops  to  have  a  view  of  the  white  men,  All  the  old 
men  pressed  forward  to  shake  hands  with  us,  and  we  were  most 
hospitably  received  and  conducted  to  the  governor's  house,  where 
we  were  at  once  feasted  upon  guavas  and  a  leg  of  mutton 
broiled  upon  the  coals.  After  the  feast  we  smoked  with  them, 
and  they  then  said  that  we  should  move  our  camp  in,  and  that 
they  would  give  us  a  room  and  plenty  of  wood  for  the  men,  and 
sell  us  corn  for  the  animals."  In  1858  Lieut.  Joseph  C.  Ives 
was  at  the  Moki  Pueblo  of  Mooshahneh  [Mi-shong-i-ni-vi]. 


850  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

"The  town  is  nearly  square,"  he  remarks,  "and  surrounded  by 
a  stone  wall  fifteen  feet  high,  the  top  of  which  forms  a  landing 
extending  around  the  whole.  Flights  of  stone  steps  lead  from 
the  first  to  a  second  landing,  upon  which  the  doors  of  the  houses 
open.  Mounting  the  stairway  opposite  to  the  ladder,  the  chief 
crossed  to  the  nearest  door  and  ushered  us  into  a  low  apartment, 
from  which  two  or  three  others  opened  towards  the  interior  of 
the  dwelling.  Our  host  courteously  asked  us  to  be  seated  upon 
some  skins  spread  along  the  floor  against  the  wall,  and  pres- 
ently his  wife  brought  in  a  vase  of  water  and  a  tray  filled  with 
a  singular  substance  that  looked  more  like  sheets  of  thin  blue 
wrapping  paper  rolled  up  into  bundles  than  anything  else  that  I 
have  ever  seen.  I  learned  afterwards  that  it  was  made  of  corn 
meal,  ground  very  fine,  made  into  a  gruel,  and  poured  over  a 
heated  stone  to  be  baked.  When  dry  it  has  a  surface  slightly 
polished  like  paper.  The  sheets  are  folded  and  rolled  together, 
and  form  the  staple  article  of  food  with  the  Moki  Indians.  As 
the  dish  was  intended  for  our  entertainment,  and  looked  clean, 
we  all  partook  of  it.  It  had  a  delicate  fresh-bread  flavor,  and 
was  not  at  all  unpalatable,  particularly  when  eaten  with  salt." 
Lieutenant-Colonel  (now  General)  Emory  visited  the  Pima 
villages  on  the  Gila  River  in  1846.  "I  rode  leisurely  in  the  rear 
through  the  thatched  huts  of  the  Pimos.  Each  abode  consisted 
of  a  dome-shaped  wickerwork  about  six  feet  high,  and  from 
twenty  to  fifty  feet  in  diameter,  thatched  with  straw  or  corn- 
stalks. In  front  is  usually  a  large  arbor,  on  top  of  which  is  piled 
the  cotton  in  the  pod  for  drying.  In  the  houses  were  stowed 
watermelons,  pumpkins,  beans,  corn  and  wheat,  the  three  last 
articles  generally  in  large  baskets.  Sometimes  the  corn  was  in 
baskets,  covered  with  earth,  and  placed  on  the  tops  of  the  domes. 
A  few  chickens  and  dogs  were  seen,  but  no  other  domestic  ani- 
mals, except  horses,  mules,  and  oxen Several  acquaint- 
ances, formed  in  our  camp  yesterday,  were  recognized,  and  they 
received  me  cordially,  made  signs  to  dismount,  and  when  I  did 
so  offered  watermelons  and  pinole.  Pinole  is  the  heart  of  In- 
dian corn,  baked,  ground  up,  and  mixed  with  sugar.  When 
dissolved  in  water  it  affords  a  delicious  beverage;  it  quenches 
thirst,  and  is  very  nutritious The  population  of  the  Pimos 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  851 

and  Maricopas  together  is  estimated  variously  at  from  three  to 
ten  thousand.  The  first  is  evidently  too  low.  This  peaceful  and 
industrious  race  are  in  possession  of  a  beautiful  and  fertile  basin. 
Living  remote  from  the  civilized  world,  they  are  seldom  visited 
by  whites,  and  then  only  by  those  in  distress,  to  whom  they 
generously  furnish  horses  and  food."  In  this  case  and  in  those 
stated  by  Lieutenant  Ives  and  Dr.  Tenbroeck  we  find  a  repetition 
of  the  Iroquois  rule  to  set  food  before  the  guest  when  he  first 
enters  the  house. 

With  respect  to  the  Village  Indians  of  Mexico,  Central  and 
South  America,  our  information  is,  in  the  main,  limited  to  the 
hospitality  extended  to  the  Spaniards ;  but  it  is  sufficient  to  show 
that  it  was  a  part  of  their  plan  of  life,  and,  as  it  must  be  sup- 
posed, a  repetition  of  their  usages  in  respect  to  each  other. 
In  every  part  of  America  that  they  visited,  the  Spaniards,  al- 
though often  in  numbers  as  a  military  force,  were  assigned 
quarters  in  Indian  houses,  emptied  of  their  inhabitants  for  that 
purpose,  and  freely  supplied  with  provisions.  Thus  at  Zempoala 
"the  lord  came  out,  attended  by  ancient  men,  two  persons  of  note 
supporting  him  by  the  arms,  because  it  was  the  custom  among 
them  to  come  out  in  that  manner  when  one  great  man  received 
another.  This  meeting  was  with  much  courtesy  and  abundance 
of  compliments,  and  people  were  already  appointed  to  find  the 
Spaniards  quarters  and  furnish  provisions."  When  near 
Tlascala  the  Tlascallans  "sent  three  hundred  turkeys,  two  hun- 
dred baskets  of  cakes  of  teutli,  which  they  call  tamales,  being 
about  two  hundred  arrobas;  that  is,  fifty  hundred  weight  of 
bread,  which  was  an  extraordinary  supply  for  the  Spaniards, 
considering  the  distress  they  were  in;"  and  when  at  Tlascala, 
Cortes  and  his  men  "were  generously  treated,  and  supplied  with 
all  necessaries."  They  "entered  Cholula  and  went  to  a  house 
where  they  lodged  altogether,  and  their  Indians  with  them,  al- 
though upon  their  guard,  being  for  the  present  plentifully  sup- 
plied with  provisions."  Although  the  Spaniards  numbered  about 
four  hundred,  and  their  allied  Indians  about  a  thousand,  they 
found  accommodations  in  a  single  joint  tenement  house  of  the 
aboriginal  American  model.  Attention  is  called  to  this  fact, 
because  we  shall  find  the  Village  Indians,  as  a  rule,  living  in 


852  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

large  houses,  each  containing  many  apartments,  and  accommo- 
dating five  hundred  or  more  persons.  The  household  of  sev- 
eral families  of  the  northern  Indians  reappears  in  the  southern 
tribes  in  a  much  greater  household  of  a  hundred  or  more  families 
in  a  single  joint  tenement  house,  but  not  unlikely  broken  up  into 
several  household  groups.  The  pueblo  consisted  sometimes  of 
one,  sometimes  of  two  or  three,  and  sometimes  of  a  greater  num- 
ber of  such  houses.  The  plan  of  life  within  these  houses  is  not 
well  understood ;  .but  it  can  still  be  seen  in  New  Mexico,  and  it 
is  to  be  hoped  it  will  attract  investigation. 

Speaking  of  the  Maya  Indians  of  Yucatan,  Herrera  remarks 
that  "they  are  still  generous  and  free-hearted,  so  that  they  will 
make  everybody  eat  that  comes  into  their  houses,  which  is  every- 
where practiced  in  travelling."  This  is  a  fair  statement  of  the 
Iroquois  law  of  hospitality  found  among  the  Mayas,  practiced 
among  themselves  and  towards  strangers  from  other  tribes. 
When  Grijalva,  about  1517,  discovered  the  Tabasco  River,  he 
held  friendly  intercourse  with  some  of  the  tribes  of  Yucatan. 
"They  immediately  sent  thirty  Indians  loaded  with  roasted  fish, 
hens,  several  sorts  of  fruit,  and  bread  made  of  Indian  wheat." 
When  Cortes,  in  1525,  made  his  celebrated  expedition  to  Hon- 
duras, he  passed  near  the  pueblo  of  Palenque  and  near  that  of 
Copan  without  being  aware  of  either,  and  visited  the  shore  of 
Lake  Peten.  "Being  well  received  in  the  city  of  Apoxpalan, 
Cortes  and  all  the  Spaniards,  with  their  horses,  were  quartered 
in  one  house,  the  Mexicans  being  dispersed  into  others,  and  all 
of  them  plentifully  supplied  with  provisions  during  their  stay." 
They  numbered  one  hundred  and  fifty  Spanish  horse  and  sev- 
eral hundred  Aztecs.  It  was  at  this  place,  according  to  Herrera, 
that  Quatemozin,  who  accompanied  Cortes  as  a  prisoner,  was 
barbarously  executed  at  his  command.  Cortes  next  visited  an 
Island  in  Lake  Peten,  where  he  was  sumptuously  entertained  by 
Canec,  the  chief  of  the  tribe,  where  they  "sat  down  to  dinner  in 
stately  manner,  and  Canec  ordered  fowls,  fish,  cakes,  honey,  and 
fruit." 

In  South  America  the  same  account  of  the  hospitality  of  the 
Indian  tribes  is  given  by  the  early  explorers.  About  the  year 
1500  Christopher  Guerra  made  a  voyage  to  the  coast  of  Vene- 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  853 

zuela:  "They  came  to  an  anchor  before  a  town  called  Curiana, 
where  the  Indians  entreated  them  to  go  ashore,  but  the  Spaniards 

being  no  more  than  thirty-three  in  all  durst  not  venture 

At  length,  being  convinced  of  their  sincerity,  the  Spaniards  went 
ashore,  and  being  courteously  entertained,  staid  there  twenty 
days.  They  plentifully  supplied  them  for  food  with  venison, 
rabbits,  geese,  ducks,  parrots,  fish,  bread  made  of  maize  or  In- 
dian wheat,  and  other  things,  and  brought  them  all  the  game  they 

would  ask  for They  perceived  that  they  kept  markets  or 

fairs,  and  that  they  made  use  of  jars,  pitchers,  pots,  dishes,  and 
porringers,  besides  other  vessels  of  several  shapes."  Pizarro 
found  the  same  custom  among  the  Peruvians  and  other  tribes 
of  the  coast.  At  the  time  of  his  first  visit  to  the  coast  of  Peru 
he  found  a  female  chief  by  whom  he  was  entertained.  "The  lady 
came  out  to  meet  them  with  a  great  retinue,  in  good  order,  hold- 
ing green  boughs  and  ears  of  Indian  wheat,  having  made  an 
arbor  where  were  seats  for  the  Spaniards,  and  for  the  Indians  at 
some  distance.  They  gave  them  to  eat  fish  and  flesh  dressed 
in  several  ways,  much  fruit,  and  such  bread  and  liquor  as  the 
country  afforded."  When  on  the  coast  of  Tumbez,  and  before 
landing,  "ten  or  twelve  floats  were  immediately  sent  out  with  a 
plenty  of  provisions,  fruits,  pots  of  water,  and  of  chica,  which  is 
their  liquor,  as  also  a  lamb."  After  entering  Peru,  on  his  second 
visit  to  the  coast,  "Atahuallpa's  messengers  came  and  presented 
the  governor  with  ten  of  their  sheep  from  the  Inca,  and  some 
other  things  of  small  value,  telling  him  very  courteously  that  Ata- 
huallpa  had  commanded  them  in  inquire  what  day  he  intended  to 
be  at  Caxamalca,  that  he  might  have  provisions  on  the  way. 
....  The  next  day  more  messengers  came  from  Atahuallpa 
with  provisions,  which  he  received  with  thanks."  The  native 
historian,  Garcilasso  de  la  Viga,  remarks :  "Nor  were  the  Incas, 
among  their  other  charities,  forgetful  of  the  conveniences  for 
travellers,  but  in  all  the  great  roads  built  houses  or  inns  for  them, 
which  they  called  corpahuad,  where  they  were  provided  with 
victuals  and  other  necessaries  for  their  journies  out  of  the  royal 
stores;  and  in  case  any  traveller  fell  sick  on  the  way,  he  was 
there  attended  and  care  taken  of  him  in  a  better  manner  per- 
haps than  at  his  own  home." 


854  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

These  illustrations,  which  might  be  multiplied,  are  sufficient  to 
show  the  universality  of  the  practice  of  hospitality  among  the 
Indian  tribes  of  America  at  the  epoch  of  European  discovery. 
Among  all  these  forms,  as  stated  by  different  observers,  the 
substance  of  the  Iroquois  law  of  hospitality  is  plainly  found, 
namely:  If  a  man  entered  an  Indian  house,  whether  a  villager, 
a  tribesman,  or  a  stranger,  and  at  whatever  hour  of  the  day, 
it  was  the  duty  of  the  women  of  the  house  to  set  food  before 
him.  An  omission  to  do  this  would  have  been  a  discourtesy 
amounting  to  an  affront.  If  hungry,  he  ate,  if  not  hungry, 
courtesy  required  that  he  should  taste  the  food  and  thank  the 
giver.  It  is  seen  to  have  been  a  usage  running  through  three 
ethnic  conditions  of  the  Indian  race,  becoming  stronger  as  the 
means  of  subsistence  increased  in  variety  and  amount,  and  attain- 
ing its  highest  development  among  the  Village  Indians  in  the 
Middle  Status  of  barbarism.  It  was  an  active,  well-established 
custom  of  Indian  society,  practiced  among  themselves  and  among 
strangers  from  other  tribes,  and  very  naturally  extended  to  Euro- 
peans when  they  made  their  first  appearance  among  them.  Con- 
sidering the  number  of  the  Spaniards  often  in  military  com- 
panies, and  another  fact  which  the  aborigines  were  quick  to 
notice,  namely,  that  a  white  man  consumed  and  wasted  five  times 
as  much  as  an  Indian  required,  their  hospitality  in  many  cases 
must  have  been  grievously  overtaxed. 

Attention  has  been  called  to  this  law  of  hospitality,  and  to 
its  universality,  for  two  reasons:  firstly,  because  it  implies  the 
existence  of  common  stores,  which  supplied  the  means  for  its 
practice;  and  secondly,  because,  wherever  found,  it  implies  com- 
munistic living  in  large  households.  It  must  be  evident  that  this 
hospitality  could  not  have  been  habitually  practiced  by  the  Iro- 
quois and  other  northern  tribes,  and  much  less  by  the  Village 
Indians  of  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America,  with  such  uni- 
formity, if  the  custom  in  each  case  had  depended  upon  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  single  families.  In  that  event  it  would 
have  failed  oftener  than  it  would  have  succeeded.  The  law  of 
hospitality,  as  administered  by  the  American  aborigines,  indicates 
a  plan  of  life  among  them  which  has  not  been  carefully  studied, 
nor  have  its  effects  been  fully  appreciated.  Its  explanation  must 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  855 

be  sought  in  the  ownership  of  lands  in  common,  the  distribution 
of  their  products  to  households  consisting  of  a  number  of  fam- 
ilies and  the  practice  of  communism  in  living  in  the  household. 
Common  stores  for  large  households,  and  possibly  for  the 
village,  with  which  to  maintain  village  hospitality,  are  necessary 
to  explain  the  custom.  It  could  have  been  maintained  on  such 
a  basis,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  could  have  been  main- 
tained on  any  other.  The  common  and  substantially  universal 
practice  of  this  custom,  among  the  American  Indian  tribes,  at  the 
period  of  their  discovery,  among  whom  the  procurement  of  sub- 
sistence was  their  vital  need,  must  be  regarded  as  evidence  of  a 
generous  disposition,  and  as  exhibiting  a  trait  of  character  highly 
creditable  to  the  race. — L.  H.  MORGAN,  Houses  and  House-Life 
of  the  American  Aborigines  44-62  (U.  S.  Geogr.  and  Geol. 
Survey  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Region:  Contributions  to  Ameri- 
can Ethnology,  Vol.  IV). 


Moral  control — the  modification  of  the  natural  dis- 
position and  behavior  of  men  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
they  are  members  of  a  society — may  be  regarded  as  the 
great  problem  of  early  times.  In  Part  II,  in  connection 
with  the  Australian  initiation  ceremonies  and  food- 
regulations  we  saw  how  this  control  was  secured 
through  habit  and  custom.  Sumner's  Folkways  is  a 
volume  treating  this  aspect  of  society  extensively.  In 
the  papers  of  Howitt,  and  Spencer  and  Gillen  on  the 
influence  of  old  men  in  Australia  and  Australian  tribal 
government  we  see  how  custom  is  both  carried  out  and 
modified  through  influential  persons.  Morgan's  ac- 
count of  the  Iroquois  confederacy  brings  us  to  the 
stage  of  control  through  general  ideas  and  the  forma- 
tion of  the  state.  The  Central  Australians  present  a 
state  of  society  as  it  probably  existed  almost  in  the 
beginning,  and  the  Iroquois  had  almost  reached  the 
stage  of  white  society  as  it  is. 

The  older  idea  that  the  clan  system  as  represented 
by  the  Iroquois  was  at  one  time  universal  in  America 
has  been  revised  by  later  investigations.  See,  e.  g., 
Swanton,  "The  Social  Organization  of  American 
Tribes,"  American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  7:663-73. 

The  volumes  by  Westermarck,  Nieboer  and  Stein- 
metz,  listed  in  the  bibliography  below,  and  dealing  with 
offenses  and  punishments,  blood-revenge  and  compen- 
sation, human  sacrifice,  the  duel,  the  ordeal,  cannibal- 
ism, the  treatment  of  women,  duties  to  gods,  property, 
slavery,  etc.,  are  especially  recommended  as  supple- 
mentary to  Part  VII. 

856 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  857 

Westermarck's  work  perhaps  affords  the  best  ex- 
ample of  a  method  of  presenting  ethnological  materials 
which  is  very  useful,  but  which  has  its  limitations.  It 
corresponds  with  the  method  of  arranging  materials  in 
museums  developed  by  Pitt-Rivers  in  England  a  num- 
ber of  years  ago.  By  this  method  all  the  knives,  throw- 
ing-sticks,  or  other  articles  of  a  particular  kind  were 
brought  together  in  one  place,  with  a  view  to  exhibiting 
the  steps  in  the  development  of  this  article — and  some 
very  pretty  effects  were  thus  secured,  as  can  be  seen 
from  the  two  papers  by  Pitt-Rivers  included  in  this  vol- 
ume. But  our  great  museums  are  now  recognizing  (with 
some  unfortunate  exceptions)  that  it  is  on  the  whole 
better  to  arrange  materials  on  the  principle  of  presenting 
the  culture  of  a  given  region  as  a  whole.  No  object  can 
be  completely  understood  when  separated  from  the 
whole  culture  of  which  it  is  a  part,  and  no  culture  can 
be  understood  when  its  fragments  are  dislocated.  On 
the  other  hand,  when  cultures  are  displayed  by  regions 
and  understood  as  wholes,  it  is  still  possible  to  compare 
the  different  regions  and  the  different  cultural  elements 
in  the  different  regions. 

Similarly  after  reading  Westermarck's  Moral  Ideas 
(and  it  is  a  good  thing  to  do  this  first),  the  student 
should  examine  moral  practices  in  connection  with  the 
whole  culture  of  certain  selected  societies.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  Pueblo  Indians,  as  presented  by  Gushing, 
Stevenson,  Holmes,  Fewkes,  and  others,  and  study  their 
moral  life  in  connection  with  their  physical  environment 
and  whole  material  culture.  Compare  the  particular 
practices  of  the  different  Pueblos,  and  compare  them  also 
with  those  of  such  contrasted  peoples  as  the  Eskimo,  as 
presented  by  Boas,  Nelson,  Murdock,  and  others.  The 


858  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

intensive  and  admirable  study  of  the  Chukchee  by  Bo- 
goras  also  affords  an  excellent  opportunity  to  study  the 
culture  of  a  people  as  a  whole.  This  should  be  first 
compared  with  the  equally  admirable  study  of  the  Kor- 
yak by  Jochelson.  The  two  can  then  be  compared  with 
the  culture  of  the  Zuni.  The  Reports  of  the  Cambridge 
Expedition  to  Torres  Straits,  and  the  works  of  Rivers 
(on  the  Todas),  Skeat  and  Blagden,  van  der  Sande,  von 
den  Steinen,  Overbergh,  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Codring- 
ton,  and  Hurgronje  are  among  the  convenient  starting- 
points  for  other  regions.  This  method  should,  of  course, 
be  applied  to  any  activity  in  which  the  student  is  inter- 
ested— religion,  magic,  myth,  art,  marriage,  invention, 
mind,  etc. 

It  is  a  noticeable  defect  in  the  work  of  the  type  of 
Westermarck  and  Herbert  Spencer  that  the  writers  can- 
not reconcile  with  their  theories  all  the  ethnological 
statements  which  they  collect  and  present.  When  the 
fragments  are  counted  and  compared  there  always  re- 
main some  exceptions,  which  are  treated  as  exceptions 
and  counted  as  negligible.  The  explanation  of  all  the 
facts  can  be  effected,  if  at  all,  only  through  the  regional 
study  of  cultures  and  the  application  of  the  standpoint 
of  attention,  habit,  and  crisis. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  7 

1  ACHELIS,  T.     "Ethnologic  und  Ethik,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  23:66-77. 

2  ACHELIS,  T.     "Ueber  die  Organisation  und  Bedeutung  der  Geheim- 
biinde,"   Globus,  64:385-90. 

3  AMMON,  O.    Die  Gesellschajtsordnung  und  ihre  naturlichen  Grund- 
lagen.    Jena,  1896. 

*4  AMMON,  O.     "Der  Ursprung  der  socialen  Triebe,"  Zeits.  f.  Social- 

wiss.,  4:1-12;  101-13. 

*5  ANDREE,  R.    Die  Anthropophagie.     Leipzig,  1887. 
*6  ANDREE,    R.      "Ethnographische    Bemerkungen    zu    einigen    Rechts- 

gebrauchen.      I.     Jagdrecht;    II.      Die   Asyle,"    Globus,    38:286-88; 

301-2. 
*7  ANDREE,    R.      Ethnographische    Parallelen    und    Vergleiche    (Neue 

Folge),  "Eigentumszeichen,"  74-85;   "Beschneidung,"  166-212. 
[Andree's  paper  on  circumcision  is   excellent.] 

8  ANDRIAN-WERBURG,  F.  VON.     "Die  kosmologischen  und  kosmogoni- 
schen    Vorstellungen    primitiver    Volker,"    Deutsch.    Gesellsch.    filr 
Anth.,  Ethn.  u.  Urgesch.,  Correspondenzblatt,  28:  127-39. 

9  ATKINSON,  J.  J.    Primal  Law.     New  York,  1903. 

[Worthy  of  note.     Assumes  an  original  condition  of  control  through  power- 
ful males,  as  among  gregarious  animals.] 

*io  BANDELIER,  A.  F.  "On  the  Art  of  War  and  Mode  of  Warfare  of 
the  Ancient  Mexicans,"  Peabody  Mus.  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  Rep., 
10:  95-161. 

*n  BANDELIER,  A.  F.  "Social  Organisation  and  Mode  of  Government 
of  the  Ancient  Mexicans,"  Peabody  Mus.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  Rep., 
12 : 557-699- 

*no  BANDELIER,  A.  F.  "On  the  Distribution  and  Tenure  of  Lands 
....  among  the  Ancient  Mexicans,"  Peabody  Mus.  Arch,  and 
Ethn.,  Rep.,  11  : 385-448. 

[The  loth,  nth,  and  isth  Reports  of  the  Peabody  Museum  are  bound  in  Vol. 
II.     They  are  of  great  importance.] 

12  BAUMANN,  O.     "Gottesurteile  bei  den  Swahili,"  Globus,  76:371-72. 

13  BEAUCHAMP,  W.  M.     "Permanency  of  Iroquois  Clans  and  Sachem- 
ships,"  Am.  Antiq.,  8:82-91. 

*I4  BOAS,   F.     "The   Social   Organization   and   Secret   Societies   of   the 
Kwakiutl  Indians,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Rep.  for  1895:315-738. 
[Very  important.] 

859 


86o  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*I5  BOAS,  F.     "Property  Marks  of   the  Alaskan   Eskimo,"  Am.  Anth. 

N.  S.,  1:601-13. 
*i6  BOURKE,   J.    G.      "The    Medicine-Men    of    the    Apache,"    Bur.    Am. 

Ethn.,  Rep.,  9:443-603. 
17  BULOW,    W.    VON.      "Das    ungeschriebene    Gesetz    der    Samoaner," 

Globus,  69 : 191-95. 
*i8  CARDI,  C.   N.  DE.     "Ju-ju  Laws  in  the   Niger  Delta,"  Jour.  Anth. 

Inst.,  29:51-61. 

19  CHAMBERLAIN,     B.     H.       "Translation     of     'Ko-ji-ki'-Records     of 
Ancient    Matters,"   Asiat.    Soc.    of  Japan,    Trans.,    Supplement,    10; 
1-369. 

20  CLEMENT,  E.  W.     "Instructions  of  a  Mito  Prince  to  His  Retainers," 
Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  26:115-54. 

*2i  CODRINGTON,  R.   H.     "On   Social  Regulations   in   Melanesia,"  Jour. 

Anth.  Inst.,  18:306-13. 
*22  CONNOLLY,  R.  M.     "Social  Life  in  Fanti-Land,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst., 

26 : 128-53. 

23  COUTY,  L.     L'esclavage  au  Bresil.     Paris,  1881. 

24  CUNOW,  H.     Verwandschaftsorganisationen  der  Australneger.   Stutt- 
gart, 1894- 

*25  DANNERT,  E.     Zum  Rechte  der  Herero.     Berlin,  1906. 

26  DAUTREMER,  J.     "The  Vendetta  or  Legal  Revenge  in  Japan,"  Asiat. 
Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  13 : 82-89. 

27  DENNETT,  R.   E.     At   the  Back   of  the  Black  Man's  Mind,  24-25 
[Law]. 

*28  DEWEY,  J.    Ethics.    New  York,  1908. 

[A  lecture  published  by  Columbia  University  Press.] 
*29  DEWEY,  J.     "The   Evolutionary   Method   as   Applied   to   Morality," 

Philos.  Rev.,  11:353-71. 
30  DIMITROFF,  Z.     Die  Geringschatzung  der  menschlichen  Lebens  und 

ihre  Ursachen  bei  den  Naturvolkern.     Leipzig,  1891. 
*3i  DORSEY,  J.  O.    "Omaha  Sociology,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  3:312-33 

[War] ;  356-70  [Law]. 

*32  DORSEY,  J.  O.    "Siouan  Sociology,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  15 : 205-44. 
33  DUTKHEIM,  E.     "Sur  le  totemisme,"  L'annee  social.,  5:82-121. 
*33a  ENRIGHT,  W.  G.     "The  Initiation  Ceremonies   of  the  Aborigines 
of  Port  Stephens,  N.  S.  Wales,"  Roy.  Soc.  of  N.  S.  Wales,  Jour.,  33 : 
115-24. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  861 

34  EHRENREICH,  P.     "Neue  Mitteilungen  iiber  die  Guayki    (Steinzeit- 
menschen)  in  Paraguay,"  Globus,  73:73-78. 

35  ELLIS,  W.  G.     "The  Amok  of  the  Malays,"  Jour.  Ment.  Sci.,  39: 
325-38. 

36  ENJOY,  P.  D'.     "Associations,  congregations  et  societes  secretes  chi- 
noises,"  Soc.  d'Anth.  de  Paris,  Bui.  5,  ser.  5:373-86. 

37  ENJOY,  P.  D'.     "Le  pays  des  Tsings :   etude  de  1'organisation   poli- 
tique  de  la  Chine,"  Soc.  d'Anth.  de  Paris,  Bui.  5,  sen  3:686-94. 

38  ENJOY,  P.  D'.  "Penalites  chinoises,"     Soc.  d'Anth.  de  Paris,  Bui.  5, 
ser.  6:247-54. 

39  FEWKES,  J.  W.     "Property-Right  in  Eagles  among  the  Hopi,"  Am. 
Anth.,  N.  S.,  2:690-707. 

40  FEWKES,  J.   W.     "Tusayan   Totemic   Signatures,"   Am.   Anth.,   10: 
i-n. 

*4i  FEWKES,  J.  W.,  AND  STEPHENS,  A.  M.  "The  Na-ac-rai-ya :  A 
Tusayan  Initiation  Ceremony,"  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  5:189-221. 
42  FISON,  L.  "Land  Tenure  in  Fiji,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  10:  332-52. 

*43  FLETCHER,  A.  C.  "The  Import  of  the  Totem,"  Smithsonian  Inst., 
Ann.  Rep.  for  1897:577-86. 

*44  FLETCHER,  A.  C.  "The  Significance  of  the  Scalp-Lock,"  Jour.  Anth. 
Inst.,  27:436-50. 

45  FRAUENSTADT,    P.    Blutrache    und    Todschlagsiihne    im    deutschen 
Mittelalter.    Leipzig,  1881. 

46  FRAZER,  J.  G.    Lectures  on  the  Early  History  of  Kingship.    London, 

[Extracted  from  ad  ed.  of  The  Golden  Bough.'] 

47  FRAZER,  J.  G.     Totemism.     Edinburgh,  1887. 

48  FRAZER,   J.    G.     "Observations    on    Central    Australian    Totemism," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  28:281-86. 

49  FRERE,  H.  B.    "On  the  Laws  Affecting  the  Relations  between  Civilised 
and  Savage  Life,  as  Bearing  on  the  Dealings  of  Colonists  and  Abo- 
rigines," Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  11:313-54. 

50  FRERE,  H.  B.    "Systems  of  Land  Tenure  ....  in  S.  Africa,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.}  12:258-77. 

*5l  FRIEDERICI,   G.     Skalpieren   und  ahnliche  Kriegsgcbr'duche   in  Ame- 

rika.    Braunschweig,  1906. 
[An  abstract,  "Scalping  in  America,"  is  printed  in  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1906: 

423-38.] 

510  FRIEDERICI,  G.     "Die    Squaw    als    Verraterin,"    Internal.    Arch.    f. 
Ethnog.,  18:121-24. 


862       .  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

52  FROBENIUS,   L.     "Die  Masken  und   Geheimbiinde  Afrikas,"   Kaiser- 
lich-Leopoldinisch-Carolinische    deutsche   Akad.    der   Naturvorscher, 
Abhandl.,  74:1-278. 

53  GENNEP,  A.  VAN.     Tabou  et  totcmisme  a  Madagascar.     Paris,  1904. 

54  GENNEP,   A.   VAN.     "Les    'Wasm'    ou    marques    de    propriete    des 
Arabes,"  Internal.  Archiv  f.  Ethnog.,  15:85-98. 

*54a  GIDDINGS,  F.  H.  Pirnciples  of  Sociology,  "Zoogenic,  Anthropogenic 
and  Ethnogenic  Association,"  190-298. 

55  GLASSBERG,   A.     Die  Beschneidung  in  ihrer  gcschichtlichen,  ethno- 
graphischen,  religiosen  und  medicinischen  Bedeutung.     Berlin,  1896. 

56  GOMME,  G.  L.     "On  the  Evidence  for  Mr.  McLennan's  Theory  of 
the  Primitive  Human  Horde,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  17:118-33. 

57  GRIGSBY,  W.  E.     "The  Legacy  of  lyeyasu,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan, 
Trans.,  3,   Pt.  2:118-25. 

*58  GRINNELL,  G.  B.  "Social  Organization  of  the  Cheyennes,"  Inter- 
not.  Cong,  of  Americanists,  Trans.,  1902 : 135-146. 

*59  GRINNELL,  G.  B.  "Tenure  of  Land  among  the  Indians,"  Am. 
Anth.,  N.  S.,  9:1-11. 

60  GUBBINS,  J.  H.     "The  Feudal  System  in  Japan  under  the  Tokugawa 
Shoguns,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  15:131-42. 

61  GUBBINS,  J.  H.     "Laws  of  the  Tokugawa  Period,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of 
Japan,  Trans.,  26:154-62. 

62  HADDON,  A.  C.     "Totemism,"  Man,  1:149-51. 

*63  HADDON,  A.  C.  Cambridge  Anth.  Exped.  to  Torres  Straits.,  Rep., 
"Initiation,"  5:208-21;  "Regulation  of  Public  Life,"  5:263-71; 
"Morals,"  5:272-79;  "Quarrels  and  Warfare,"  6:189-91. 

*64  HADDON  AND  RIVERS.  Cambridge  Anth.  Exped.  to  Torres  Straits, 
Rep.,  "Totemism,"  5:153-93. 

*6s  HADDON  AND  WATKIN.     Cambridge  Anth.  Exped.  to  Torres  Straits, 

Rep.,  "Warfare,"  5:298-307. 

66  HARPER,  R.  F.     The  Code  of  Hammurabi.     Chicago,  1904. 
*67  HARTLAND,  E.  S.     "Totemism  and  Some  Recent  Discoveries,"  Folk- 

Lore,  1 1 : 52-80. 

*68  HAURI,  J.  Der  Islam  in  seinem  Einfluss  auf  das  Leben  seiner 
Bekenner.  Leyden,  1881. 

69  HELLWIG,  A.     Das  Asylrecht  der  Naturvb'lker.     Berlin,  1903. 

70  HELLWIG,  A.    Beitrdge  sum  Asylrecht  von  Ozeanien.    Stuttgart,  1906. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  863 

*Jl  HENDREN,  S.  R.  "The  Government  and  Religion  of  the  Virginia 
Indians,"  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Studies  in  Hist,  and  Polit.  Sci.,  13 : 
543-96. 

72  HEWITT,  J.  N.  B.     "Era  of  the  Formation  of  the  Historic  League 
of  the  Iroquois,"  Am.  Anth.,  7:61-67. 

*73  HILDEBRAND,  R.  Recht  und  Sitte  auf  den  verschiedenen  wirtschaft- 
lichen  Kulturstufen.  Jena,  1896. 

*76  HOBHOUSE,  L.  T.  Morals  in  Evolution,  "Forms  of  Social  Organi- 
sation," 1:42-78;  "Law  and  Justice,"  1:79-133;  "The  Relations 
between  Communities,"  1:240-80;  "Class  Relations,"  1:281-331; 
"Property  and  Poverty,"  1 : 332-63. 

*77  HOFFMAN,  W.  J.  "The  Mide'wiwin  or  'Grand  Medicine  Society'  of 
the  Ojibwa,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  7:143-300. 

*79  HOWITT,  A.  W.  The  Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Australia, 
"Tribal  Organisation,"  34-87;  "Social  Organisation,"  88-155; 
"Tribal  Government,"  295-354;  "Initiation  Ceremonies,  509-677. 

80  Hownr,  A.  W.,  AND  FISON,  L.     "On  the  Deme   and   the  Horde," 
Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  14:142-68. 

81  JOHNSTON,  SIR  H.     George  Grenfell  and  the  Congo,  "Social  Laws," 
2:665-725. 

82  JOLLY,  J.     Recht  und  Sitte   der  Indo-Aryer.     Strasburg,    1896. 
*82O  KOHLER,  A.     Verfassung,    soziale    Gliederung,    Recht    und    Wirt- 

schaft  der  Tuareg.     Gotha,  1904. 

83  KOHLER,  J.     Rechtsvergleichende  Studien   ubcr   islamitisches  Recht, 
das  Recht  der  Berber,  das  chinesisches  Recht  und   das  Recht  auf 
Ceylon.     Berlin,  1889. 

*84  KOHLER,  J.     "Recht   und   Volkerpsychologie,"   Politisch-Anth.   Rev., 

1:385-90. 

[Kohler  has  nine  additional  papers  on  the  law  of  African,  Papuan,  American 
Indian,  and  Australian  tribes,  in  Vols.  Ill,  VII,  XII,  XIV,  and  XV  of 
the  Zeits.  fiir  vergleichende  Rechtsu'isscnschaft.] 

*85  KOVALEVSKY,   M.     Modern   Customs   and  Ancient  Laws   of  Russia. 

London,  1891. 

86  KOVALEVSKY,  M.     "The  Lex  Barbarorum  of  the  Daghestan,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  25:112-16. 

*87  KOVALEVSKY,  M.  "Les  origines  du  devoir,"  Rev.  internal,  de  soci- 
ologie,  2:  89-93. 

[For   Kovalevsky's   book    on    the    origin   and    evolution    of   property    and    the 
family  see  bibliography  of  Part  IV.] 

88  LANDTMAN.     The  Origin  of  Priesthood.     Ekenacs   (Finland),  1905. 


864  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*88a  LASCH,  R.     Der  Eid,  seine  Entstehung  und  Besiehung  zv.  Glaube 

und  Brauch  der  Naturvolker.    Stuttgart,  1908. 
*8p  LASCH,  R.     "Der    Selbstmord    aus    erotischen    Motiven    bei    den 

primitiven  Volkern,"  Zeits.  f.   Socialwiss.,  2 : 578-85. 

90  LAVELAYE,  £.    Primitive  Property.     (Trans,  by  G.  K.  L.  Marriott.) 
London,  1878. 

91  LAZARUS,  M.     "Ueber  den  Ursprung  der  Sitten,"  Zeits.  fur  Vdlker- 
psych.  und  Sprachwiss.,  I : 437-77. 

92  LETOURNEAU,  C.    "Le  passe  et  1'avenir  de  la  guerre,"  Rev.  mensuelle 
de  I'ecole  d'anth.,  3:269-91. 

93  LETOURNEAU,  C.     L'evolution  de  la  morale.     Paris,  1887. 

94  LETOURNEAU,  C.     L'evolution  de  la  propriete.     Paris,  1889. 

95  LETOURNEAU,  C.     L'evolution  politique.     Paris,  1890. 

96  LETOURNEAU,  C.     L'evolution  juridigue.     Paris,   1891. 

[None  of  Letourneau's  work  is  very  important,  but  he  was  industrious.] 

97  LOWENSTIMM,    A.      Aberglaube   und   Strafrecht:    Ein    Beitrag   zur 
Erforschung  des  Einfiusses  der  Volksanschauungen  auf  die   Veru- 
bung  von  Verbrechen.     Berlin,  1897. 

98  MASS.     "Taka-kai-kai  Tabu,"  Zeits.  fur  Ethn.,  37:153-62. 

*99  MACDONALD,   J.     "Manners,    Customs,    Superstitions    and    Religions 
of  South  African  Tribes,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  19:264-96;  20:113-40. 

100  MACLEAN,  J.    A  Compendium  of  Kafir  Laws  and  Customs.    Mount 
Coke,  1858. 

101  MAINE,  H.  S.     Lectures  on  the  Early  History  of  Institutions.    Lon- 
don, 1875. 

[Maine's  works  have  still  some  value.     His  patriarchal  theory  is  now 

discredited.] 

102  MAINE,  H.  S.  Ancient  Law.    London,  1885. 

103  MAINE,  H.  S.  Popular  Government.    London,  1885. 

104  MAINE,  H.  S.  Dissertations  on  Early  Lazv  and  Custom.     London, 
1891. 

105  MAINE,  H.  S.  Village  Communities  in  the  East.     London,  1895. 

*io5<z  MARKOVIC,  M.    Die  Serbische  Hauskommunion  und  ihre  Bedeutung 
in  der  Vergangenheit  und  Gegenwart.    Leipzig,  1903. 

106  MARRIOTT,  H.  P.  F.     "The  Secret  Societies  of  West  Africa,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  29:21-27. 

*IO7  MARTIUS,  K.  F.  P.  VON.     Von  dem  Rechtssustande  unter  den  Urein- 
wohnern  Brasiliens.     Miinchen,   1832. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  865 

108  MATHEWS,  R.   H.     "Some  Initiation  Ceremonies  of  the  Aborigines 
of  Victoria,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  37:872-79. 

109  MATHEWS,    R.    H.      "The    Bora,    or    Initiation    Ceremonies    of    the 
Kamilaroi  Tribe,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  24:411-27;   25:318-39. 

no  MATHEWS,  R.  H.  "The  Burbung  or  Initiation  Ceremonies  of  the 
Murrumbigbee  Tribes,"  Roy.  Soc.  of  N.  S.  Wales,  Jour,  and  Proc., 
3i:ui-S4. 

noa  MATHEWS,  R.  H.  "The  Group  Divisions  and  Initiation  Cere- 
monies of  the  Barkunjee  Tribes,"  Roy.  Soc.  of  N.  S.  Wales,  Jour., 
32:241-55. 

in  MATHEWS,  R.  H.  "The  Burbung  of  the  Wiradthuri  Tribes,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  25:295-318;  26:272-85. 

112  MATHEWS,   R.    H.     "The  Keeparra   Ceremony   of   Initiation,"   Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  26:320-40. 

113  MATHEWS,  R.  H.     "Totemic  Divisions  of  Australian  Tribes,"  Roy. 
Soc.  of  N.  S.  Wales,  Jour,  and  Proc.,  31 : 154-77. 

114  MATTHEWS,  W.     "The  Study  of  Ethics  among  the  Lower  Races," 
Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  12  : 1-9. 

115  MAUER,  F.     "Israelitisches  Asylrecht,"  Globus,  90:24,  25. 

116  MAZZARELLA,  G.     "Die  neuen   Methoden  der   ethnologischen   Juris- 
prudenz,"  Archiv  f.  Anth.,  33:227-43. 

*H7  MERKER,     M.      Rechtsverhaltnisse     und    Sitten     der     Wadschagga. 

Gotha,  1902. 

118  MOONEY,  J.  "The  Powhatan  Confederacy,  Past  and  Present,"  Am. 
Anth.,  N.  S.,  9:129-52. 

*ii9  MORGAN,  L.  H.  Ancient  Society,  "Organisation  of  Society  upon 
the  Basis  of  Sex,"  49-61 ;  "The  Iroquois  Gens,  Phratry — Tribe — 
Confederacy,"  62-150;  "Gentes  in  Other  Tribes  of  the  Ganowanian 
Family,"  151-85;  "The  Aztec  Confederacy,"  186-214;  "Growth  of 
the  Idea  of  Property,"  537-54. 

*I2O  MORGAN,  L.  H.  Houses  and  House-Life  of  the  American  Abo- 
rigines, "Social  and  Governmental  Organisation,"  1-41 ;  "The  Law 
of  Hospitality  and  its  General  Practice,"  42-62;  "Communism  in 
Living,"  62-78;  "Usages  and  Customs  with  Respect  to  Land  and 
Food,"  79-103. 

*I2I  MORGAN,  L.  H.  League  of  the  Iroquois,  51-137.  [Tribal  Organi- 
zation.] 

122  MUCKE,  J.  R.  Horde  und  Familie  in  ihrer  urgeschichtlichen  Ent- 
wickelung:  Eine  neue  Theorie  auf  statistischer  Grundlage.  Stutt- 
gart, 1895. 


866  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

123  MUMFORD,    E.      ''The    Origins    of    Leadership,"    Am.    Jour.    Social., 

12:216-40;  367-97;  500-31. 

*I24  NIEBOER,  H.  J.    Slavery  as  an  Industrial  System.    The  Hague,  1900. 
[A  unique  work  of  great  merit.] 

125  OPPEL,   A.     "Erwerb   und    Besitz   bei    den    Papua   von    Neuguinea," 
Globus,  54:121-25. 

126  PATTETTA,  F.     Le  Ordalie.     Torino,  1890. 

*I27  PAYNE,  E.  J.     History  of  the  New  World,  2:1-63.   [Tribal  organi- 
zation.] 

128  PEET,    S.    D.      "Secret    Societies    and    Sacred    Mysteries,"    Internal. 
Cong,  of  Anth.,  Mem.,  176-89. 

129  PETRUCCI,   R.     Les   origines   naturelles   de   la  propriete.      (Instituts 
Solvay.      Travaux    de    VInst.    de    Sociologie,    Notes    et    Mem.,    3.) 
Brussels,  1905. 

130  POSADA,    H.      Theories    modernes    sur    les    origines    de    la    famillc, 
de  la  societe,  de  I'etat.     Paris,  1906.     (Trans,  from  the  Spanish.) 

131  POST,  A.  H.     Afrikanische  Juris prudenz.     Oldenburg,  1887. 

[Post  has  an  imposing  array  of  books  on  ethnological  jurisprudence,  but  his 
work  is  not  excellent.  He  was  a  compiler  from  indifferent  sources 
without  the  power  of  interpretation.] 

*i3ia  POWELL,   B.   H.   BADEN-.      The    Land-Systems    of    British    India. 
Oxford,  1892. 

132  POWELL,   J.   W.     "Sociology,   or  the   Science   of   Institutions,"   Bur. 
Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  20 :  lix-cxxxviii. 

133  PROKSCH,   O.     Die  Blutrache   bei  den  vorislamischen  Arabern  und 
Mohammeds  Stellung  zu  ihr.     Leipzig,  1899. 

*I34  RATZEL,    F.     History    of   Mankind,    "The    State,"    i :  129-41 ;    "The 

Family  and  the  State  in  Oceania,"  i :  267-300 ;  "The  Malay  Family, 

Community,  State,"  1 : 437-52 ;  "The  Family  and  Society  in  America," 

2 : 124-43. 
*I35  RIVERS,  W.  H.  R.     Cambridge  Anth.  Expcd.  to  Torres  Straits,  Rep., 

"Social  Organisation,"  6 : 169-84. 
*I36  RIVERS,    W.    H.    R.      The    Todas,    "Social    Organisation,"    540-69; 

"Relations  with  Other  Tribes,"  628-42 ;  "The  Clans  of  the  Todas," 

643-78. 
1360  ROSE,  H.  A.    Compendium  of  the  Punjab  Customary  Law.    Lahore, 

1907. 
*I37  ROTH,  H.   L.     "On   Salutations,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,   19:164-81. 

138  ROTH,  H.  L.     "On  the  Signification  of  Couvade,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst., 
22:204-41. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  867 

*I39  ROTH,    W.    E.      "Notes    on    Government,    Morals    and    Crime."    N. 

Queensl.  Ethnog.,  Bui.  No.  8.     [See  Bibliography  10.] 
*i40  SARBAH,  J.  M.     Fanti  Customary  Laws.     London,   1904. 

141  SARTORI,  P.    "Ueber  das  Bauopfer,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  30:1-54. 

142  SCHMOLLER,   G.     "Die   Urgeschichte   der   Familie,    Mutterrecht   und 
Gentilverfassung,"  Jahrb.  f.  Gesetzgebung,  23  : 1-21. 

*I43  SCHURTZ,  H.     Altersklassen  und  Mannerbunde.     Berlin,  I$O2. 

[The  best  German  work  on  primitive  secret  societies  and  tribal  organization.] 

*I44  SCHURTZ,  H.     Die  Speiseverbote.     Hamburg,  1893. 

145  SENFFT,  A.     "Die  Rechtssitten  der  Jap-Eingeborenen,"  Globus,  91 : 
139-43;  149-53;  I7I-75. 

146  SHARP,  F.  C.     "A  Study  of  the  Influence  of  Custom  on  the  Moral 
Judgment,"    University  of  Wisconsin,  Bui.,  No.  236. 

147  SIBREE,  J.     "Curious   Words   and   Customs   Connected  with   Chief- 
tainship and  Royalty  among  the  Malagasy,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  21 : 
215-30. 

148  SIMMEL,   G.     "The     Sociology    of     Conflict,"     Am.    Jour,    Social, 
9:490-525;  672-89. 

149  SIMMEL,    G.      "The    Sociology    of    Secrecy,"    Am.    Jour.    Social., 
11:441-98. 

*I50  SKEAT  AND  BLAGDEN.  Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  "The 
Social  Order,"  1:494-520;  "Maturity  Customs  and  Beliefs,"  2: 
28-54- 

151  SPENCER,   B.     "Some   Remarks   on   Totemism   as   Applied   to   Aus- 
tralian Tribes,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  28:275-80. 

*I52  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.  The  Native  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  "The  Social  Organisation  of  the  Tribes,"  55-91 ;  "The 
Totems,"  112-211;  "Initiation  Ceremonies,"  212-386;  "Customs  Con- 
cerned with  Knocking  Out  of  Teeth,  etc.,"  450-75 ;  "The  Customs 
of  Kurdaitcha,"  476-96. 

*i53  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.  The  Northern  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  "Social  Organisation  of  the  Tribes,"  70-132;  "Totems," 
T43-327;  593-454;  "Initiation  Ceremonies,"  328-92;  "The  Atninga 
or  Avenging  Party,"  556-68. 

*I54  SPENCER,  H.  The  Principles  of  Sociology,  "Ceremonial  Institu- 
tions," 2:3-228;  "Political  Institutions,"  2:229-667. 

*I55  STEINMETZ,   S.   R.     Ethnologische  Studicn  sur  ersten  Entwicklung 

der  Strafe.    Leyden  and  Leipzig,  1894. 
[A  great  work,  corresponding  somewhat  to  Westermarck's  Moral  Ideas.'} 


868  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*i$6  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.    "Endo-Kannibalismus,"  Anth.  Gesellsch.  in  Wien, 

Mitth.,  26:1-60. 

[The  best  paper  on  cannibalism.] 
*i57  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.     "Suicide  among  Primitive  Peoples,"  Am.  Anth., 

7:  53-6o. 
*I58  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.     "Continuitat  oder  Lohn  und  Strafe  im  Jenseits 

der  Wilden,"  Arch,  fur  Anth.,  24:577-608. 
*I59  STEINMETZ,   S.  R.     "Eine  neue   Theorie  iiber   die   Entstehung  des 

Gottesurteils,"  Globus,  65:105-7. 
*i6o  STEINMETZ,    S.    R.     Rechtsvcrh'dltnisse   von    cingeborenen    Volkern 

in  Afrika  und  Ozeanien.     Berlin,  1003. 
*i6i  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.     "Der  Selbstnlord  bei  den  afrikanischen  Natur- 

volkern,"  Zeits.  f.  Socialitriss.,  10:208-304;  359-75. 
1610  STUART,  T.  P.    "The  'Mika'  or  'Kulpi'  Operation  of  the  Australian 

Aboriginals,"  Roy.  Soc.  of  N.  S.  Wales,  Jour.,  30:115-24. 

*i62  SUMNER,  W.  G.    Folkways.    Boston,  1907. 

["A    study    of    the    sociological    importance    of    usages,    manner,     customs, 

mores  and  morals."     Contains  a  wonderful  amount  of  ethnological  and 

culture-historical   information   in   692   pp.] 

163  SUTHERLAND,  A.     The  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  Moral  Instinct. 
London,  1898. 

*:63a  SUYEMATSU,  K.     "The  Ethics  of  Japan,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.   for 
1905:293-307  (reprinted  from  Jour,  of  the  Soc.  of  Arts,  53). 

164  SWANTON,  J.   R.     "The   Development   of   the   Clan   System   and  of 
Secret  Societies  among  the  Northwestern  Tribes,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S., 
6:477-85. 

*i65  SWANTON,  J.  R.     "The  Social   Organisation   of  American   Tribes," 
Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  7:663-73. 

166  TARDE,  G.     Les  transformations  du  pouvoir.     Paris,   1899.     (Also, 
opening  chapters,  Rev.  internal,  de  social.,  7:177-92.) 

167  THOMAS,  W.  I.     Sex  and  Society,  "Sex  and   Primitive  Morality," 
149-74. 

*i67a  TOUT,  C.  HILL-.     "Totemism:  A  Consideration  of  Its  Origin  and 

Import,"  Roy.  Soc.  of  Canada,  Proc.  and  Trans.,  Ser.  2,  9:61-99. 
*i67&  TOUT,  C.  HILL-.     "The  Origin  of  the  Totemism  of  the  Aborigines 

of  British  Columbia,"  Roy.  Soc.  of  Canada,  Proc.  and  Trans.,  2  Ser. 

7:3-15. 
*i68  TUFTS.  J.  H.    "The  Individual  and  His  Relation  to  Society,"  Psych. 

Rev.  Mon.,  Sup.  6,  No.  2. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  869 

169  TYLOR,  E.  B.     ''Remarks  on  Totemism  with  Especial  Reference  to 
Some  Modern  Theories  Respecting  It,"  Jour.  Anth.  Inst.,  28:138- 
48. 

170  UTIESENOVIE,  O.   M.     Die  Hauskommunion  der  Siidslaven.     Wien, 
1859- 

171  VAMBERY,  H.    Sittenbilder  aus  dcm  Morgenlande.     Berlin,  1877. 

172  VEBLEN,   T.     "The   Beginnings   of   Ownership,"   Am.  Jour.   Social., 
4:352-65- 

173  VERNEAU,    R.      "Les  ordalies    ou    jugements    divins,"    L'anth.,    n ; 
354-56. 

*I74  VIERKANDT,  A.  "Die  politischen  Verhaltnisse  der  Naturvolker," 
Zeits.  fiir  Socialwiss.,  4:417-26;  497-510. 

*I75  VIERKANDT,  A.  "Die  primitive  Sittlichkeit  der  Naturvolker," 
Globus,  76 : 149-54. 

*I76  WALLIS,  B.  "The  Toro'  of  the  Mendi,"  Jour.  African  Soc.,  4: 
183-89. 

*i77  WEBSTER,  H.     Primitive  Secret  Societies.     New  York,  1908. 

[The  best  English  book  on  the  subject.] 

178  WELLING,  J.  C.  "The  Law  of  Torture :  A  Study  in  the  Evolution  of 
Law,"  Ant.  Anth.,  5:193-215. 

*I79  WESTERMARCK,  E.  The  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Moral 
Ideas,  "Agents  under  Intellectual  Disability,"  1:249-82;  "Homi- 
cide in  General,"  i :  327-82 ;  "The  Killing  of  Parents,  Sick 
Persons,  and  Children — Feticide,"  1:383-417;  "The  Killing  of 
Women,  and  of  Adult  Slaves,"  1:418-33;  "Human  Sacrifice,"  i: 
434-76;  "The  Duel,"  1:497-510;  "Bodily  Injuries,"  1:511-25; 
"Hospitality,"  1:570-96;  "Slavery,"  1:670-716;  "Property,"  2:'.!- 
109;  "Suicide,"  2:229-64;  "Regard  for  Animals,"  2:490-514;  "Can- 
nibalism," 2:553-81;  "Gods,"  2  :•  582-737. 

[The  most  important  work  on  the  subject.] 

180  WESTERMARCK,  E.  "L'ar,  or  the  Transference  of  Conditional 
Curses  in  Morocco,"  in  Anth.  Essays  Presented  to  E.  B.  Tylor. 
London,  1907. 

*i8i  WILKIN,  A.  Cambridge  Anth.  Expcd.  to  Torres  Straits,  Rep.,  "Land 
Tenure  and  Inheritance,"  5:284-92;  "Property  and  Inheritance,"  6: 
163-68. 

182  WILLOUGHBY,  W.  C.  "Notes  of  Totemism  of  the  Beewana,"  Jour. 
Anth.  Inst.,  35:295-314- 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES 


SUPPLEMENTARY    BIBLIOGRAPHIES 

The  more  important  general  ethnological  works,  covering  all  races,  are 
referred  to  in  the  preceding  bibliographies,  in  the  Preface,  or  in  Bibliog- 
raphy 14.  A  few  good  titles  too  late  for  Bibliographies  1-7,  or  which  escaped 
them,  are  inserted  in  Bibliographies  8-13. 

A  bibliography  on  the  method,  problems,  and  place  of  anthropology  is 
not  included.  The  following  will  be  sufficient  in  this  connection:  BOAS,  F., 
Anthropology,  N.  Y.:  Columbia  Univ.  Press,  1908,  25c;  "The  History  of 
Anthropology,"  Science,  N.  S.,  20:513-24;  FRAZER,  J.  G.,  The  Scope  of 
Social  Anthropology,  L.,  1908,  is.;  HADDON,  A.  C.,  "Anthropology,  Its 
Position  and  Needs,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  33:11-23;  McGEE,  W.  J.,  "Anthro- 
pology," Science,  N.  S.,  21:770-84;  TOPINARD,  P.,  "Anthropologie,  ethnologic 
et  ethnographic,"  Soc.  d'Anth.  Bui.,  2d  ser.,  2:199-215;  TYLOR,  E.  B.,  "On 
a  Method  of  Investigating  the  Development  of  Institutions;  Applied  to  Laws 
of  Marriage  and  Descent,"  77.  Anth.  Inst.,  18:245-69. 

The  following  are  small  manuals  containing  instructions  to  collectors  and 
travelers:  FRAZER,  J.  G.,  Questions  on.  the  Customs,  Beliefs,  and  Languages 
of  Savages,  N.  Y.:  Putnam,  1907,  51  pp.,  2oc.;  KELLER,  A.  G.,  Queries  in 
Ethnography,  N.  Y.:  Longmans,  1903,  ix+77  pp.,  5oc.  These  are  less 
technical  than  the  following:  Instructions  to  Collectors  of  Historical  and 
Anthropological  Specimens,  Washington,  1002,  16  pp.  (National  Museum, 
Bui.  39,  Pt.  Q.,  edited  by  Holmes,  W.  H.,  and  Mason,  O.  T.);  Notes  and 
Queries  on  Anthropology,  issued  by  the  Anth.  Inst.  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
(3  Hanover  Sq.,  London),  edited  by  Garson  and  Read,  new  ed.  announced; 
Anleitung  fur  ethnographische  Beobachtungen  und  Sammlungen  in  Afrika  und 
Oceanien,  edited  for  the  K.  Mus.  fiir  Volkerkunde,  by  F.  von  Luschan,  Berlin, 
1904,  128  pp.,  containing  more  than  900  questions. 

The  best  papers  on  the  race  question  are:  BOAS,  F.,  "Human  Faculty 
as  Determined  by  Race,"  Am.  Assoc.  for  the  Adv.  of  Sci.,  Proc.,  43:301-27, 
"The  Race  Problem  in  America,"  Science,  N.  S.,  29:839-49;  and  W.  H. 
HOLMES,  "Sketch  of  the  Origin,  Development,  and  Probable  Destiny  of  the 
Races  of  Men,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  4:369-91.  Robinson's  lecture  on  History 
is  published  by  the  Columbia  University  Press  (1008.  Pp.  29.  25c.). 

The  best  information  on  new  literature  will  be  found  in  the  American 
Anthropologist  (1333  F  St.,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C.). 

In  connection  with  the  following  lists  the  reader  will  understand  that 
while  the  reports  of  modern  anthropologists  are  of  much  greater  value  than  the 
observations  of  the  old  travelers  and  missionaries,  the  latter  had  the  advantage 
of  observing  the  aborigines  before  they  were  disturbed  by  white  influence,  and 

873 


874  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

they  frequently  recorded  conditions  which  had  disappeared  before  the  anthro- 
pologist entered  the  field.  At  the  same  time  their  observations  are  so  inac- 
curate and  so  fanciful  that  the  anthropologist  is  sometimes  forced  to  discredit 
them  entirely.  In  the  paper  by  Tylor  mentioned  above  there  are  suggestions 
on  the  method  of  valuing  such  evidence.  Some  comments  on  the  inaccuracy 
of  the  observations  of  the  old  writers  will  also  be  found  in  this  volume,  p.  474, 
note,  and  p.  475.  The  old  books  which  are  starred  in  the  following  lists  are 
starred  as  old  books. 

The  editions  cited  throughout  are  not  necessarily  either  the  first  or  the  last, 
but  the  one  to  which  I  had  access,  though  I  have  usually  indicated  the  date  of 
issue  of  very  old  books. 

Asia  and  Europe  are  historical  rather  than  ethnological  countries,  and  do 
not  fall  entirely  within  the  scope  of  this  book.  The  bibliography  of  Asia  and 
Japan  is  limited  in  the  main  to  the  non-civilized  tribes  or  early  times.  The 
bibliography  of  Europe  contains  a  limited  number  of  titles  on  ethnology  and 
prehistoric  archaeology. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  8 

NORTH  AND  SOUTH  AMERICA 

*i  ADAIR,  J.     History  of  the  American  Indians.     L.,  1775. 
[Important  for  the  southeastern  tribes,  notwithstanding  his  theory  that  the  Indian  is  of  Jewish  origin.] 

2  ALLEN,   H.   A.     "Atnatanas,   Natives  of  Copper  River,   Alaska,"  Smiths. 
Inst.,  Rep.  for  1886:258-166. 

3  ATWATER,  C.     Indians  of  the  Northwest.     Columbus,  1850. 

4  BAEGERT,  J.     "The  Inhabitants  of  the  California  Peninsula  (1773),"  Smiths. 
Inst.,  Rep.  for  1863:352-69. 

5  BALDWIN,  J.  D.     Ancient  America.     N.  Y.,  1871. 

6  BANCROFT,  N.  H.     Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States.     S.  F.,  1890. 

[A  compilation  of  much  miscellaneous  and  often  contradictory  information,  but  important.] 

7  BANCROFT,  N.  H. .  Alaska.     S.  F.,  1886.     (Works,  33.) 

*8  BANDELIER,  A.  F.  "Final  Report  of  Investigations  among  the  Indians  of  the 
Southwestern  United  States,"  Arch.  Inst.  of  Am.  Papers,  Am.  Ser.,  3:1-319; 
4:1-591. 

*9  BANDELIER,  A.  F.  "Outline  of  Documentary  History  of  the  Zuni  Tribe," 
Jl.  Am.  Ethn.  and  Arch.,  3:1—144. 

10  BARTRAM,  W.     Travels  through  N.  and  S.  Carolina Ph.,  1791. 

[On  the  Cherokees,  Creeks,  Choctaws.  The  American  Ethnological  Society  has  reprinted  in  facsimile 
(1009)  Vol.  3  of  its  Transactions,  containing  Bartram's  paper,  "Observations  on  the  Creek  and 
Cherokee  Indians,"  with  notes  by  E.  G.  Squier.  The  bulk  of  the  original  edition  of  this  volume 
was  destroyed  by  fire.] 

11  BATES,  H.  W.     A  Naturalist  on  the  River  Amazon.     L.,  1863. 

12  BEATJCHAMP,  W.  M.     "A  History  of  the  New  York  Iroquois,"  N.  Y.  State 
Mus.,  Bui.,  78:1-461. 

13  BEATJCHAMP,  W.  M.     "Onondaga  Customs,"  //.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  i:  195-203. 
*i4  BECKWITH,  H.  W.     The  Illinois  and  Indiana  Indians.     C.,  1884. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  875 

15  BECKWITH,  P.     "Notes  on  Customs  of  the  Dakotahs,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep. 
for  1886:245-57. 

16  BIART,  L.     The  Aztecs.     (Tr.  Garner.)     C.,  1887. 

17  BLOOMFIELD,  J.  K.     The  Oneidas.     N.  Y.,  1907. 

*i8  BOAS,  F.     "The  Central  Eskimo,"  Bur.  Am.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  6:399-669. 
[One  of  Boas'  earlier  but  distinguished  papers.] 

*ig  BOAS,  F.     "The  Eskimo  of  Baffin  Land  and  Hudson  Bay,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat. 
Hist.,  Bui.,  15:4-570. 

[Pp.  163-332  and  483-570  are  on  myth,  traditions,  custom.] 

*2o  BOAS,  F.     "  First  General  Report  on  the  Indians  of  British  Columbia,"  Brit. 
Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Rep.,  59:801-93;  "Second  Rep.,"  #^.,60:562-715;  "Third 
Rep.,"  ibid.,  61 : 408-47 ;  ["  Fourth  Rep."]  (Indian  Tribes  of  the  Lower  Fraser 
River),  ibid.,  64:454-63;    "Fifth  Rep.,"  ibid.,  65:523-92. 
[Of  great  importance.] 

*2i  BOAS,  F.     The  Half-blood  Indian;  an  Anthropometric  Study.     N.  Y.,  1894. 
(Reprint  from  Pop.  Sci.  Monthly,  45:761-70.) 

22  BOAS,  F.     "The  Anthropology  of  the  North  American  Indian,"  Internal. 
Cong,  of  Anth.,  Mem.,  37-49. 

23  BOAS,   F.     "Physical  Characteristics  of  the  Indians  of  the  North  Pacific 
Coast,"  Am.  Anth.,  4:25-32. 

*2$a  BOAS,  F.     "  Songs  and  Dances  of  the  Kwakiutl,"  Jl.  A  m.  F  oik-Lore,  i :  49-64. 

24  BOM  AN,  E.     Antiquites  de  la  region  Andine  de   la  republique  Argentine  et 
du  desert  d'A  tacama  (Mission  scientifique  G.  de  Crequi  Mont  fort  et  E.  Senechal 
de  la  Grange).     P.  1908. 

[Archaeological.    Vol.  2,  announced,  will  contain  in  part  ethnological  material.] 
*24a  BRETT,  W.  H.     The  Indian  Tribes  of  Guiana.     L.,  1868. 

25  BRINTON,  D.  G.     The  American  Race.     Ph.,  1901. 

26  BRINTON,  D.  G.     Essays  of  an  Americanist.     Ph.,  1891. 
*27  BRUHL,  G.     Die  Culturvolker  Alt-Amerikas.     N.  Y.,  1887. 

[Contains  bibligraphy  of  Mexico,  Peru,  etc.] 

*28  CARVER,  J.     Travels  through  the  Interior  Parts  of  North  America.     Ph.,  1789. 
*29  CATLIN,   G.     Manners,   Customs,   and  Condition    of  the    North  American 
Indians.     N.  Y.,  1841. 

[An  important  source.     Numerous  editions.] 
31  CATLIN,  G.     Last  Rambles  among  the  Indians  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the 

Andes.     N.  Y.,  1867. 

*32  CHAMBERLAIN,  A.  F.     "Report  on  the  Kootenay  Indians  of  South-Eastern 
British  Columbia,"  Brit.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Rep.,  62:549-614. 

33  CHAMBERLAIN,  A.  F.     "The  Kootenay  Indians,"  Ann.  Arch.  Rep.,  1905, 
App.  Rep.  of  Minister  of  Education  of  Ontario,  178-87. 

34  CHAMBERLAIN,  A.  F.      "Algonquian  Words  in  American  English,"  //.  Am. 
Folk-Lore,  15:240-67. 

35  CHAMPLAIN,  S.  DE.     Les  voyages  de  la  Nouvelle  France  occidentale.    P.,  1632. 
*36  CHARLEVOIX,  P.  F.  X.     Histoire  et  description  generate  de  la  nouvelle  France. 

P.,  1774- 

37  CHARNAY,  D.     Ancient  Cities  of  the  New  World.     N.  Y.,  1888. 

38  CHRISTIAN,  D.    "Guachos  of  San  Gorge,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  11:34-52. 


876  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

39  CLAVIGERO,  F.     The  History  of  Mexico.     (Tr.  Cullen.)     L.,  1787. 
*4o  GOLDEN,  C.     History  of  the  Five  Indian  Nations.     L.,  1727. 
41  CONNELLY,  W.  E.     "The  Wyandots,"  Ann.  Arch.  Rep.,  i8gg,  App.  Rep.  of 

the  Minister  of  Education  of  Ontario,  92-123. 

*42  COPWAY,  G.     Traditional  History  of  the  Ojibway  Nation.     Bost.,  1851. 
*43  CRANZ,  D.     The  History  of  Greenland.     (Tr.)     L.,  1820. 
*44  GUSHING,  F.  H.     "My  Adventures  in  Zuni,"  Century  Mag.,  25:191-207, 

500-511;   26:28-47. 

*45  CUSICK,  D.     Sketches  of  Ancient  History  of  the  Six  Nations.     N.  Y.,  1828. 
*46  BALL,  W.  H.     "Tribes  of  the  Extreme  Northwest,"  U.  S.  Geog.  and  Geol. 

Sur.:  Cont.  to  N.  Am.  Ethn.,  1:7-361. 
*47  DALL,  W.  H.     Alaska  and  Its  Resources.     Bost.,  1870. 
48  DALL,  W.  H.     "  Distribution  of  the  Native  Tribes  of  Alaska  and  Adjacent 

Territory,"  Am.  Acad.  Adv.  Sci.,  Proc.,  18:263-73. 
*49  DIXON,  R.  B.     "The  Northern  Maidu,"  Am.  Mus.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  Bui., 

17:119-346. 

*5o  DIXON,  R.  B.     "The  Shasta,"  Am.  Mus.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  Bui,  17:381-498. 
*5i  DOBRIZHOFFER,  M.     Account  of  the  Abipones.     (Tr.)     L.,  1822. 

52  DODGE,  R.  I.     Our  Wild  Indians.     Hartford,  1882. 

53  DODGE,  R.  I.     The  Plains  of  the  Great  West.     N.  Y.,  1877. 

54  DONALDSON,  T.     "Moqui  Pueblo  Indians  of  Arizona,"  nth.  U.  S.  Census, 
Extra  Bui.,  1—136. 

*55  DORSEY,  J.  O.     "Omaha  Sociology,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  3:211-370. 

[This  and  the  following  are  distinguished  papers.] 
*56  DORSEY,  J.  O.     "Siouan  Sociology,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  15:213-44. 

57  DOUGLAS,  J.     "The  Consolidation  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,"  Am.  Geog. 
Soc.,  JL,  29:41-54. 

58  DRAKE,  S.  G.     Aboriginal  Races  of  N.  America.     N.  Y.,  1880. 

59  DUNBAR,  J.  B.     "The  Pawnee  Indians,"  Mag.  of  Am.  Hist.,  4:241-81. 
*6o  EELS,  M.     "The  Twana,  Chemakum,  and  Klallam  Indians  of  Washington 

Territory,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1887:605-81. 

*6i  EHRENREICH,  P.     Beitrage  zur  Vb'lkerkunde  Brasiliens.     B.,  1891. 
*62  EHRENREICH,  P.     "  Die  Ethnographic  Sudamerikas  ....  ,"  Arch.f.  Anth., 

3I: 41-73- 

63  EHRENREICH,  P.     Anthropologische  Studien  iiber  die  Urbewohner  Brasiliens. 
Brauns.,  1897. 

[Physical  anthropology,  but  the  introduction  of  44  pages  on  the  ethnological  standpoint  is 

excellent.] 

64  FABREGA,   H.    P.   DE.     "Ethnographic  and  Linguistic   Notes  on  the  Paez 
Indians,"  Am.  Anth.  Assoc.,  Mem.,  1:301-56. 

*65  FARRAND,  L.     Basis  of  American  History,  1500-1900  (Vol.  II  of  Hart,  The 
American  Nation).     N.  Y.,  1906. 

[The  best  general  treatment  of  the  Indian.    Provided  with  a  critical  bibliography.] 
£  66  FARRAND,  L.     "Notes  on  the  Alsea  Indians  of  Oregon,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S., 

3:239-47. 
*67  FEWKES,  J.  W.    "  Aborigines  of  Porto  Rico  ....  ,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  25:17- 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  877 

*68  FRIC,  V.,  AND  RADIN,  P.     "  Contributions  to  the  Study  of  the  Bororo  Indians," 

Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  36:382-406. 
*6g  GAMBOA,  S.  DE.     Geschichte  des  Inkareiches.     B.,  1906  [in  progress]. 

70  GARCILASSO  DE  LA  VEGA.     Royal  Commentaries  of  the  Yncas.     (Hakluyt 
Society,  41,  45.)     L.,  1871  [orig.  1617]. 

71  GARSON,  J.  G.     "On  the  Inhabitants  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst., 
15:144-57. 

*72  GATSCHET,  A.  S.     "Klamath  Indians  of  Southwestern  Oregon,"  U.  S.  Geog. 

and  Geol.  Sur.:  Contrib.  to  N.  Am.  Ethn.,  2,  Pt.  1:1-711;  Pt.  2:1-711. 
*73  GIBBS,  G.       "Tribes  of  Western  Washington  and  Northwestern  Oregon," 

U.  S.  Geog.  and  Geol.  Sur.:  Contrib.  to  N.  Am.  Ethn.,  i:  1-361. 
730  GIBBS,  G.     "Report  on  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Territory  of  Washington," 

Pacific  Railroad  Reports,  i :  402-36. 
74  GODDARD,  P.  E.     "Life  and  Culture  of  the  Hupa,"  Univ.  of.  Calif.  Pub.  in 

Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  1:1-88. 
*75  GOEJE,  C.  H.  DE.     "Beitrage   zur  Volkerkunde  von   Surinam,"   Internal. 

Arch.f.  Ethn.,  19:1-27. 

*?6  GRINNELL,  G.  B.     The  Story  of  the  Indian.     N.  Y.,  1896. 
[A  good  popular  account.] 

77  HALE,  H.     Ethnography  and  Philology.     (U.  S.  Exploring  Expedition,  6.) 
Wash.,  1846. 

78  HALL,  C.  F.     Arctic  Researches  and  Life  among  the  Esquimaux.     N.  Y., 
1865. 

79  HARDISTY,  W.  L.     "The  Loucheux  Indians,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1866: 
311-20. 

*8o  HAWTREY,  S.  H.  C.      "The  Lengua  Indians  of  the  Paraguayan  Chaco," 

Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  31:280-99. 
*8i  HEARNE,  S.     Journey  from  Prince  of  Wales  Fort  in  Hudson  Bay  to  the 

Northern  Ocean.     L.,  1795. 
*82  HECKEWELDER,  J.     History,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations 

(Pa.  Hist.  Soc.,  Mem.,  12).     Ph.,  1876  [orig.  1818]. 

83  HENNEPIN,  L.     Description  of  Louisiana.    (Tr.)    N.  Y.,  1880  [orig.  1684]. 

84  HENNEPIN,  L.     Voyage  Curieux.     La  Haye,  1704. 

85  HERIOT,  G.     Travels  through  the  Canadas.     L.,  1807. 

*86  HODGE,  F.  W.  (ed.).     "Handbook  of  American  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Bui., 

30.     2  v. 

[Valuable  cyclopaedia  covering  all  aspects  of  Indian  life.] 

*87  HODGE,  F.  W.     "The  Early  Navajo  and  Apache,"  Am.  Anth.,  8:223-40. 
*88  HOFFMANN,  W.  J.    "The  Menomini  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  14:3-328. 

89  HOLMES,  W.  H.     "Anthropological  Studies  in  California,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus., 
Rep.  for  1900:155-87. 

90  HRDLICKA,   A.     "Notes  on  the  Indians  of  Sonora,   Mexico,"  Am.  Anth., 
N.  S.,  6:51-89. 

91  HUMBOLDT,  A.  v.      Personal  Narrative  of  Travels  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions 
of  America  (1799-1804;  tr.).     L.,  1894. 

*92  HUNTER,  J.     Manners  and  Customs  of  Several  Indian  Tribes Ph., 

1822. 


878  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*93  HYADES,  P.,  ET  DENIKER,  J.  Mission  scientifique  du  Cap  Horn.  Vol.  7: 
"  Anthropologie,  Ethnographic."  P.,  1891. 

[Largely  physical  anthropology,  but  some  important  ethnology.] 

*94  JAMES,  E.     Expedition  from  Pittsburg  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,     Ph.,  1823. 
*94«  JOEST,  W.     "  Ethnographisches  und  Vierwandtes  aus  Guayana,"  Internal. 
Arch.f.  Ethnog.,  $:Sup.  1-102. 

[Especially  rich  in  materials  on  ornament.] 

95  JONES,  P.     Hist,  of  the  O jib-way  Indians.     L.,  1861. 
*96  JONES,  W.      "Central   Algonkin,"  Ann.    Arch.    Rep.,  1905,  App.  Rep.   of 

Minister  of  Education  of  Ontario,  136-46. 
*97  KEANE,  A.  H.     Ethnology,  "Homo  Americanus,"  334-73. 
[Keane  has  indications  of  the  relation  of  the  Indian  to  the  other  races,  but  his  views  are  not  to  be 
regarded  as  authoritative.] 

*g8  KEANE,  A.  H.     Man  Past  and  Present,  "The  American  Aborigines,"  349- 

440. 
99  KEANE,  A.  H.     "On  the  Botocudos,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  13:199-213. 

100  KELLY,  F.     Narrative  of  My  Captivity  among  the  Sioux.     Hartford,  1872. 

101  KERSTEN,  L.     "Die  Indianerstamme   des  Gran  Chaco  ....,"    Internal. 
Arch.f.  Ethn.,  17:1-75. 

102  KOENIGSWALD,  G.  v.     "Die  Cayuas,"  Globus,  93:376-81. 

103  KOENIGSWALD,   G.   v.     "Die   Coroados   im   siidlichen   Brasilien,"   Globus, 
94:27-32,45-49. 

104  KOENIGSWALD,  G.  v.     "Die  Carajd  Indianer,"  Globus,  94:217-23,  232-38. 
*io5  KRAUSE,  A.     Die  Tlinkit-Indianer.     Jena,  1885. 

*io6  KROEBER,  A.  L.     "Ethnography  of  the  Cahuilla  Indians,"   Univ.  of  Cal. 

Pub.  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  8:29-68. 

107  KROEBER,  A.  L.     "A  Mission  Record  of  the  California  Indians,  from  a 
Manuscript  in  the  Bancroft  Library,"  Univ.  of  Cal.  Pub.  in  Am.  Arch,  and 
Ethn.,  8:1-27. 
*io8  KROEBER,  A.  L.     "Types  of  Indian  Culture  in  California,"  Univ.  of  Cal. 

Pub.  in  Am.  Arch,  and  Ethn.,  2:81-103. 
*io9  KROEBER,  A.  L.     "Ethnology  of  the  Gros  Ventre,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist., 

Anth.  Pap.,  i,  Pt.  4:141-282. 
no  LAHONTAN,  L.  A.  DE.     New  Voyages  to  N.  America  (ed.  Thwaites).     C., 

1905  [orig.  1703]. 

in  LE  MOYNE,  M.  J.  DE.  Narrative  of  LeMoyne,  an  Artist  who  accompanied  the 
French  Expedition  to  Florida  under  Laudonniere,  1564.  (Tr.  T.  de  Bry.) 
Bost,  1875. 

*ii2  LEWIS,  A.  B.  "Tribes  of  the  Columbia  Valley  and  the  Coast  of  Washington 
and  Oregon,"  Am.  Anth.  Assoc.,  Mem.,  1:151-209. 

[A  good  general  statement,  with  a  bibliography  of  this  region.] 

*ii3  LEWIS,  M.,  AND  CLARKE,  W.     Travels  to  the  Source  of  the  Missouri  River, 
....  C.,  1902  [orig.  1814]. 
[The  original  journals  of  L.  and  C.  (ed.  Thwaites)  were  published  in  N.  Y.,  1004.] 

114  LOWRIE,  R.  H.     "The  Northern  Shoshone,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Anth. 
Pap.,  2,  Pt.  2:163-306. 

115  LTJMHOLTZ,  C.     Unknown  Mexico.     L.,  1903. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  879 

116  MACCAULEY,  C.     "The  Seminole  Indians  of  Florida,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep., 

5:469-531. 

*ii7  McGEE,  W.  J.     "The  Sen  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.  Rep.,  17 : 1-128,  129-344. 
*n8  McGEE,  W.  J.     "The  Siouan  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  15:157-204. 

119  MC&ENNEY,  T.  L.     Sketches  of  a  Tour  of  the  Lakes.     Baltimore,  1827. 
*i20  McKENNEY,  T.  L.,  AND  HALL,  J.     History  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North 
America.     Ph.,  1850. 

121  MACKENZIE,  A.     Voyages  from  Montreal L.,  1801. 

*i22  McLEAN,  J.     The  Indians  of  Canada.     L.,  1892. 

123  MACLEAN,  J.     Canadian  Savage  Folk.     Toronto,  1896. 

*i24  MARTIUS,    K.    F.    P.    v.     Beitrage   zur   Ethnographic   und   Sprachenkunde 
Amerikas,  zumal  Brasiliens.     Lpz.,  1867. 

125  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Collections.     Bost.,  1792  ff.,  passim. 

126  MATTHEWS,  W.     "Ethnography  and  Philology  of  the  Hidatsa,"  U.  S.  Geog. 
and  Geol.  Sur.  of  the  Territories:  Miscel.  Pub.,  ^ :  1-239. 

127  MATTHEWS,  W.     "The  Catlin  Collection  of  Indian  Paintings,"  U.  S.  Nat. 
Mus.,  Rep.  for  1890:593-610. 

*i28  MAYNE,  R.  C.     Four  Years  in  British  Columbia  and  Vancouver  Island.     L., 

1862. 
129  MOONEY,  J.     "Calendar  History  of  the  Kiowa  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep., 

17:129-445. 
*i3o  MOONEY,  J.     "The  Cheyenne  Indians,"  Am.  Anth.  Assoc.,  Mem.,  1:357- 

442. 
*i3i  MORGAN,  L.  H.     Ancient  Society.    N.  Y.,  1877. 

[Morgan's  work  remains  the  most  important  on  the  Iroquois.] 
*J32  MORGAN,  L.  H.     "Houses  and  House-Life  of  the  American  Aborigines," 

U.  S.  Geog.  and  Geol.  Sur.:  Contrib.  to  N.  Am.  Ethn.,  4: 1-276. 
*i33  MORGAN,  L.  H.     League  of  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee,  or  Iroquois.       Rochester, 

N.  Y.,  1904. 
134  MORICE,  A.  G.     "Nah-ane  and  their  Language,"  Can.  Inst.,  Trans.,  7:517- 

34- 
*i35  MORICE,  A.  G.     "The  Canadian  Denes,"  Ann.  Arch.  Rep.,  1905,  App.  Rep. 

of  Minister  of  Education  of  Ontario,  187-219. 

[Contains  references  to  his  own  lengthier  and  important  papers.     Father  Morice  has  also  a  popular 
but  important  account  of  "The  Great  D6n6  Race"  in  vols.  i  and  3  of  Anthropos,  in  English.] 

•"136  MURDOCH,  J.     "Ethnological  Results  of  the  Point  Barrow  Expedition,"  Bur. 
Ethn.,  Rep.,  9:3-441. 

137  MUSTERS,  LT.     "On  the  Races  of  Patagonia,"   //.   Anth.  Inst.,  1:193- 
206. 

138  NANSEN,  F.     Eskimo  Life.     (Tr.)     L.,  1893. 

*i39  NELSON,  E.  W.     "The  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait,"     Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep., 
18:3-518. 

[A  great  work.] 

*I40  NIBLACH,  A.  P.     "The  Coast  Indians,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Rep.  for  1898: 225- 

386. 

141  NICHOLAS,  F.  C.     "The  Aborigines  of  the  Province  of  Santa  Marta,  Colom- 
bia," Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  3:606-49. 


88o  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*i42  NORDENSKIOLD,  E.  "  Beit  rage  zur  Kenntniss  einiger  Indianerstamme   des 

Rio  Madre  de  Dios-Gebietes,"  Ymer,  1905:265-312. 
*i42a  PARKER,  A.  C.     "  Secret  Medicine  Societies  of  the  Seneca,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S., 

11:161-85. 

*i43  PAYNE,  E.  J.     History  of  the  New  World  Catted  America.     Oxf.,  1899. 
*i44  PETITOT,  E.     Ethnographic  des  Americains  hyperboreens.     P.,  1878. 
*i45  PETITOT,  E.     Monographic  des  Dene-Dindjie.     P.,  1875. 

146  PETITOT,  E.     L'origine  asiatique  des  Esquimaux.     Rouen,  1890. 
*I47  POWERS,  S.     "The  Tribes  of  California,"  U.  S.  Geog.  and  Geol.  Sur.:  Contrib. 

to  N.  Am.  Ethn.,  3:1-635. 

[Of  first  importance  for  this  region.] 

148  QUATREFAGES  DE  BREAU,  A.  J.  L.     "The  Advent  of  Man  in  America," 

Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1892:513-20. 

*i49  RASMUSSEN,  K.     The  People  of  the  Polar  North.     L.,  1908. 
*i5o  RATZEL,  F.     History  of  Mankind,  2:1-203. 
151  RIGGS,  S.  O.    "Dakota  Ethnography,"  U.  S.  Geog.  and  Geol.  Sur.:  Contrib.  to 

N.  Am.  Ethn.,  9:155-232. 
*i52  RINK,  H.  J.     Eskimo  Tribes.     L.,  1891. 
*i53  RIVET,  DR.     Les  Indiens  Jibaros.     P.,  1908. 

[Also  in  L'anthropologie,  Vols.  18  and  19.] 

154  ROTH,  H.  L.     "The  Aborigines  of  Hispaniola,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:247-86. 
*I55  ROYCE,  C.  A.     "The  Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  5:121- 

378- 
156  ROYCE,   C.  C.     "Indian  Land  Cessions  in  the  U.  S.,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep., 

18:521-964. 

*i57  RUSSELL,  F.     "The  Pima  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  26:17-389. 
*i58  SAGARD,  T.  G.     Le  grand  voyage  du  pays  des  Hurons.     P.,  1632. 

159  SCHMIDT,  E.     Die  Vorgeschichte  Nordamerikas.     Brauns.,  1894. 
*i6o  SCHMIDT,  M.     Indianerstudien  in  Zentralbrasilien.     B.,  1905. 
[Valuable  suggestions  on  textiles  and  the  theory  of  ornament.     S.  has  also  a  paper,  "Altperuanische 
Omamentik,"  Arch.  }.  Anth.,  35:2-2-36.] 

161  SCHOMBURGK,  R.  H.     Reisen  in  Britisch-Guiana.     Lpz.,  1848. 

162  SCHOMBURGK,  R.  H.     "Journal  of  an  Expedition  from  Pirara  to  the  Upper 
Corentyne,"  Jl.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc.,  15:1-104. 

163  SCHOMBURGK,  R.  H.     "On  the  Natives  of  Guiana,"  //.  Ethn.  Soc.,  1:253-76. 
*i64  SCHOOLCRAFT,    H.    R.     History,    Condition,    and   Prospects   of  the    Indian 

Tribes  of  the  United  States.     Ph.,  1857. 

[One  of  the  most  important  sources.     6  vols.     Rare.     A  2  -vol.  abridgment  was  issued  (Ph.,  1884) 
with  the  title,  The  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States.] 

*i6s  SCHOOLCRAFT,  H.   R.     The  American  Indians:    Their  History,  Condition 

and  Prospects.     Rochester,  1851. 

[Originally  issued  (1844-45)  in  8  nos.,  in  paper  covers,  with  the  title,  Oneota,  or  Characteristics  of  the 
Red  Race  of  America,  and  afterward  reprinted  with  various  titles.] 

*i68  SIEMIRADZKI,  J.  VON.     "Bcitrage  zur  Ethnographic  der  siidamerikanischen 
Indianer,"  Anth.  Gesellsch.  in  Wien,  Mitth.,  28:127-70. 
SMET,  P.  J.     Life,  Letters  and  Travels  of  Father  Pierre  Jean  de  Smet,  1801- 
1873.     (Ed.  Chittenden  and  Richardson.)     N.  Y.,  1905.     4  vols. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  881 

*i7o  SMITH,  J.     General  History  of  Virginia.     L.    1624;    Glasgow,    1907.     (In 

PINKERTON,  Voyages,  13.) 

1700  SPECK,  F.  G.     "Ethnology  of  the  Yuchi  Indians"  [a  Ph.D.  dissertation].  Ph., 
1909  (Anth.  Pub.  of  the  Univ.  of  Pa.  Mus.,  1:1-154). 

171  SPENCER,    H.     Descriptive    Sociology,    2:     Mexicans,    Central    Americans, 
Chibcas  and  Peruvians;  6:  American  Races. 

[This  is  a  collection  of  materials  prepared  by  others  for  Spencer  from  which  he  wrote  his  Principles  of 
Sociology.  The  work  consists  of  excerpts  from  many  (mainly)  old  writers,  often  very  brief.] 

172  SPINDEN,  J.     "The  Nez  Perce  Indians,"  Am.  Anth.  Assoc.,  Mem.,  2:165- 

274. 

*i73  SPK,  J.  B.  v.,  AND  MARTIUS,  C.  F.  P.  v.     Travels  in  Brazil  in  the  Years  1817- 
20.     (Tr.)     L.,  1824. 

174  SQUIER,'E.  G.     Nicaragua.     N.  Y.,  1852. 

175  SQUIER,  E.  G.     Peru.     N.  Y.,  1877. 

176  STEERE,  J.  B.     "Indian Tribes  of  the  Purus  River,  Brazil,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus., 
Rep.  for  1901:359-93. 

*i77  STEINEN,  K.   VON   DEN.      Unter  den  Naturvolkern  Zentral-Brasiliens.     B., 
1894. 

[A  justly  famous  work,  the  best  on  South  America.] 

*i78  STEINEN,  K.  VON  DEN.     Durch  Central-Brasilien.     Lpz.,  1886. 

179  STEPHEN,  A.  M.     "The  Navajo,"  Am.  Anth.,  6:345-62. 

180  STEPHENS,  J.  L.     Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America.     N.  Y.,  1841. 

181  STEVENS,  F.  E.     The  Black  Hawk  War.     C.,  1903. 

*i82  STOLL,  O.     "Die  Ethnologic  der  Indianerstamme  von  Guatemala,"  Internal. 

Arch.  f.  Ethnog.,  i:Sup.  1-112. 
*i83  SWAN,   J.   G.     "The  Indians  of  Cape  Flattery,"   Smiths.   Inst.   Contr.  to 

Knowledge,  16,  Art.  7 : 1-106. 
184  SWAN,  J.  G.     "The  Haidah  Indians  of  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,"  Smiths. 

Inst.  Contr.  to  Knowl.,  21,  Art.  4:1-22. 
*i8s  SWANTON,  J.  R.     "The  Haida  of  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,"  Am.  Mus.  of 

Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  8:9-295. 

186  SWANTON,  J.  R.     "Tlingit  Indians,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  26:395-512. 
*i87  TEIT,  J.     "Lillooet  Indians,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  4:193-301. 
*i88  TEIT,  J.     "The  Shuswap,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  4:443-789. 
*i89  TEIT,  J.     "The  Thompson  Indians  of  British  Columbia,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat. 
Hist.,  Mem.,  2:163-392. 

[One  of  the  best  studies.] 

190  THOMAS,  C.     The  Cherokees  in  Pre-Columbian  Times.     N.  Y.,  1890. 
*i9i  THURN,  F.  IM.     Among  the  Indians  of  Guiana.     L.,  1883. 

192  THWAITES,  R.  G.  (editor).     Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Documents:   Travels 
and  Explorations  of  the  Jesuit  Missionaries  in  New  France,   1610-^1791. 
Cleveland,  1901. 

[This  monumental  work  of  73  voLs.  is  important  though  tedious,  and  mainly  concerned  with  the  mis- 
sionary labors  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers.  See  McGuiRE,  J.  1).,  "Ethnology  in  the  Jesuit  Relations," 
Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  3:557-69.] 

193  THWAITES,   R.   G.     Early  Western  Travels,    1748-1846.     Cleveland,   1907. 
32  vols. 


882  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*iQ4  TOUT,  C.  HILL-.  "Ethnological  Report  of  the  Stsellis  and  Sk-aulits  Tribes 
of  the  Halokmelem  Division  of  the  Salish  of  British  Columbia,"  Jl.  Anth. 
Inst.,  34:311-76. 

[Hill-Tout's  work  is  important  for  Canada.] 

*i9S  Tour,   C.  HILL-.     "Report  on  the  Ethnology  of  the  Stlatlumh  of  British 

Columbia,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  35:126-218. 
*ig6  TOUT,  C.  HILL-.     "  Report  on  the  Ethnology  of  the  South-Eastern  Tribes  of 

Vancouver  Island,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:306-74. 
197  Tour,  E.  HILL-.     "Oceanic  Origin  of  the  Kwakiutl-Nootka  and  Salish  Stocks 

of  British   Columbia,"  ....  Roy.  Soc.   Canada,    Trans.   2d  ser.,   4,   sec., 

2:187-231. 
"=198  TOUT,  C.  HILL-.     British  North  America:    The  Far  West,  the  Home  of  the 

Salish  and  Dene.     L.,  1907. 

[Good  but  more  popular.] 

*iQ9  Tour,  C.  HILL-.     The  Native  Races  of  the  British  Empire.     Toronto,  1907. 
200  TURNER,  L.  M.     "Ethnology  of  the  Ungava  District,  Hudson  Bay  Territory," 

Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  11:159-350, 

*2oi  TYLOR,  E.  B.     Anahuac,  or  Mexico  and  the  Mexicans.     L.,  1861. 
*2O2  WAITZ,  T.     Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker,  3:1—548;  4:1-502. 
[Remains  important.    Waitz  makes  use  of  many  of  the  old  writers.] 

*2O3  WALLACE,  A.  R.     Travels  on  the  Amazon  and  Rio  Negro.     L.,  1853. 
*204  WARREN,  W.  W.     "History  of  the  Ojibways,"  Minnesota  Hist.  Soc.  Collec- 
tions, 5:21-394. 
205  WHITE,  R.  B.     "Notes  on  the  Aboriginal  Races  of  the  N.  W.  Provinces  of  S. 

America,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  13:240-57. 
*2o6  WIED,  M.  zu.     Travels  in  the  Interior  of  N.  America.     (Tr.)     L.,  1843. 

207  WILKES,  C.     Narrative  of  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition.     Ph., 

1845-    5  v. 

208  WILL,  G.  F.,  AND  SPINDEN,  H.  J.     "The  Mandans,"  Peabody  Mus.  Am. 
Arch,  and  Ethn.,  Pap.,  3:79-219. 

209  WILLOUGHBY,  C.     "Indians  of  the  Quinaielt  Agency,  Washington  Territory," 
Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1886:267-82. 

210  WINSHIP,    G.    P.     "The   Coronado   Expedition,    1540-1542,"  Bur.  Ethn., 

Rep-,  I4:339~6l3- 
*2ii  WINSOR,  J.     Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America.     Bost.  [especially 

vol.  i],  1889. 
*2i2  WISSLER,  C.     "The  Blackfoot  Indians,"  Ann.  Arch.  Rep.,  1905,  App.  Rep. 

of  Minister  of  Education  of  Ontario,  162-78. 

2i2a  WISSLER,  C.,  editor.     "The  Indians  of  Greater  New  York  and  the  Lower 
Hudson,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Anth.  Pap.,  3:1-242. 

[Six  archaeological  and  3  ethnological  papers  by  different  hands.] 

213  ZEISBERGER,  D.     Diary  1781-98  (ed.  Bliss).     Cincin.,  1885. 

Very  wild  views  have  been  popularly  promulgated  on  the  question  of  the 
antiquity  of  man  in  America.  The  student  may  first  read  FARRAND,  The 
Basis  of  American  History,  chap.  5:  "Antiquity  of  Man  in  North  America, 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  883 

and  the  following  papers  by  HOLMES:  "Auriferous  Gravel  Man  in  California," 
Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  1:107-21,  614-45;  "Are  There'.Traces  of  Glacial  Man  in 
the  Trenton  Gravels?"  Jl.  of  Geol.,  1:15-37;  "Traces  of  Glacial  Man  in 
Ohio,"  Jl.  of  Geol,  1:147-63;  "A  Sketch  of  the  Great  Serpent  Mound," 
Science,  8:624-28.  Other  good  papers  by  HOLMES  are:  "Stone  Implements 
of  the  Tidewater  Province,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Rep.,  15:13-152;  "Fossil  Human 
Remains  in  Kansas,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  4:743-52.  A  recent  paper  is  MONT- 
GOMERY, "Remains  of  Prehistoric  Man  in  the  Dakotas,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S., 
8 : 640-5 1.  HAYNES  has  a  paper  on  " Prehistoric  Archaeology  of  N.  America"  in 
Winsor's  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.,  i : 328-68,  and  WINSOR  has  a  paper  on  "Prog- 
ress of  Opinion  Respecting  the  Origin  and  Antiquity  of  Man  in  America" 
in  the  same  work,  1:369-412.  The  best  book  is  perhaps  THOMAS,  C.,  Intro- 
duction to  the  Study  of  N.  American  Archaeology  (Cincin.,  1898).  FOWKE,  G., 
Archaeological  History  of  Ohio:  The  Mound  Builders  and  Later  Indians 
(Columbus,  1902),  is  good.  Also  MOOREHEAD,  W.  K.,  Prehistoric  Implements 
(Cincin.,  1900),  andTmjRSTON,  G.  P.,  Antiquities  of  Tennessee  (Cincin.,  1890). 
NADAILLAC,  Prehistoric  America  (N.  Y.,  1893)  is  a  good  popular  work. 
A  valuable  book  is  SELER,  E.  (and  others),  "Mexican  and  Central  American 
Antiquities,  Calendar  and  History,"  Bur.  Ethn.,  Bui.,  28:1-670.  Seler  is 
pre-eminent  in  this  field  and  his  important  work  will  be  found  in  his  Gesammelte 
Abhandlungen  zur  Sprach-  und  Alterthumskunde  (Berlin,  1902-1909).  Other 
references  will  be  found  in  Bibliographies  3  and  5. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  9 

AFRICA 

1  AIMES,  H.  H.  S.     "African  Institutions  in  America,"  Jl.  Am.  Folk-Lore, 
18:15-32. 

2  ALLEN,  W.,  AND  THOMSON,  T.  R.  H.     A  Narrative  of  the  Expedition  .... 
to  the  River  Niger  in  1841.     L.,  1848. 

*3  ANKERMANN,    B.    "  L'ethnographie    actuelle    dc    1'Afrique    meridionale," 

Anthropos,  1:914-49. 
*4  ANKERMANN,  B.     "  Kulturkreise  und  Kulturschichten  in  Afrika,"  Zeits.  f. 

Ethn.,  37:54-84. 

[A  systematic  study  of  Africa  may  begin  with  this.] 

*5  ANKERMANN,  B.     "Ueber  den  gegenwartigen  Stand  der  Ethnographic  der 

Siidhalfte  Afrikas,"  Arch.  f.  Anth.,  32:241-86. 
*6  ARBOUSSET,  T.,  AND  DAUMAS,  F.     Narrative  of  an  Exploratory  Tour  to  the 

N.  E.  of  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.     (Tr.)     L.,  1852. 

7  ARNOT,  F.     Garenganze;   or,  Seven  Years'  Pioneer  Mission  Work  in  Central 
Africa.     L.,  1889. 

8  ARNOT,  F.  S.     "Journey  from  Natal  to  Bihe  and  Benguela  and  ....  to 
the  Sources  of  the  Zambesi  and  the  Congo,"   Roy.  Geog.  Soc.,  Proc.,  1889:65- 
82. 

9  BAKER,  S.  W.     The  Albert  Nyanza.     N.  Y.,  1888. 


884  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

10  BAKER,  S.  W.     Ismattia.    L.,  1886. 

*n  BARTH,  H.     Travels  and  Discoveries  in  North  and  Central  Africa.     (Tr.) 
L.,  1859. 

12  BARTHEL,    K.     "Volkerbewegungen   auf   der   Siidhalfte   des   africanischen 
Kontinents,"  Vereinf.  Erdkunde  zu  Leipzig,  Mitth.,  1893:5-87. 

13  BASTIAN,  A.     Afrikanische  Reisen.     Bremen,  1859. 

14  BASTIAN,  A.     Die  deutsche  Expedition  an  der  Loango-Kuste.     Jena,  1875. 

15  BAUMANN,  O.     "Beitrage  zur  Ethnographic  des  Kongo,"     Anth.  Gesell.  zu 
Wien.,  Mitth.,  17:160-80. 

16  BAUMANN,  O.     Durch  Massailand  zur  Nilquelle.     B.,  1894. 

17  BEECHAM,  J.     Ashantee  and  the  Gold  Coast.     L.,  1841. 

18  BEGUIN,   E.      Les    ma-Rotse.     Etude  geogr.  et  ethnogr.   du  Haut-Zambeze. 
Lausanne,  1903. 

*i9  BENNETT,  A.  L.     "Ethnographical  Notes  on  the  Fang.,"  //.  Anth.  Inst., 
29 : 66-98. 

20  BENTLEY,  W.  H.     Pioneering  on  the  Congo.     L.,  1900. 

*2oa  BINGER,  CAPT.    Du  Niger  au  golfe  de  Guinee  par  le  pays  de  Kong  et  le  Mossi. 
P.,  1892. 

21  BOUCHE,  P.  B.     Sept  ans  en  Afrique  occidentale.     La  Cdte  des  esclaves  et  le 
Dahomey.     P.,  1885. 

*22  BRUCE,  J.     Travels  to  Discover  the  Source  of  the  Nile.     Edin.,  1790. 
*23  BRUN,  P.     "Notes  sur  les  croyances  et  les  pratiques  religieuses  des  Malinkes 
fetichistes,"  Anthropos,  2:722—29,  942-54. 

24  BURDON,  J.  A.     "The  Fulani  Emirates  of  Northern  Nigeria,"  Geog.  JL,  24: 
636-51. 

25  BURROWS,  G.     The  Land  of  the  Pygmies.     L.,  1898. 

*a6  BURROWS,  G.     "On  the  Natives  of  the  Upper  Welle  District  of  the  Belgian 
Congo,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  28:35-47. 

27  BURTON,  R.  F.     Abeokuta  and  the  Camaroons  Mountains.     L.,  1863. 

28  BURTON,  R.  F.     First  Footsteps  in  East  Africa.     L.,  1856. 

29  BURTON,  R.  F.     The  Lake  Regions  of  Central  Africa.     L.,  1860. 
*30  BURTON,  R.  F.     A  Mission  to  Gelele,  King  of  Dahome.     L.,  1864. 

31  BURTON,  R.  F.     Two  Trips  to  Gorilla  Land.     L.,  1876. 

32  BUSCHAN,  G.     "Zur  Pathologic  der  Neger,"  Archivio  per  VAnth.  e  I'Ethn., 

3i:357-7S- 

[Contains  a  bibliography  on  diseases  of  the  negro.] 

33  CAILLIE,  R.     Travels  through  Central  Africa  to  Timbuctoo.     L.,  1830. 
*34  CAMERON,  V.  L.     Across  Africa.    L.,  1885. 

*35  CASATI,  G.     Ten  Years  in  Equatoria.     (Tr.)     L.,  1891. 
36  CHAPAUX,  A.    Le  Congo.     Br.,  1894. 
*37  CHATELAIN,  H.     "African  Folk-Life,"  Jl.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  10:21-34. 

38  CHATELAIN,  H.     "Some  Causes  of  the  Retardation  of  African  Progress," 
//.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  8:177-84. 

39  CLOZEL,  F.  J.     Les  Bayas:  notes  ethnographiques  et  linquistiques P., 

1896. 

*4o  CLOZEL,  F.  J.,  ET  VILLAMUR,  R.    Les  coutumes  indigenes  de  la  Cdte  d'lvoire. 
P.,  1902. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  885 

*4i  CONDER,  C.  R.     "The  Present  Condition  of  the  Native  Tribes  of  Bechuana- 

land,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:76-92. 

*42  CONNOLLY,  R.  M.     "Social  Life  in  Fanti-Land,  "Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  26:128-53. 
43  COQUILHAT,  C.     Sur  le  Haul-Congo.     P.,  1888. 
*44  COQUILHAT,  C.     "Chez  les  Bangalas.     Sur  le  Haut-Congo,"  Rev.  de  Belgique, 

53:35-67- 

45  COQUILHAT,  C.   "Le  Congo  et  la  tribu  des  Bangalas,"  Soc.  Geog.  d'Anvers, 
Rep.,  9:625-46. 

46  COQUILHAT,  C.     "Le   Haut-Congo,"   Soc.  Ingenieurs  et  Industriels,  Bui., 
1886,  fasc.  2:42-47. 

47  COTTON,  P.  H.  G.  POWELL-.     In  Unknown  Africa.     L.,  1904. 

48  CRAWFURD,  J.     "On  the  Physical  and  Mental  Characteristics  of  the  Negro," 
Ethn.  Soc.,  Trans.,  N.  S.,  4:212-39. 

*49  CRUICKSHANK,  B.     Eighteen  Years  on  the  Gold  Coast  of  Africa.     L.,  1853. 

*5o  CUNNINGHAM,  J.  F.     Uganda  and  Its  Peoples.     L.,  1905. 

*5i  DALE,  G.     "An  Account  of  the  Principal  Customs  and  Habits  of  the  Natives 

Inhabiting  the  Bondei  Country,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  25:182-239. 
*52  DEKEN,  P.  DE.     "Deux  ans  au  Congo,"  Missions  en  Chine  et  au  Congo, 

3:234-39,  and  continuing  to  4:20-23  (16  papers). 
*53  DENNETT,  R.  E.    At  the  Back  of  the  Black  Man's  Mind.     L.,  1906. 
[Mr.  Dennett  is  thought  to  know  more  of  this  question  than  anybody,  but  it  is  hard  to  get  back  of  his 
mind  also.    Contains  important  details,  especially  on  fetish  and  kingship.] 

54  DESPLAGNES,  L.     Le  plateau  central  nigerien.     P.,  1907. 

55  DOWD,  J.     The  Negro  Races:  A  Sociological  Study.     N.  Y.,  1907. 

[A  treatment  of  African  culture  by  geographical  zones.] 

56  DUVEYRIER,  H.     Exploration  du  Sahara:  Les  Toudreg  du  Nord.     P.,  1864. 
*57  ELLIS,  A.  B.     The  Tshi-speaking  Peoples  of  the  Gold  Coast  of  West  Africa. 

L.,  1887. 
*58  ELLIS,  A.  B.     The  Ewe-speaking  Peoples  of  the  Slave  Coast  of  West  Africa. 

L.,  1890. 
*59  ELLIS,   A.    B.     The    Yoruba-s peaking  Peoples  of  the  Slave  Coast  of  West 

Africa.     L.,  1894. 
*6o  ELLIS,  A.  B.     History  of  the  Gold  Coast.     L.,  1893. 

61  ENDEMANN,   K.     "  Mittheilungen  iiber  die  Sotho-Neger,"   Zeits.  f.   Ethn. 
6:16-66. 

62  FIES,  K.     "Der  Hostamm  in  Deutsch-Togo,"  Globus,  87:13-17,  72-78. 

63  FITZ  GERALD,  W.  W.  A.     Travels  in  the  Coastlands  of  British  East  Africa  and 
the  Islands  of  Zanzibar  and  Pemba.     L.,  1898. 

*64  FORBES,  F.  E.     Dahomey  and  the  Dahomans.     L.,  1851. 
*64a  FRANCOIS,  H.  v.     Nama  und  Damara,  Deutsch-Sild-West-Afrika.    Magde- 
burg, 1895. 
65  FREEMAN,  R.  A.     Travels  and  Life  in  Ashanti  and  Jaman.     Westminster, 

1898. 

*66  FRITSCH,  G.     Die  Eingeborenen  Sud-Afrikas.     Breslau,  1872. 
*67  FRITSCH,  G.     Drei  Jahre  in  Stid-Afrika.     Breslau,  1868. 
68  FRITSCH,  G.     "Die  afrikanischen  Biischmanner  als  Urrasse,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn., 
i 2 : 289-300. 


886  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

69  FROBENIUS,  H.     Die  Heiden-Neger  des  agyptischen  Sudan.     B.,  1893. 

70  FROBENIUS,  L.     Im  Schalten  der  Kongostaates.     B.,  1907. 

*7i  FROBENIUS,  L.     Ursprung  der  afrikanischen  Kulturen.     B.,  1898. 

*72  FROBENIUS,  L.     "The  Origin  of  African  Civilisations,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep. 

for  1898:637-50. 
*73a  FROBENIUS,  L.     "Der  westafrikanische  Kulturkreis,"  Petermann's  Mitth., 

43 : 225-36,  262-67;  44:193-204,  265-71. 
*74  FULLEBORN,  F.     Das  deutsche  Nyassa  und  Ruwumagebiet:  Land  und  Leute. 

(Deutsch  Ost-Afrika,  vol.  9.)     B.,  1906. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  14:49.] 

74«  FULLEBORN,  F.     Anthropologie  der  Nord-Nyassa-Lander.     B.,  1902. 
[Altogether  on  physical  anthropology.] 

746  GAUTIER  ET  CHUDEAU.     Missions  au  Sahara.     P.,  1908. 

75  GIRARD,  H.     "Yakomas  et  Bougous.     Anthropophages  du  Haut-Ubanghi," 
L'anth.,  12:51-91. 

76  GOTZEN,  G.  A.  VON.     Durch  Afrika  -von  Ost  nach  West.     B.,  1899. 

77  GOTTSHLING,  E.     "The  Bawenda:  a  Sketch  of  Their  History  and  Customs," 
Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  35:365-86. 

*?8  GRANVILLE,  R.  K.     "Notes  on  the  Jekris,  Sobos,  and  the  Ijos  of  the  Warri 

District  of  the  Niger  Coast  Protectorate,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  28:104-26. 
79  GUESSFELDT,  P.     "Zur  Kenntniss  der  Loango-Neger,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  8: 203- 

16. 

79a  GUTMANN,  B.     Dichten  und  Denken  der  Dschagganeger.     Lpz.,  1909. 
*8o  HALKIN,  J.     Quelques  peuplades  du  district  de  I'Uele:  I.  Introduction,  Les 

Ababua.     Liege,  1907. 
81  HAMY,  E.  T.     "The  Home  of  the  Troglodytes,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for 

1891:425-31.     (From  L'anth.,  2:529-36.) 
*82  HAMY,  E.  T.     "Les  races  negres,"  L'anth.,  8:257-271. 

83  HANOTEAU,  A.,  ET  LETOURNEAUX,  A.     La  Kabylie.    ed.  2.     P.,  1893. 

84  HARDWICK,  A.  ARKELL-.     An  Ivory  Trader  in  North  Kenia.     L.,  1903. 

85  HARTMANN,   R.     Die   Volker  Afrikas.     (Internal,  wissenschaftl.   Bibliothek, 
38.)     Lpz.,  1879. 

86  HARTMANN,  R.     Die  Nigritier.     B.,  1876. 

87  HERVE,   G.      "Noirs  et  blancs:    le  croisement  des  races  aux   Etats-Unis 
et   la  theorie  de  la  'miscegenation,'"  Rev.  de   I'Ecole  d'Anth.,    16:337-58. 

88  HINDE,  S.  L.     The  Last  of  the  Masai.     L.,  1901. 

*8g  HOBLEY,  C.  W.     "Anthropological  Studies  in  Kavi rondo  and  Nandi,"     //. 

Anth.  Inst.,  33:325-59. 

*go  HOLLIS,  A.  C.     The  Masai:   Their  Language  and  Folk-lore.     Oxf.,  1905. 
*9i  HOLLIS,  A.  C.     The  Nandi:  Their  Language  and  Folk-lore.     Oxf.,  1909. 
*92  HOLLUB,  E.     "Die  Ma-Atabele,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  25:177-206. 
*93  HOLUB,  E.     Seven  Years  in  South  Africa.     L.,  1881. 

94  HORE,  E.  C.     "On  the  Twelve  Tribes  of  Tanganyika,"  //.  Anth.  Inst., 
12:2-20. 

95  HOVELAQUE,  A.     Les  n&gres  del'Afrique  sus-equatoriale.     (Bibl.  d'Anth.,  9.) 
P.,  1889. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  887 

96  HUTCHINSON,  T.  J.     "On  the  Social  and  Domestic  Traits  of  the  African 
Tribes;    with  a  Glance  at  Their  Superstitions,  Cannibalism,  etc.,"     Ethn. 
Soc.,  Trans.,  N.  S.,  1:327-40. 

97  HOTTER,  D.     "  Volkerbilder  aus  Kamerun,"  Globus,  87:234-38,  301-4,  365- 
70. 

*g8  IRLE,  I.     Die  Herero.     Giitersloh,  1906. 
*99  JOHNSTON,  H.     The  Uganda  Protectorate.     N.  Y.,  1904. 
*ioo  JOHNSTON,  H.    Liberia.    N.  Y.,  1906. 

[Also  a  paper,  "Liberia,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1905:247-64.] 
*ioi  JOHNSTON,  H.     George  Grenfell  and  the  Congo.     L.,  1908. 

102  JOHNSTON,  H.     The  River  Congo.     L.,  1884. 
*io3  JOHNSTON,  H.     "On  the  Races  of  the  Congo,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  13:461-80. 

104  JOHNSTON,  H.     "The  People  of  Equatorial  Africa,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  15:3-17. 
*io5  JOHNSTON,  H.     "The  Pygmies  of  the  Great  Congo  Forest,"  Smiths.  Inst., 

Rep.  for  1902:479-91. 

1 06  JOHNSTONS,  H.  B.     "Notes  on  the  Customs  of  the  Tribes  Occupying  Mom- 
basa Sub-District,  British  East  Africa,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  32:263-72. 
*io7  JUNKER,  W.     Travels  in  Africa.     (Tr.)     L.,  1893. 
*io8  KEANE,  A.  H.     Ethnology,  "Homo  ^Ethiopicus,"  242-94. 
*io9  KEANE,  A.  H.     Man  Past  and  Present,  "The  African  Negro,"  35-125. 
*no  KIDD,  D.     The  Essential  Kafir.     L.,  1904. 

in  KIDD,  D.     Kafir  Socialism  and  the  Dawn  of  Individualism.     L.,  1908. 
*ii2  KINGSLEY,  M.  H.     Travels  in  West  Africa.     N.  Y.,  1897. 
*ii3  KINGSLEY,  M.  H.     West  African  Studies.     N.  Y.,  1901. 

[Miss  Kingsley's  books  are  refreshing  literature  as  well  as  good  ethnology.] 

114  KLOSE,  H.     Togo.     B.,  1899. 

*ii5  KOLBEN,  P.     Present  State  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.     (Tr.)     L.,  1731. 
*u6  KOLLMAN,  P.     The  Victoria  Nyanza.     (Tr.)     L.,  1899. 
*ii7  KRAPF,  L.     Travels,  Researches,  and  Missionary  Labours  during  an  Eighteen 

Years'  Residence  in  Eastern  Africa.     L.,  1860. 

*u8  KROPF,  A.     Das  Volk  der  Xosa-Kaffern  im  ostlichen  Sudafrika.     B.,  1889. 
119  KROPF,  A.     A  Kaffir-English  Dictionary.     (Lovedale  Mission  Press.)    S.  Af., 

1898. 
*i2o  KURCHHOFF,  D.     "Maasse  und  Gewichte  in  Afrika,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  40:289- 

342. 

*i2i  LANE,  E.  W.     Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Modern  Egyptians.     L.,  1835. 
122  LAPICQUE,  L.     "Les  negres  d'Asie  et  la  race  negre  en  general,"  Soc.  d' 'Anth. 

de  Paris,  Bui.,  5  Se"r.,  7 : 233-49. 

*I23  LENZ,   O.     " Oesterreichische   Kongo-Expedition,"   Geog.  Gesell.   zu   Wien, 
Mitth.,  29:27-41,  and  continuing  to  575-92  (7  papers). 

124  LESLIE,  D.     Among  the  Zulus  and  Amatongas.     Edin.,  1875. 

*i24a  LEVENSTEIN,    S.     "Die    Malereien    der    Buschmanner    in    Sud-Afrika," 
Internal.  Arch.f.  Ethnog.,  18:1-44. 

125  LICHTENSTEIN,  H.     Travels  in  Southern  Africa.     (Tr.)     L.,  1815. 

*I26  LIVINGSTONE,    D.     Missionary    Travels   and   Researches   in   South   Africa. 

L.,  1857- 
*i27  LIVINGSTONE,  D.     Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi.     L.,  1865. 


888  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*i28  LIVINGSTONE,  D.     Last  Journals  in  Central  Africa  (ed.  Waller).     L.,  1880. 
*I29  LUSCHAN,    F.    v.     Beitrage   zur    Volkerkunde   der   deutschen   Schutzgebiete- 

B.,  1897. 
+130  LUSCHAN,  F.  v.     "Fremder  Einfluss  in  Afrika,"  Westermanns  lllust.  deutsche 

Monatshefte,  84:709-28. 

[On  borrowing  as  compared  with  native  culture.] 

*i3i  LUSCHAN,  F.  V.     "Eisentechnik  in  Afrika,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  41:22-53. 
*i3io  LUSCHAN,  F.  V.     "Bericht  iiber  eine  Reise  in  Siidafrika,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn., 

38:863-95. 
*i32  MABILLE,  A.     "The  Basuto  of  Basutoland,"  African  Soc.,  Jl.,  5:233-51, 

35I-70- 

133  McCoAN,  J.  C.     Egypt  as  It  Is.    N.  Y.,  1877. 

134  MACDONALD,  D.     Africana.     L.,  1882. 

135  MACDONALD,  G.     The  Gold  Coast,  Past  and  Present.    L.,  1898. 

+136  MACDONALD,  J.     "Manners,  Customs,  Superstitions,  and  Religions  of  South 
African  Tribes,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  19:264-96;   20:113-40. 

137  MACDONALD,  J.     "East  Central  African  Customs,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  22:99- 

122. 

138  MAHLY,   E.     "Studien  von  der  Goldkiiste,"  Globus,  68:149-51,    169-72, 
189-91. 

139  MANN,  R.  J.     "The  Kaffir  Race  of  Natal,"  Ethn.  Soc.,  Trans.,  N.  S.,  5: 277- 

97- 

140  MASPERO,  G.     The  Dawn  of  Civilization.     (Tr.)     L.,  1897. 

141  MAYR,  F.     "The  Zulu  Kafirs  of  Natal,"  Anthropos,  1:453-71. 

142  MEAKIN,  B.     The  Moors.     L.,  1902. 
*i43  MERKER,  M.     Die  Masai.     B.,  1904. 

144  MILLIGAN,  R.  H.     The  Jungle  Folk  of  Africa.     N.  Y.,  1908. 

145  MONDIERE,  A.  T.     "Les  ne"gres  chez  eux,"  Rev.  d'anth.,  9:621-50;   10:73- 
107. 

*i46  NACHTIGAL,  G.     Sahara  und  Sudan.     B.,  1889. 

147  NORTHCOTE,  G.  A.  S.     "The  Nilotic  Kavirondo,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:58-66. 

148  OLLONE,  CAPT.  D'.     De  la  C6te  d'lvoire  au  Sudan  el  a  la  Guinee.     P.,  1901. 
*i49  OVERBERGH,  C.  VAN.     I,  Les  Bangala;  2,  Les  Mayombe;  J,  Les  Basonge; 

4,  Les  Mangbetu.     Br.,  1907-9. 

[First  vols.  (on  the  Congo)  of  Collection  de  monographies  ethnographiqves,  based  on  very  full  materials 
and  to  be  extended  to  all  countries.  Very  important,  though  the  results  are  given  in  too  sum- 
marized a  form.] 

+150  PARK,  M.     Travels  in  the  Interior  Districts  of  Africa.     L-,  1900  [orig.  1799]. 

151  PARKE,  T.  H.     My  Personal  Experiences  in  Equatorial  Africa.     L.,  1891. 

[Parke  was  physician  to  one  of  Stanley's  expeditions.] 

152  PARKINSON,  J.     "  A  Note  on  the  Epik  and  Ekoi  Tribes  of  the  Eastern  Province 
of  Southern  Nigeria,"  77.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:261-67. 

*i53  PARTRIDGE,  C.     Cross  River  Natives.     L.,  1905. 
*i54  PASSARGE,  S.     Siidafrika.     Lpz.,  1908. 

[Passarge  is  primarily  a  geographer  but  his  ethnological  work  is  of  the  first  rank.] 

*i55  PASSARGE,  S.     Die  Buschmanner  der  Kalahari.     B.,  1907. 
[Paper  with  same  title  in  Dancklemans  Mittheilungen,   18:194-292.    See  a  criticism  and  reply  by 
Fritsch,  Zeits.  /.  Ethn.,  38:71-79.] 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES 

="156  PASSARGE,  S.     Adamaua.     B.,  1895. 

*i57  PASSARGE,  S.     "Die  Mambukuschu,"  Globus,  87:229-34,  295-301. 

*i58  PAULITSCHKE,  P.     Ethnographic  Nordost-Afrikas.     B.,  1893. 

*i58a  PAULISTSCHKE,  P.     "  Kulturbilder  aus  den  Somal-  und  Gallalandern  von 

Harar,"  Globus,  56:1-6,  17-22,  36-42,  65-69. 
*i59  PECHUEL-LOESCHE,  E.     Volkskunde  von  Loango.    Stutt.,  1909. 

[A  distinguished  work.] 
*i6o  PHILLIPS,  R.  C.     "The  Lower  Congo:  a  Sociological  Study,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst., 

17:214-33. 

*i6i  POGGE,  P.     Im  Reiche  des  Muata  Jamwo.     B.,  1880. 
162  PROYART,   L.   B.     History  of  Loango.     (PINKERTON,   Collection  of  Voyage 
and  Travels,  16.)     L.,  1814. 
QUATREFAGES,  A.  DE.     The  Pygmies.     (Tr.  Starr.)     N.  Y.,  1895. 

QUEDENFELDT,  M.     "Eintheilung  und  Verbreitung  der  Berberbevolkerung 
in  Marokko,"     Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,   20:98—130,   146-60,    184-210;    21:81-108, 
157-201. 
*i64  RAMSEYER,  F.  A.,  AND  KUHNE,  J.    Four  Years  in  Ashantee.     (Tr.)     L., 

1875- 
*i6s  RATZEL,  F.     History  of  Mankind,  2:237-562;  3:1-145,180-312. 

166  REINDORF,  C.  C.     History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante.     L.,  1896. 

167  ROBINSON,  C.     Nigeria,  Our  Latest  Protectorate.     L.,  1900. 
*i68  ROBINSON,  C.  H.     Hausaland.     L.,  1900. 

*i69  ROSCOE,  J.     "  Notes  on  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Baganda,"  Jl.  Anth. 

Inst.,  31:117-30;  32:25-80. 

170  ROSCOE,  J.     "The  Bahima:   a  Cow  Tribe  of  Enkole  in  the  Uganda  Protect- 
orate," Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:93-118. 

*iji  ROTH,  H.  L.     Great  Benin.     Halifax,  1903. 

+172  ROTH,   H.   L.     "Notes  on  Benin  Customs,"     Internal.   Arch.  f.   Ethnog.    , 
11:235-42. 

*i72a  RUELLE,    E.     "Notes  ....  sur   quelques    populations    noires  .  .  .  .  de 

1'Afrique  occidentale  francaise,"  L'anth.,  15:519-61,  657-703. 
173  SARRAZIN,  H.     Races  humaines  du  Soudan  franfais.     Chambery,  1901. 

*i74  SCHULTZE,  L.     Aus  Namaland  und  Kalahari.     Jena,  1907. 

*i75  SCHWEINFURTH,  G.     The  Heart  of  Africa.     (Tr.)     N.  Y.,  1874. 

*ij6  SEIDEL,  H.     "Die  Ephe-Neger,"  Globus,  68:313-17,  328-32. 
177  SHELDON,  M.  FRENCH-.     "Customs  Among  the  Natives  of  East  Africa,  from 
Teita  to  Kilemegalia,  With  Special  Reference  to  Their  Women  and  Children," 
Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  21:358-96. 

*i?8  SHOOTER,  J.     The  Kafirs  of  Natal  and  the  Zulu  Country.     L.,  1857. 
179  SIEVERS,  W.     Afrika.     Lpz.,  1901. 

*i8o  SOUTH  AFRICAN  NATIVE  RACES  COMMITTEE  (ed.).  The  Native  Races  of 
South  Africa;  Their  Economic  and  Social  Condition.  L.,  1901.  Supplemen- 
tary vol.:  The  S.  African  Natives.  L.,  1908. 

181  SPECHT,  C.  A.     Africanische  Sitten  und  Gebrduche.     Lpz.,  1891. 

182  SPEKE,  J.  H.     Journal  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Source  of  the  Nile.     L.,  1863. 

183  SPENCER,  H.     Descriptive  Sociology,  4. 

184  STANLEY,  H.  M.    How  I  Found  Livingstone.     L.,  1874. 


SQO  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*i8s  STANLEY,  H.  M.     Through  the  Dark  Continent.     L.,  1878. 

*i86  STANLEY,  H.  M.     In  Darkest  Africa.     L.,  1890. 

*i87  STANLEY,  H.  M.      The  Congo  and  the  Founding  of  the  Free  State.     L., 

1885. 
*i87a  STARR,  F.     "Ethnographic  Notes  from  the  Congo  Free  State:   An  African 

Miscellany,"  Davenport  Acad.  of  Set.,  12:96-222. 

188  STIGAND,  C.  H.     "Notes  on  the  Natives  of  Nyassaland,  N.  E.  Rhodesia,  and 
Portuguese  Zambesia,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:119-32. 

189  STOW,  G.  W.     The  Native  Races  of  South  Africa:  A  History  of  the  Intrusion 
of  the  Hottentots  and  Bantu  into  the  Hunting  Grounds  of  the  Bushmen.     L. , 
1905. 

[Excellent  as  history  but  inadequate  as  ethnology.] 

190  STUHLMANN,  F.     Mil  Emin  Pascha  ins  Herz  von  Afrika.     B.,  1894. 

*i9oa  STUHLMANN,  F.  Beitrdge  zur  Kulturgeschichte  von  Ostafrika  (Deutsch- 
Ost-Afrika,  vol.  10).  B.,  1909. 

[Sub-title:  "General  Observations  and  Studies  on  the  Introduction  and  Economic  Significance  of  Food- 
Plants  and  Domesticated  Animals,  with  Special  Reference  to  German  East  Africa."  Of  importance 
for  Part  I.] 

191  TATE,  H.  E.     "Notes  on  the  Kikuyu  and   Kamba  Tribes  of   British  East 
Africa,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  34:130-48. 

+192  THEAL,  G.  M.     History  and  Ethnography  of  Africa  South  of  the  Zambesi- 

L.,  1907. 
*i93  TILLINGHAST,  J.  A.    "The  Negro  in  Africa  and  America,"  Am.  Econ.  Assoc., 

Pub.,  3d  ser.,  3:399-637.     (Separately,  N.  Y.,  1900.) 
[Good  introduction  to  the  negro  question.] 

*i94  TORDAY,  E.,  AND  JOYCE,  T.  A.     "Notes  on  the  Ethnography  of  the  Ba- 

Huana,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  36:272-301. 
*i95  TORDAY,  E.,  AND  JOYCE,  T.  A.     "Notes  on  the  Ethnography  of  the  Ba- 

Mbala,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  35:398-426. 
+196  TORDAY,  E.,  AND  JOYCE,  T.  A.     "Notes  on  the   Ethnography  of  the  Ba- 

Yaka,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  36:39-58. 
*I97  TORDAY,  E.,  AND  JOYCE,  T.  A.     "On  the  Ethnology  of  the  South -Western 

Congo  Free  State,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:133-56. 
*I98  TSCHOFFEN.     "Au  Congo:    Organisation  sociale  et  coutumes  judiciaires  des 

noirs,"  Soc.  Royale  Beige  de  Ceog.,  Bui.,  20:  244-72. 

199  TUCKER,  A.  R.     Eighteen  Years  in  Uganda  and  East  Africa.     L.,  1908. 
*2oo  VELTEN,  C.     Schilderungen  der  Suaheli.     Gottingen,  1901. 
[Based  on  Wissmann,  Bumiller,  Gotzen,  and  others.] 

*2oi  VELTEN,  C.     Sitten  und  Gebrauche  der  Suaheli.     Gottingen,  1903. 
*2oio  VERNER,  S.   P.     Pioneering  in  Central  Africa.     Richmond,  Va.,  1903. 
[A  good  missionary  report,  resembling  Livingstone.] 

202  WOLF,  L.     "  Volkstamme  Central  Afrikas,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  18:725-52. 

[Of  importance  mainly  for  the  physical  anthropology  of  this  region.] 

*2O2fl  WAITZ,  T.     Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker,  2:1-524. 

203  WARD,  H.  "Ethnographical  Notes  Relating  to  the  Congo  Tribes,"  Jl.  Anth. 
Inst.,  24:285-99. 

204  WARD,  H.     Five  Years  with  Congo  Cannibals.     L.,  1890. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  891 

*2os  WERTHER,   C.   W.     Die  Mittleren  Hochliinder  des  nordlichen  Deutsch-Ost- 

Afrikas B.,  1898. 

[Largely  geographical  and  zoological,  but  contains  von  Luschan's  valuable  paper  on  the  ethnography 

of  this  region,  323-81.] 

*2o6  WEULE,    K.     Wissenschaftliche    Ergebnisse    meiner    ethnographischen    For- 
schungsreise  in  den  Siidosten  Deutsch-Ostafrikas.     B.,  1908. 

[For  translation  see  Bibliography  14:65.     The  following  is  more  popular.] 

207  WEULE,  K.     Negerleben  in  Ostafrika.     Lpz.,  1908. 
*2o8  WIDENMANN,  A.     Die  Kilimandscharo-Bevolkerung.     Gotha,  1899. 
*209  WILSON,  C.  T.,  AND  FELKIN,  R.  W.     Uganda  and  the  Egyptian  Sudan.     L., 
1882. 

210  WISSMANN,  H.  v.     Unter  deutscher  Flagge  quer  durch  Afrika.     B.,  1888. 

211  WISSMANN,  H.  v.      My  Second  Journey  through  Equatorial  Afrika.     (Tr.) 
L.,  1891. 

212  WISSMANN,  H.  v.     Im  Innern  Afrikas.    Die  Kassai.     Lpz.,  1891. 

213  WINTERBOTTOM,  T.     An  Account  of  the  Native  Africans  in  the  Neighborhood 
of  Sierra  Leone.     L.,  1803. 

*2i4  WYLDE,  A.  B.     Modern  Abyssinia.     L.,  1901. 

[The  following  bibliography  is  published  by  the  Library  of  Congress:  Select  List  of  Re/erences  on  the 
Negro  Question,  by  A.  P.  C.  GRIFFIN,  1903.    28  pp.    Of  value  for  the  Negro  in  America.] 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  10 

AUSTRALIA  AND  TASMANIA 

1  ANGAS,   G.   F.     Savage  Life  and  Scenes  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand. 
L.,  1850. 

2  BARRINGTON,  G.     The  History  of  New  South  Wales.     L.,  1810. 

3  BEDDOE,  J.     "Aborigines  of  Queensland,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  7:145-48. 

4  BLAND,  R.  H.     "Aborigines  of  Western  Australia  in  the  Early  History  of 
That  Colony,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:341-43. 

5  BONNEY,  F.     "On  Some  Customs  of  the  Aborigines  of  the  River  Darling, 
N.  S.  Wales,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  13:  i  22-36. 

6  BONWICK,  J.     "The  Australian  Natives,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:201-10. 
*7  BONWICK,  J.     Daily  Life  and  Origin  of  the  Tasmanians.     L.,  1870. 

8  BONWICK,  J.     The  Last  of  Tasmanians.     L.,  1869. 

9  BONWICK,  J.     Port  Phillip  Settlement.     L.,  1883. 

[Very  interesting  history.     Ethnology  incidental] 

10  BONWICK,  J.     William  Buckley,  the  Wild  White  Man,  and  His  Port  Phillip 
Black  Friends.     Melbourne,  1856. 

11  BROWNE,  J.     "Die  Eingeborenen  Australiens,"  Petermann's  Mitth.,  2:443- 

54- 

12  BUNCE,  D.     Australasiatic  Reminiscences  of  Twenty-Three  Years1  Wander- 
ings.    Melbourne,  1857. 

*i3  C  ALDER,  J.  E.     "Some  Account  of  the  Wars  of  Extirpation,  and  Habits  of  the 
Native  Tribes  of  Tasmania,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  3:7-29. 

14  CALVERT,  A.  F.     Aborigines  of  Western  Australia.     L.,  1894. 

15  CAMERON,  A.  L.  P.     "Notes  on  Some  Tribes  of  N.  S.  Wales,"  //.  Anth. 
Inst.,  14:344-70. 


892  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*i6  CARMICHAEL,  C.  H.  E.     "On  a  Benedictine  Missionary's  Account  of  the 

Natives  of  Australia  and  Oceania,"  77.  A  nth.  Inst.,  7 :  280-93. 
17  CHRISTMANN,  F.     Australian.     (Ed.  Oberlander.)     Lpz.,  1880. 
*i8  CLEMENT,  E.     "Ethnographic  Notes  on  Western  Australia,"  Internal.  Arch. 

f.  Ethnog.,  16:1-29. 

19  CROZET.     Voyage  to  Tasmania  in  the  Years  1771-72.     (Tr.)     L.,  1891. 
*2o  CUNOW,  H.     Die  Verwandtschafts-Organisationen  der  Australneger.     Stutt., 

1894. 
*2i  CURR,  E.  M.     The  Australian  Race.     Melbourne  and  L.,  1887. 

22  CURR,  E.  M.     Recollections  of  Squatting  in  Victoria.     Melbourne  and  L., 
1883. 

23  DAWSON,  J.     Australian  Aborigines.     Melbourne,  1881. 

*23a  DIEDERICH,  F.     "Zur    Beurtheilung  der  Bevolkerungsverhaltnisse    Inner- 

Westaustraliens,"  Globiis,  55:289-92,  313-14,  321-24,  346-48,  361-66. 

[Of  importance  for  Part  I.] 

24  ENRIGHT,   W.    J.     "The   Language,   Weapons   and   Manufactures  of  the 
Aborigines  of  Port  Stephens,  N.  S.  W.,"  Roy.  Soc.  N.  S.  Wales,  Jl.,  34:103- 

17- 
*25  EYRE,  E.  J.     Journals  of  Expeditions  of  Discovery  into  Central  Australia. 

L.,  1845. 

*26  FISON,  L.,  AND  HOWITT,  A.  W.     Kamilaroi  and  Kurnai.     Melbourne,  1880. 
[Rather  superseded  by  Howitt's  Native  Tribes,  but  remains  important.] 

27  FRASER,  J.     Aborigines  of  New  South  Wales.     Sydney,  1892. 
*28  GASON,    S.     '.'Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Dieyerie  Tribe,"  in  WOODS, 

Native  Tribes  of  South  Australia,  253-307. 
*29  GREY,  SIR  G.     Journals  of  Two  Expeditions  of  Discovery  in  North-West  and 

West  Australia.     L.,  1841. 

30  HENDERSON,   J.     Excursions  and  Adventures  in  New  South  Wales.     L., 
1851. 

31  HODGKINSON,  C.     Australia  from  Port  Macquarie  to  Moreton  Bay.     L.,  1845. 

32  HODGSON,  C.  P.     Reminiscences  of  Australia.     L.,  1846. 

*33  HORN,  W.  A.     Report  of  the  Work  of  the  Scientific  Expedition  to  Central 

Australia,  vol.  4,  "Anthropology."     L.,  1896. 
*34  HOWITT,  A.  W.     Native  Tribes  of  S.  E.  Australia.     L.,  1904. 
[This,  the  volume  and  bulletins  of  W.  E.  Roth,  and  the  two  vols.  of  Spencer  and  Gillen,  are  of  about 
equal  merit,  and  represent  the  best  work  on  Australia.] 

35  HOWITT,  A.  W.     "Australian  Group-Relationships,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  37:279- 
89. 

36  HOWITT,  A.  W.     "  The  Dieri  and  Other  Kindred  Tribes  of  Central  Australia," 
Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  20:30-104. 

37  HOWITT,   W.     History   of  Discovery   in   Australia,    Tasmania,    and   New 
Zealand.     L.,  1865. 

[Fascinating  history  with  some  ethnology.] 
*38  KEANE,  A.  H.     Man  Past  and  Present,   "Australians  and  Tasmanians," 

I45-58- 

40  LEICHARDT,  F.  W.  L.     Journal  of  an  Overland  Expedition  in  Australia  .  .  .  .  , 
1844-45.     L.,  1847. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  893 

41  LEICHARDT,  F.  W.  L.     Dr.  L.  Leichardt's  Brief e.    Hamburg,  1881. 

*42  LUMHOLTZ,  C.     Among  Cannibals.     N.  Y.,  1889. 

*43  MATHEW,  J.     Eaglehawk  and  Crow.     L.,  1898. 
430  MATTHEWS,  C.  H.  S.    A  Parson  in  the  Australian  Bush.    L.,  1908. 

*44  MATHEWS,  R.  H.  "Ethnological  Notes  on  the  Aboriginal  Tribes  of  N.  S. 
Wales  and  Victoria,"  Royal  Soc.  of  New  South  Wales,  Jl.,  38:203-81. 

*45  MATHEWS,  R.  H.  Ethnological  Notes  on  the  A  boriginal  Tribes  of  N.  S.  Wales 
and  Victoria.  Sydney,  1905. 

*46  MATHEWS,  R.  H.  "Ethnological  Notes  on  the  Aboriginal  Tribes  of  Queens- 
land," Roy.  Geog.  Soc.  of  Australia,  Proc.  and  Trans.,  20:49-75. 

*47  MATHEWS,  R.  H.  "Ethnological  Notes  on  the  Aboriginal  Tribes  of  Western 
Australia,"  Roy.  Geog.  Soc.  of  Australia,  Proc.  and  Trans.,  19:43-72. 

*48  MATHEWS,  R.  H.     "Sociology  of  Some  Australian  Tribes,"  Roy.  Soc.  of  New 

South  Wales,  Jl.  and  Proc.,  39:104-23. 

49  MATHEWS,  R.  H.     "Some  Aboriginal  Tribes  of  Western  Australia,"  Roy. 
Soc.  of  New  South  Wales,  Jl.,  35:17-22. 

*5o  MATHEWS,  R.  H.     "The  Victorian  Aborigines,"  Am.  Anth.,  11:325-43. 
51  MATHEWS,    R.  H.     "The   Wombya   Organisation  of    the   Australian   Ab- 
origines," Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  2:494-501. 

*52  MATHEWS,  R.  H.,  AND  EVERETT,  M.  M.  "The  Organisation,  Language  and 
Initiation  Ceremonies  of  the  Aborigines  of  the  S.  E.  Coast  of  N.  S.  Wales." 
Roy.  Soc.  of  New  South  Wales,  Jl.,  34:262-80. 

*54  MEYER,  H.  E.  "Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Aborigines  of  the  Encounter 
Bay  Tribe,"  in  WOODS,  Native  Tribes  of  South  Australia,  185-206. 

55  MORGAN,  J.     The  Life  and  Adventures  of  Wm.  Buckley,  Thirty-two  Years  a 
Wanderer  amongst  the  Aborigines  of  the  Unexplored  Country  around  Port 
Phillip.     Hobart,  1852. 

56  OBERLANDER,  R.     "Die  Eingeborenen  der  australischen  Kolonie  Victoria," 
Globus,  4:238-42,  278-82. 

57  OLDFIELD,    A.     "On   the    Aborigines  of  Australia,"    Ethn.    Soc.,    Trans., 
N.S.,  3:215-98. 

*58  PALMER,  E.     "Notes  on  Some  Australian  Tribes,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  13:276- 

346. 

59  PARKER,  K.  L.     The  Euahlayi  Tribe.     L.,  1905. 
*6o  RATZEL,  F.     History  of  Mankind,  i :  333-90. 

61  RECLUS,  E.     "Contributions  a  la  sociologie  des  Australiens,"  Rev.  Anth., 
15:240-83;   16:20-43. 

62  RIDLEY,  W.     Kamilaroi,  Dippil,  and  Turrubul.     Sydney,  1866. 

*63  ROTH,  H.  L.,  AND  BUTLER,  M.  E.  The  Aborigines  of  Tasmania.  Halifax, 
1899 

[The  best  single  work  on  Tasmania.] 

*64  ROTH,  W.  E.  Ethnological  Studies  among  the  North-West-Central  Queens- 
land Aborigines.  Brisbane  and  L.,  1897. 

[See  remark  on  title  34.] 

$65  ROTH,  W.  E.     Bulletins  of  North  Queensland  Ethnography. 
[Twelve  papers  of  unsurpassed  interest.    Nos.  1-8  (1001-6)  printed  at  Brisbane,  Department  of  the 
Home  Secretary  of  Queensland,  and  Nos.  0-12  in  the  Records  of  Ike  Australian  Museum,  6:365- 
403;  7: 1-17,  74-107,  166-85.    They  cover  all  phases  of  Australian  native  life,  and  will  probably 
appear  in  book  form.] 


894  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

66  RUSDEN,  G.  W.     History  of  Australia.     Melbourne,  1883. 
*6y  SALVADO,    R.     Memoires    historiques    sur    I'Australie.     (Tr.    Falcimagne.) 

P.,  1854. 

[Early  sympathetic  acccount  of  natives  of  Western  Australia  by  a  Benedictine  missionary.    Trans- 
lated from  the  Italian.     Summarized  in  the  paper  by  Carmichael  in  this  list.] 

*68  SCHMIDT,  P.  W.     "Die  Stellung  der  Aranda  unter  den  australischen  Stam- 

men,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  40:866-901. 
*68o  SCHMIDT,  P.  W.     "  Sociologische    und    religios-ethische    Gruppierung    der 

Australier,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  41:328-77. 

69  SEMON,  R.     In  the  Australian  Bush.     (Tr.)     L.,  1899. 

70  SMITH,  P.  W.  BASSETT-.     "The  Aborigines  of  N.  W.  Australia,"  77.  Anth. 
Inst.,  23:324-31. 

*7i  SMYTH,  R.  B.     Aborigines  of  Victoria.     Melbourne,  1878. 
*72  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.     The  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia. 
L.,  1899. 

[See  remark  on  title  34.] 

*73  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.     The  Northern  Tribes  of  Central  Australia. 

L.,  1904. 

74  SPENCER,  H.     Descriptive  Sociology,  3. 
*75  STREHLOW,  C.     Die  Aranda  und  Loritjastamme  in  Zentralaustralien.    Frankf., 

1908. 
[Important  in  connection  with  the  work  of  Spencer  and  Gillen.     See  Bibliography  14:  71.! 

76  STUART,  J.  McD.     Explorations  in  Australia.     L.,  1864. 
*77  TAPLIN,  G.     Folklore,  Manners,  Customs,  and  Language  of  the  South  Aus- 
tralian Aborigines.     Adelaide,  1878. 
78  TAPLIN,  G.     "The  Narrinyeri,"  in  WOODS,  Native  Tribes  of  South  Australia, 

1-156. 

*79  THOMAS,  N.  W.     The  Natives  of  Australia.     L.,  1906. 
80  TYLOR,  E.  B.     "  On  the  Tasmanians  as  Representatives  of  Palaeolithic  Man," 

//.  Anth.  Inst.,  23:141-52. 
*8i  WAITZ,  T.  [AND  GERLAND,  G.].     Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker,  6:706-829 

82  WALKER,   J.   B.     Early  Tasmania.     (Walker  Memorial  vol.,  Roy.  Soc.  of 
Tasmamia.)     1902. 

83  WARBURTON,  D.  E.     Journey  across  the  Western  Interior  of  Australia.     L., 

1875- 

*84  WOODS,  J.  D.  (ed.).     The  Native  Tribes  of  South  Australia.     Adelaide,  1879. 
85  WOODS,  J.  E.  T.     History  of  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  Australia.     L., 
1865. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  n 

OCEANIA  AND  THE  MALAY  ARCHIPELAGO 

*i  ALBERTIS,  L.  M.  D'.     New  Guinea.    L.,  1881. 

[Interesting  account  of  exploration  with  important  ethnology.] 

*2  ANNADALE,  N.,  AND  ROBINSON,  H.  C.  Fasciculi  Malayenses.  Anthro- 
pological and  Zoological  Results  of  an  Expedition  to  Perak  and  the  Siamese 
Malay  States.  L.,  1904. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  14:72.] 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  895 

*3  ATKINSON,  F.  W.     The  Philippine  Islands.     Bost.,  1905. 
*4  ATKINSON,  J.  J.     "The  Natives  of  New  Caledonia,"  Folk-Lore,  14:243-59. 
*5  BAILEY,  J.     "An  Account  of  the  Wild  Tribes  of  the  Veddahs  of  Ceylon," 
Ethn.  Soc.,  Trans.,  N.  S.,  2:278-320. 

6  BEARDMORE,  E.     "The  Natives  of  Mowat,  Daudai,  New  Guinea,"  Jl.  Anth. 
Inst.,  19:459-73. 

7  BEST,  E.     "Maori  Nomenclature,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  32:182-201. 

8  SEVAN,  T.  F.     Toil,  Travel,  and  Discovery  in  British  New  Guinea.     L.,  1890. 
*9  BLAIR,  E.  H.,  AND  ROBERTSON,  J.  A.     The  Philippine  Islands,  1493-1803. 

Cleveland,  1903-8. 

[Translation  of  the  records  of  the  Catholic  missions,  Spanish  occupancy,  exploration,  etc.     A 
monumental  work  in  55  vols.,  but  of  incidental  ethnological  interest.] 

10  BLUMENTRITT,   F.     Versuch  einer  Ethnographic  der  Philippinen.     Gotha, 

1882. 

[Blumentritt  is  honored  as  the  pioneer  in  scientific  work  in  the  Philippines,  but  he  was  never  in  the 
islands.  His  work  is  inaccurate,  and  is  being  superseded  by  the  researches  of  the  Bureau 
of  Science,  Division  of  Ethnology,  of  the  Philippine  government.] 

11  BLUMENTRITT,  F.     "List  of  the  Native  Tribes  of  the  Philippines  and  of  the 
Languages  Spoken  by  Them,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1899:527-47. 

*i2  BOCK,  C.     The  Head-Hunters  of  Borneo.     L.,  1881. 

13  BOWRING,  J.     A  Visit  to  the  Philippine  Islands.     L.,  1859. 

14  BOWRING,  J.     The  Kingdom  and  People  of  Siam.     L.,  1857. 

15  BOYLE,  F.     Adventures  among  the  Dyaks  of  Borneo.     L.,  1865. 
*i6  BROOKE,  C.     Ten  Years  in  Sarawak.     L.,  1866. 

17  BROWN,  J.  M.      Maori  and  Polynesian,  their  Origin,  History,  and  Culture. 
L.,  1907. 

18  BROWN,  W.     New  Zealand  and  Its  Aborigines.     L.,  1845. 

*i9  BULOW,  W.  v.  "Zur  Ethnographic,  Anthropologie  und  Urgeschichte  der 
Malayo-Polynesier,"  Internal.  Arch.  f.  Ethnog.,  18:152-66. 

*i9<j  BULOW,  W.  v.  "Beitrage  zur  Ethnographic  der  Samoa-Inseln,"  Internal. 
Arch.f.  Ethnog.,  13:177-94. 

20  CATOR,  D.     Everyday  Life  among  the  Head-Hunters.     N.  Y.,  1905. 

21  CHALMERS,  J.     "Taoripi"  [New  Guinea],  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  27:326-34. 

22  CHALMERS,  J.     Work  and  Adventure  in  New  Guinea.     L.,  1902. 

23  CHAMBERLAIN,  B.  H.     "The  Luchu  Islands  and  Their  Inhabitants,"  Geog. 
JL,  5:289-319,  446-62,  534-44- 

24  CHEEVER,  H.     Life  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.     N.  Y.,  1851. 
*»5  CHRISTIAN,  F.  W.     The  Caroline  Islands.     N.  Y.,  1899. 

26  COAN,  T.  M.     "Hawaiian  Ethnography,"  Am.  Geog.  Soc.,  Jl.,  31:24-30. 
*27  CODRINGTON,  R.  H.     The  Melanesians.     Oxf.,  1891. 

28  CODRINGTON,  R.  H.     The  Melanesian  Languages.     Oxf.,  1885. 
*29  COLE,  F.  C.     "The  Tinggian,"  Philippine  Jl.  of  Sci.,  3: 197-211. 

30  COLENSO,  W.     On  the  Maori  Races  of  New  Zealand.     Wellington,  1865. 

31  COMRIE,  DR.     "Anthropological  Notes  on  New  Guinea,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst., 
6:102-13. 

*32  COOK,  CAPT.  J.     Voyages  of  Discovery. 

[A  good  complete  ed.,  in  2  vols.,  is  that  of  Ward,  Lock,  Bowden  &  Co.] 

*33  CRAWFURD,  J.     History  of  the  Indian  Archipelago.     Edin.,  1820. 


896  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

34  DIEFFENBACH,  E.     Travels  in  New  Zealand.     L.,  1843. 

35  DRURY,   R.     Journal  During  Fifteen   Years'   Captivity  on  the  Island  of 
Madagascar.     L.,  1890. 

*36  EARL,  G.  W.     The  Papuans.    L.,  1853. 

*37  ELLIS,  W.     Polynesian  Researches.     L.,  1859. 

38  ELLIS,  W.     Narrative  of  a  Tour  through  Hawaii.     2d  ed.     L.,  1827. 

39  ELLIS,  W.    History  of  Madagascar.    L.,  1838. 

40  ELLIS,  W.     Three  Visits  to  Madagascar.     L.,  1858. 

41  ERSKINE,  J.  E.     Journal  of  a  Cruise  among  the  Islands  of  the  Western  Pacific. 
L.,  1853. 

42  FINSCH,  O.     Samoafahrten.     Reisen  in  Kaiser  Wilhelms-Land  und  Englisch- 
Neu-Guinea.     Lpz.,  1888. 

43  FINSCH,  O.     Anthropologische  Ergebnisse  einer  Reise  in  der  Siidsee  und  dem 
Malayischen  Archipel.     B.,  1884. 

45  FORBES,  H.  O.     "Ethnology  of  the  Timor-Laut,"  JL  Anth.  Inst.,  13:8-32. 
*46  FORBES,  H.  O.      A   Naturalist's  Wanderings  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago. 
N.  Y.,  1885. 

47  FORBES,  H.  O.     "On  Some  of  the  Tribes  of  the  Island  of  Timor,"  //.  Anth. 
Inst.,  13:402-30. 

48  FOREMAN,  J.    Philippine  Islands.    L.,  1892. 

*49  FORNANDER,    R.     An  Account  of  the  Polynesian  Race:  •  Its    Origin    and 

Migrations.     2d  ed.     L.,  1890. 
*5o  FROBENIUS,  L.     "Die  Kulturformen  Ozeaniens,"  Petermann's  Mitth.,  46: 

204-15. 

*5i  FURNESS,  W.  H.     The  Home-Life  of  Borneo  Head-Hunters.     Ph.,  1902. 
*52  GARDINER,  J.  S.     "The  Natives  of  Rotuma,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  27:396-435, 

458-524. 
*53  GRABNER,  F.     "  Kulturkreise  und  Kulturschichten  in  Ozeanien,"  Zeits.  f. 

Ethn.,  37:28-53. 

[A  good  point  at  which  to  begin  the  study  of  this  region.] 

54  GUISE,  R.  E.     "On  the  Tribes  Inhabiting  the  Mouth  of  the  Wanigela  River 

in  New  Guinea,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  28:205-19. 

*55  HADDON,  A.  C.  (ed).     Cambridge  Anthropological  Expedition  to  Torres  Straits, 
Reports.    Cambridge,  1901-1908.     Vols.  2-6. 

[A  very  important  series.    In  progress.] 

*56  HADDON,  A.  C.     Head-Hunters:  Black,  White,  and  Brown.     L.,  1901. 
[This  and  the  vols.  by  Bock  and  Furness  are  good.  ] 

*57  HADDON,  A.  C.     "  The  Ethnography  of  the  Western  Tribes  of  Torres  Straits," 

Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  19:297-440. 
*58  HAGEN,  B.    Anthropologischer  Atlas  ostasiatischer  und  melaneslscher  Volker. 

Wiesbaden,  1898. 

*59  HAGEN,  B.     Unter  den  Papuas.     Wiesbaden,  1899. 
*6o  HAGEN,  B.     Die  Orang  Kubu  auf  Sumatra.     Frankf.,  1908. 
*6i  HOSE,  C.     "The  Natives  of  Borneo,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  23:156-71. 
*62  HURGRONJE,  S.     The  Achehnese.     (Tr.  O'Sullivan.)     Ley.,  1906. 

[A  great  work.] 

63  JAGOR,  F.     Travels  in  the  Philippines.    L.,  1875. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  897 

*64  JENKS,  A.  E.     "The  Bontoc  Igorot,"  Pub.  Bur.  ofSci.,  Div.  of  Ethn.  (Manila), 

i : 1-266. 
*64<z  JOEST,  W.     "Malayische  Lieder  und  Tanze  aus  Ambon  und  den  Uliase 

(Molukken),"  Internal.  Arch.f.  Ethnog.,  5: 1-34. 

65  JOHNSTONE,  J.  C.     Maoria.     L.,  1874. 

66  JUNGHUHN,  F.     Die  Baltaldnder  auf  Sumatra.     (Tr.)     B.,  1847. 

67  KAKYO,  I.     "Die  wilden  Stamme  von  Formosa,"  Gesellsch.  /.  Brdk.,  Zeits., 
34:63-74. 

*68  KEANE,  A.  H.     Man  Past  and  Present,  "The  Oceanic  Negroes,"  126-45, 

158-68;   "The  Oceanic  Mongols,"  228-64. 
*6g  KEANE,  A.  H.     "On  the  Relations  of  the  Indo-Chinese  and  Inter-Oceanic 

Races  and  Languages,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  9:254-90. 

70  KLOSS,  C.  B.     In  the  Andamans  and  Nicobars.     L.,  1903. 

71  KNOCKER,   F.  W.     "The  Aborigines  of  Sungei  Ujong,"     //.  Anth.  Inst., 
37:290-305. 

*7  2  KRAMER,  A.     Die  Samoa-Inseln.     Stutt,  1903. 

[First  class,  by  a  scientific  observer.    The  following  title  is  more  in  the  nature  of  travel.] 
*73  KRAMER,  A.     Hawaii,  Ostmikronesien  und  Samoa.     Stutt.,  1906. 
*74  KRIEGER,  M.      Neu-Guinea.      (Bibliothek  der  Ldnderkunde,  Vols.   5  and  6 

[2  vols.  in  one].)     B.,  1899. 

[First  class.] 

*75  KUBARY,    J.    S.     Ethnographische   Beitrage   zur    Kenntniss   des   Karolinen 
Archipels.     Ley.,  1895. 

[Especially  on  food,  trade,  industry,  architecture.] 

750  KUKENTHAL,  W.     FoTschungsreise  in  den  Molukken  und  in  Borneo.    Frankf., 
1896. 

[Primary  natural  history,  but  valuable  for  the  anthropo-geography  of  this  region.] 

76  LANDOR,  A.  H.  S.     The  Gems  of  the  East:  Sixteen  Thousand  Miles  of  Research 
Travel  among  Wild  and  Tame  Tribes  of  Enchanting  Islands.     L.,  1904. 

[This  and  all  of  Lander's  writings  are  to  be  avoided.] 

77  LESSON,  A.    Les  Polynesiens.     P.,  1880. 

78  Low,  H.     Sarawak.     L.,  1848. 

*79  LUSCHAN,    F.    v.     Beitrage   zur    Volkerkunde   der   deutschen   Schutzgebiete. 
B.,  1897. 

[Von  Luschan's  work  should  always  have  serious  attention.    He  is  among  the  foremost 
anthropologists,  and  his  special  fields  are  Oceania  and  Africa.] 

*8o  LUSCHAN,  F.  v.     Beitrage   zur  Ethnographic  von  Neu-Guinea.     B.,   1899. 
[Reprint  from  Krieger,  Neu-Guinea,  440-524.] 

*8i  LUSCHAN,  F.  v.     "R.  Parkinson's  Beobachtungen  auf  Bdbolo  und  Hun," 
Globus,  78:69-78. 

82  MAAS,    A.     Bei  liebenswurdigen   Wilden:      Ein    Beitrag  zur  Kentniss  der 
Menatwai-Insulaner.     B.,  1902. 

820  MAAS,  A.     "Durch  Zentral-Sumatra,"  Zeits.  f.  Ethn.,  41:143-66. 

83  McFARLANE,  S.     Among  the  Cannibals  of  New  Guinea.     Ph.,  1889. 

*8$a  MAHLER,  R.     "Siedelungsgebiet  und  Siedelungslage  in  Oceanien,"  Internal. 
Arch.f.  Ethnog.,  n:Sup.  1-72. 

[Important  for  Part  I.] 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*84  MAN,  E.  H.     "On  the  Aboriginal  Inhabitants  of  the  Andaman  Islands," 
Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  12:69-116,  117-75,  327-434;   14:253-72. 

[The  best  report.     Reprinted  in  a  small  volume  by  TrUbner.] 

*85  MAN,  E.  H.     "The  Nicobar  Islanders,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  15:428-50;   18:354- 

93- 

86  MANUWIRI,  TE.     Sketches  of  Early  Colonisation  in  New  Zealand,  and  Its 
Phases  of  Contact  with  the  Maori  Race.   Christchurch,  N.  Z.,  and  L.  [No  date; 
1900  or  later.] 

87  MARINER,  W.     An  Account  of  the  Natives  of  the  Tonga  Islands.     L.,  1817. 

88  MARKHAM,  C.  R.     "Progress  of  Discovery  on  the  Coasts  of  New  Guinea," 
Roy.  Geog.  Soc.,  Sup.  Papers,  1:265-337. 

*Sg  MARTIN,  R.     Die  Inlandstamme  der  Malayischen  Halbinsel.     Jena,  1905. 
[A  great  monograph.     Contains  a  much-needed  criticism  of  the  work  of  H.  V.  Stevens.] 

*9O  MARTIN,  R.     Reisen  in  den  Molukken Ley.,  1894. 

91  MASON,  J.  E.     "On  the  Natives  of  Fiji,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  16:217-20. 
*92  MEYER,  A.  B.,  TJND  SCHADENBURG,  A.     "Die  Philippinen,"  Dresden  K.  Zool. 

u.  Anth.-Ethnog.  Mus.,  Abhandl.,  8  and  9. 

[Two  chapters  of  vol.  9  are  translated  with  the  title:  A.  B.  Meyer,  Distribution  of  the  Negritos 
in  the  Philippine  Islands  and  Elsewhere,  Dresden  (Stengel),  1899.  The  untranslated  chapters 
are  of  particular  interest.] 

93  MEYER,  A.  B.     Album  von  Philippinen-Typen.    Dresden,  1885-1904.   3  vols. 

94  MEYER,  A.  B.     Album  -von  Celebes-Typen.     Dresden,  1889. 

95  MEYER,  A.  B.     Album  von  Papua-Typen.     Dresden,  1894-1900. 

96  MEYER,  A.  B.,  UNO  PARKINSON,  R.     Album  von  Papua-Typen.     Dresden, 
1900. 

97  MILLER,  E.  Y.     "The  Bataks  of  Palawan,"  Bur.  of  Set.,  Div.  of  Ethn., 
Pub.  (Manila),  2:183-89. 

98  MORGA,  A.  DE.     Philippine  Islands,  Moluccas,  Siam,  Cambodia,  Japan,  and 
China  at  the  Close  of  the  l6th  Century.     L.,  1868.     (Hakluyt  Society,  39.) 

*99  MOSELY,   H.   N.     "On  the   Inhabitants  of    the    Admiralty   Islands,"   Jl. 

Anth.  Inst.,  6:379-420. 
100  MULLENS,  J.     "On  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  People  of  Madagascar," 

Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  5:181-96. 

*ioi  NICHOLLS,  J.  H.  KERRY-.     "The  Origin,  Physical  Characteristics,  and  Man- 
ners and  Customs  of  the  Maori  Race,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  15:187-208. 
*io2  NIEUWENHUIS,  A.  W.     Quer  durch  Borneo.     Ley.,  1907. 
*io3  PARKINSON,  R.     Dreissig  Jahre  in  der  Sildsee.     Stutt.,  1907. 

[A  work  of  first  rate  importance.] 
*io4  PARKINSON,   R.     "Zur  Ethnographic  der  nordwestlichen  Salomo  Inseln," 

Dresden  K.  Zool.  u.  Anth.-Ethnog.  Mus.,  Abhandl.,  7,  Pt.  6:1-35. 
105  PENNEFATHER,  F.  W.     "On  the  Natives  of  New  Zealand,"  //.  Anth.  Inst., 

16: 211-16. 
*io6  PEREZ,  R.  P.  F.  A.     Igorrotes.     Manila,  1902. 

[Best  account  (in  Spanish)  from  a  Roman  churchman.] 

*io7  PFEIL,     J.     Studien    u.    Beobachtungen    aus   der   Sudsee.     Brauns.,    1899. 
1 08  PITCAIRN,  W.  D.     Two  Years  among  the  Savages  of  New  Guinea.     L., 
1891. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  899 

*io8o  PLEYTE,    C.    M.     "Die    Mentawei-Inseln    und    ihre  Bewohner,"  Globus, 

79:1-7,  24-32- 
*io9  POCH,  R.     "Einige  bemerkenswerte  Ethnologika  aus  Neu-Guinea,"  Anth. 

Gesells.  in  Wien,  Mitth.,  37:57-71,  125. 
*no  POCH,  R.    "Reisen  in  Neu-Guinea  in  den  Jahren  1904-1906,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn., 

39:382-400. 

[Poch  is  a  coming  man.  His  shorter  papers  are :  "Ethnographische  Mitteilungen  iiber  die  Kworafi," 
Anth.  Gesells.  in  Wien,  Mitlh.,  38:25-33;  "Eine  Reise  an  der  Nbrdkiiste  von  Britisch-Neu- 
Guinea,"  Globus,  92:277-83;  "Wanderungen  im  nordlichen  Teile  von  Siid-Neumecklenberg," 
Globus,  93:7-12;  "Reisen  an  der  Nordkuste  von  Kaiser  Wilhelmsland,"  Globus,  93:139-45,  149- 
55,  I64-73-] 

in  POLACK,  J.  S.     Manners  and  Customs  of  the  New  Zealanders.     L.,  1840. 
ii2  PRYER,  W.  B.     "On  the  Natives  of  British  North  Borneo,"  //.  Anth.  Inst., 

16:229-36. 

*ii3  RAFFLES,  T.  S.     The  History  of  Java.     L.,  1817. 
*ii4  RATZEL,  F.     History  of  Mankind,  1:145-330,  391-486. 
*H5  REED,  W.  A.     "Negritos  of  Zambales,"  Bur.  of  Sci.,  Div.  of  Ethn.,  Pub. 
(Manila),  2:  Pt.  i,  1-90. 

116  REEVES,  W.  P.     The  Long  White  Claud.     [N.  Zealand.]     L.,  1898. 

117  RIBBE,  C.     Zwei  Jahre  unter  den  Kannibalen  der  Salomo-Inseln.     Dresden, 
1903. 

*n8  RICHTER,   O.      "Unsere    gegenwartige    Kenntniss    der   Ethnographic  von 

Celebes,"  Globus,  88:154-58,  171-75,  191-95. 
n8a  RIVERS,  A.  LANE-FOX  PITT-.     "Observations  on  Mr.  Man's  Collection  of 

Andamanese  Objects,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  7:434-51. 
*iig  ROSENBERG,  H.  v.     Der  Malayische  Archipel.     Lpz.,  1878. 
*i2o  ROTH,  H.  L.     The  Natives  of  Sarawak  and  British  North  Borneo.     L.,  1896. 

[A  valuable  compilation.] 
*i2i  ROTH,   H.   L.     ''Low's  Natives  of  Borneo,"   Jl.   Anth.   Inst.,   21:110-34; 

22:22-63. 
*i22  RUTMEYER,  L.     "Die    Nigalaweddas  in  Ceylon,"  Globus,  83:201-7,   220- 

23,  261-67. 
*i23  SALEEBY,  N.  M.     "Studies  in  Moro  History,  Law,  and  Religion,"  Bur.  Sci., 

Div.  of  Ethn.,  Pub.  (Manila),  4:8-107. 
*I24  SALEEBY,  N.  M.     "The  History  of   Sulu,"  Bur.  of  Sci.,  Div.  of  Ethn.,  Pub. 

(Manila),  4:121-391. 
*i25  SANDE,  G.  A.  J.  VAN  DER.     Ethnography  and  Anthropology  [of  New  Guinea]. 

Ley.,  1907. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  14:89.] 

*i26  SARASIN,  P.,  UND  F.     Die  Weddas  von  Ceylon  und  die  umgebenden  Volker- 

schaften.     Wiesbaden,  1893. 

[The  most  noted  work  on  the  Veddas.    Comment  in  Bibliography  14:90.] 
*i27  SARASIN,  P.  UND  F.     Reisen  in  Celebes.    Wiesbaden,  1905. 
*i28  SARASIN,  P.  UND  F.     Versuch  einer  Anthropologie  der  Insel  Celebes.     Erster 

Teil.     Weisbaden,  1906. 
*i28a  SARASIN,  P.  UND  F.     Ergebnisse  naturwissenschaftlicher   Forschungen   auf 

Ceylon.     Wiesbaden,  1908. 
129  SCHADENBERG,  A.     "  Beitragc  zur  Ethnographic  von  Nord-Luzon,"   A  nth. 

Gesells.  in  Wien,  Mitth.,  18:265-71. 


900  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

1290  SCHADENBERG,  A.     "Die    Bewohner    von    Sud-Mindanao   und   der   Insel 
Samal,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  17:8-37. 

130  SCHNEE,  H.     Bilder  aus  der  Sudsee.     Unter  den  kannibalischen  Stammcn  des 
Bismark-Archipels.     B.,  1904. 

131  SIBREE,  J.     The  Great  African  Island.     Chapters  on  Madagascar.     L.,  1880. 

132  SMITH,  P.     Niue-fekai  (or  Savage)  Island  and  Its  People.     Wellington,  1903. 
(Reprinted  from  the  Jl.  of  the  Polynesian  Soc.,  vols.  n  and  12.) 

133  SMITH,  S.  P.     Hawaiki;   the  Original  Home  of  the  Maori.     Christchurch, 
N.  Z.,  and  L.,  1904. 

[Theories  negligible,  but  materials  on  Maori  traditions  of  value.] 
*i34  SKEAT,  W.  W.,  AND  BLAGDEN,  C.  O.     Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula. 

L.,  1906. 

[The  best  general  work  on  this  region.] 

135  SOMERVILLE,  B.  T.     "Notes  on  Some  Islands  of  the  New  Hebrides,"  77. 
Anth.  Inst.,  23:2-21. 

136  SOMERVILLE,   B.   T.     "Ethnological   Notes  on  New  Hebrides,"  Jl.   Anth. 
Inst.,  23:363-95. 

137  SOMERVILLE,    B.    T.     "Ethnographical   Notes  in   New   Georgia,    Solomon 
Islands,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  26:357-412. 

138  SPENCER,  H.     Descriptive  Sociology,  3. 

*i39  STEPMAN,  E.,  UND  GRAEBNER,  F.     Neu-Mecklenburg  (Bismarck- Archipel). 

.  .  .  .  B.,  1907. 
*i39a  SVOBADA,  W.     "Die  Bewohner  des  Nikobaren-Archipels,"  Internal.  Arch. 

f.  Ethnog.,  5:149-68,  185-214;   6:1-34. 

*i4o  TAYLOR,  R.     Te  Ika  A  Maui;  New  Zealand  and  its  Inhabitants.     L.,  1870. 
*i4oa  THILENIUS,  G.     "Ethnographische    Ergebnisse    aus    Melanesien,"    Kais. 

Leop.-Carol.-Deutschen  Akademie  der  N aturforscher ,  Abhandl.  (Nova  Acta), 

80:3-364. 

[Of  great  importance.] 

*i4i  THOMSON,  B.  C.     Savage  Island:    An  Account  of  a  Sojourn  in  Niue  and 
Tonga.     L.,  1902. 

143  TREGEAR,  E.     The  Maori  Race.     Wanganui,  N.  Z.,  1904. 

144  TREGEAR,  E.     "The  Maoris  of  New  Zealand,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  19:97-123. 

145  TURNER,  G.     Nineteen  Years  in  Polynesia.     L.,  1861. 

146  TURNER,  G.     Samoa.     L.,  1884. 

147  TURNER,  W.  Y.     "The  Ethnology  of  the  Motu,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  7:470-98. 

148  VENTURILLO,  M.  H.     "The  'Batacs'  of  the  Island  of  Palawan,"  Internal. 
Arch.f.  Ethnog.,  18:137-44. 

149  VIRCHOW,  RUDOLF.     "The  Peopling  of  the  Philippines"  (tr.,  with  notes,  by 
O.  A.  Mason),  Smithsonian  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1899:509-26. 

*i5o  WAITZ,  T.  [AND  GERLAND  G.].     Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker,  5:Pt.   i, 

1-194;   Pt.  2,  1-230;   6:1-705. 

*i53  WARNECK,  J.     Die  Religion  der  Batak.     Ein  Paradigma  fur  animistische 
Religionen  des  indischen  Archipels.     Lpz.,  1909. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  14:32.] 

*i54  WEULE,  K.     "Zwergvolker  in  Neu-Guinea?"  Globus,  82:247-53. 
155  WHITMEE,  S.  J.      "Characteristics  of  the   Malayo-Polynesians,"  Jl.  Anth. 
Inst.,  7:372-77. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  901 

*i56  WILLIAMS,  T.,  AND  CALVERT,  J.    Fiji  and  the  Fijians.    N.  Y.,  1859. 
157  WILSON,  J.  A.    The  Story  of  Te  Waharoe.   Chapters  in  New  Zealand  History. 

Christchurch,  N.  Z.  [1907]. 
*i58  WORCESTER,    D.    C.     "The   Non-Christian   Tribes   of   Northern   Luzon," 

Philippine  Jl.  of  Sci.,  1:791-875. 

159  WORCESTER,  D.  C.     The  Philippine  Islands  and  Their  People.     N.  Y.,  1898. 

[Good  popular  description.] 

160  YATE,  W.     An  Account  of  New  Zealand.     L.,  1835. 
*i6i  ZOLLER,  H.     Deutsch-Neuguinea.     Stutt.  and  Lpz.,  1891. 

[The  following  bibliography  is  published  by  the  Library  of  Congress:  A  List  of  Books  (with  references 
to  periodicals)  on  the  Philippine  Islands,  by  A.  P.  C.  GRIFFIN  AND  P.  L.  PHILLIPS,  1903.  397  pp. 
The  Internationales  Archiv  fur  Ethnographic  is  rich  in  materials  on  this  region,  particularly  on 
the  Dutch  possessions,  and  this  journal  is  incompletely  represented  by  the  references  given 
above.  The  Journal  of  the  Polynesian  Society  should  be  examined,  particularly  for  materials 
on  New  Zealand.] 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  12 

ASIA  AND  JAPAN 

*i  AHLQVIST,  A.  "  Unter  Wogulen  und  Ostjaken,"  Finska   Vetenskaps-Societe- 

ten,  Ada  [Acta  Societatis  Scientarum  Fennicae],  14:130-307. 
*2  BALZ,  E.     "Prehistoric  Japan,"  Smiths.  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1907:523-47. 
*3  BALZ,  E.     "  Menschenrassen  Ost-Asiens  mit  spezieller  Riicksicht  auf  Japan," 

Berlin  Anth.  Gesells.,  Abhandl.,  33:166-89. 

[Also,  "Ueber  die  Rassenelemente  in  Ostasien,  speziell  in  Japan,"  Deutsche  Gesells.  f.  Natur-  und 
Vdlkerkunde  Ostasiens,  Mitth.,  8:227-35.] 

4  BALL,  J.  D.     Things  Chinese.     L.,  1904. 
*5  BATCHELOR,  J.     The  Ainu  of  Japan.     L.,  1892. 
*6  BATCHELOR,  J.     The  Ainu  and  Their  Folk-Lore.     L.,  1901. 
*7  BENNEVILLE,  J.  S.  DE.      More  Japonico.      (Japan   Gazette   Press.)    Yoko- 
hama, 1908. 

[The  most  interesting  book  on  modern  social  Japan.] 

8  BISHOP,  I.  L.  B.     Among  the  Thibetans.     N.  Y.,  1894. 

9  BISHOP,  I.  L.  B.     Korea  and-Her  Neighbours.     N.  Y.,  1898. 
10  BLUNT,  A.     Bedouin  Tribes  of  the  Euphrates.     L.,  1879. 

*n  BOGORAS,  W.     "The  Chukchee,"  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  7:1-733. 
[This  and  the  monograph  of  Jochelson  below  are  careful,  exhaustive,  and  intensive  studies.    Bogoras  has 
also  an  excellent  brief  paper:    "The  Chukchi  of  Northeastern  Asia,"  .dm.  Anth.,N.  S.,  3:80-108.] 

13  BREEKS,  J.   W.     An  Account  of  the  Primitive   Tribes  and  Monuments  of 

the  Nilagiris.     L.,  1873. 
*I4  BRINKLEY,  F.     Japan,  Its  History,  Arts,  and  Literature.     Bost.  and  Tokyo, 

1902. 
*I5  BRINKLEY,  F.     China:  Its  History,  Arts,  and  Literature.     Bost.  and  Tokyo, 

1902. 

*i6  BURCKHARDT,  J.  L.     Notes  on  the  Bedouins  and  Wahdbys.     L.,  1831. 
*i7  BURCKHARDT,  J.  L.     Travels  in  Arabia.     L.,  1829.     2  vols. 

18  CALDWELL,  R.     The  Tinnevelly  Shanars.     Madras,  1849. 

19  CAREY,  B.  S.,  AND  TUCK,  H.  N.     The  Chin  Hills.     Rangoon,  1896. 
*2o  CHAMBERLAIN,  B.  H.     Things  Japanese.     L.,  1902. 


902  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

21  COLEMAN,  F.  M.     Typical  Pictures  of  Indian  Natives.     Bombay,  1899. 
*22  CROOKE,  W.     The  Tribes  and  Castes  of  the  Northwestern  Provinces  and  Oudh. 
Calcutta,  1896. 

23  CROOKE,  W.     The  Natives  of  Northern  India.     L.,  1907. 

[Good  popular  account.] 

24  CROOKE,  W.     The  Northwestern  Provinces  of  India.     L.,  1897. 

*2S  CROOKE,  W.     "The  Hill  Tribes  of  the  Central  Indian  Hills,"  //.  Anth.  Inst., 

28:220-48. 

*26  DALTON,  E.  T.     Descriptive  Ethnology  of  Bengal.     Calcutta,  1872. 
*27  DAMES,  M.  L.     The  Baloch  Race.     L.,  1904. 

*28  DAS,  S.  C.     A  Journey  to  Lhasa  and  Central  Tibet  (ed.  Rockhill).     L.,  1902. 
*29  DOUGHTY,  C.  M.     Travels  in  Arabia  Deserta.     Camb.,  1888. 
*3o  DUBOIS,  J.  A.,  AND  BEAUCHAMP,    H.    K.     Hindu   Manners,    Customs,    and 

Ceremonies.     Oxf.,  1906. 

[An  excellent,  intimate  account  in  one  vol.] 

31  ELLIOTT,    H.    M.     Memoirs  on  the  History,  Folk-lore,  and  Distribution  of 
the  Races  of  the  North  Western  Provinces  of  India.     L.,  1869. 

310  FISCHER,  A.     "Erfahrungen  auf  dem    Gebiete   der   Kunst    und   sonstige 
Beobachtungen  in  Ostasien,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  41:1-21. 

32  FUTTERER,  K.     Durch  Asien:   Erfahrungen,  Forschungen  und  Sammlungen. 
i.     Geographische  Charakter-Bilder.     B.,  1901. 

*33  FUTTERER,    K.     "Land  und   Leute   in   Nordost  Tibet,"     Berlin  Cesells.  f. 

Erdkunde,  Zeits.,  35:297-341. 
*34  GEIGER,  W.     Civilization  of  Eastern  Iran  in  Ancient    Times.      (Tr.)     L., 

1886. 

35  GILMOUR,  J.     Among  the  Mongols.     L.,  1888. 
*36  GIRARD,  H.     "Les  tribus  sauvages  du  Haut-Tonquin:    Mans  et  Meos," 

Bui.  de  geog.  hist,  et  desc.,  3:421-97. 
*37  GODDEN,  G.  M.     "Naga  and  Other  Frontier  Tribes  of  North  East  India," 

Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  26:161-201;   27:2-51. 

*38  GRIFFIS,  W.  E.     Corea:  the  Hermit  Nation.     N.  Y.,  1907. 
39  GRIFFIS,  W.  E.     The  Japanese  Nation  in  Evolution.     N.  Y.,  1908. 
*4o  GRIFFIS,  W.  E.     The  Mikado's  Empire,     nth  ed.     N.  Y.,  1906. 
41  GUBBINS,    J.  H.     "Hideyoshi  and  the  Satsuma  Clan  in  the  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury," Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  8:92-143. 
*42  GULICK,  S.  L.     Evolution  of  the  Japanese,  Social  and  Psychic.     N.  Y.,  1903. 

43  HAMY,  E.  T.     "The  Yellow  Races,"  Smithsonian  Inst.,  Rep.  for  1895: 
505-17.     (Tr.  from  L'anth.,  6:241-56.) 

44  HARKNESS,  H.     Description  of  a  Singular  Aboriginal  Race  Inhabiting  the 
Neilgherry  Hills.     L.,  1832. 

45  HAXTHAUSEN,  A.  v.     Transcaucasia.     (Tr.)     L.,  1854. 

46  HEDIN,  S.     Through  Asia.     N.  Y.,  1899. 

47  HEDIN,  S.     Central  Asia  and  Tibet  towards  the  Holy  City  of  Lassa.     N.  Y., 
1903. 

48  HEWITT,  J.  F.  K.     The  Ruling  Races  of  Prehistoric  Times  in  India,  South- 
western Asia,  and  Southern  Europe.     Westminster,  1895. 

*49  HIEKISCH,  C.     Die  Tungusen.     St.  P.,  1879. 


*5o  HITCHCOCK,  R.     "The  Ainos  of  Yezo,  Japan,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Rep.  for 
1890:429-502. 

51  HOLDICH,  T.  H.     "Swatis  and  Afridis,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  29:2-9. 

52  HOLDICH,  T.  H.     "The  Arab  Tribes  of  Our  Indian  Frontier,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst., 
29:10-20. 

53  Hue,  E.  R.     A  Journey  through  the  Chinese  Empire.     (Tr.)    N.  Y.,  1855. 

54  JACKSON,  F.  G.     "Notes  on  the  Saraoyads  of  the  Great  Tundra"  (Coll.  from 
the  Jls.  of  F.  G.  J.  by  A.  Montefiore),  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  24:388-410. 

55  JACOB,  G.     Das  Leben  der  vorisldmischen  Beduinen.     B.,  1895. 

+56  JACOB,  G.     "Oriental  Elements  of  Culture  in  the  Occident"  (Tr.),  Smiths. 

Inst.,  Rep.  for  1902:509-29. 
56a  JAGOR,  F.     "  Berichte  iiber  verschiedene  Volkerstamme  in  Vorderindien," 

Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  26:61-93. 

*57  JOCHELSON,  W.     "The  Koryak,"  Am.  Mus.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  Mem.,  10:1-811. 
58  KATE,  H.  TEN.     "Notes  detachers  sur  les  Japonais,"  Soc.  d'Anth.  de  Paris, 
Bui.,  5  se"r.,  9:178-95. 

[See  Bibliography  2:13,  109,  no.] 

*59  KEANE,  A.  H.     Ethnology,  "Homo  Mongolicus,"  295-333. 

*6o  KEANE,  A.  H.     Man  Past  and  Present,  "The  Southern  Mongols,"  169-227; 

"The  Northern  Mongols,"  265-348. 

61  KEANE,  A.  H.     "The  Lapps,"  Jl.  Anth.  Inst.,  15:213-35. 
*6a  KOGANEI.     Ueber    die    Urbewohner    von    Japan.     Tokyo,    1903.     (Reprint 

from  Deut.  Gesells.f.  Natur-  u.  Volkerkunde  Ostasiens,  Mitth.,  9:297-329.) 
[Contains  extensive  bibliography,  with  special  reference  to  Japanese  publications,  with  some  analysis 
of  papers  published  in  the  Japanese  language.     Reprinted  in  Globus,  84: 101-6,  116-23.] 

63  KRASINSKI.     Cossacks  of  the  Ukrain.     L.,  1848. 
~"*64  KRAUSS,  F.     Das  Geschlechtsleben  im  Glauben,  Sitte  und  Branch  der  Japaner. 

Lpz.,  1907. 
*65  LAUFER,    B.     "Preliminary    Notes   on    Explorations    among    the    Amoor 

Tribes,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  2:297-338. 

*6sa  LAUFER,  B.     "Kunst  und  Kultur  Chinas  im  Zeitalter  der  Han,"  Globus, 
96:7-9,  21-24. 

66  LEWJ.N;  T.  H.     Wild  Races  of  Southeastern  India.     L.,  1870. 

67  LLOYD,  A.     "  Japanese  Village  Life,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans.,  33:133- 
58. 

68  LYALL,  A.  C.     Asiatic  Studies.     L.,  1882. 

*6g  LYMAN,  B.  S.     "The  Character  of  the  Japanese,"  Jl.  Spec.  Phil.,  19:133-72. 
*70  MAcRiTCHlE,  D.     The  Ainos.     Ley.,  1892. 

[Also  Sup.  to  Internal.  Archiv  f.  Ethnog.,  4.    Contains  a  good  bibliography  on  the  Ainos.] 

71  MARSHALL,  W.  E.     A  Phrenologist  among  the  Todas.     London,  1873. 
[Marshall's  work  is  eclipsed  by  that  of  Rivers.] 

*72  MARTIN,  F.  R.     Sibirlca.     Zur  Kentniss  der  Vorgeschichte  und  Kultur  Sibl- 

rischer  Volker.     Stockholm,  1897. 
*73  MUNRO,  N.  G.     Prehistoric  Japan.     Yokohama,  1908. 

[Best  work  on  the  subject.     In  part  a  compilation,  utilizing  also  Japanese  sources.] 
*73<z  MUNRO,  N.  G.     "  Primitive  Culture  in  Japan,"  Asiat.  Soc.  of  Japan,  Trans., 

34:1-198. 


904  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*74  MURDOCH,  J.,  AND  YAMAGATA,  I.     A  History  of  Japan  (1542-1651).     Kobe, 

1903. 

[Affords  a  vivid  picture  of  Japanese  historical,  military,  and  social  life,  and  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing books  in  existence.] 

75  NITOBE,  I.     Bushido,  the  Soul  of  Japan.     Tokyo,  1901. 

[Popular,  somewhat  poetic  representation  of  Japanese  chivalry.] 

750  PETERSON,  E.,  UND  LUSCHAN,  F.  v.    Reisen  in  Siidwestlichen  Kleinasien. 
V.,  1889. 

[Von  Luschan's  "Anthropologische  Studien"  in  vol.  2  is  important.] 
*76  POWELL,  B.  H.  BADEN-.     The  Indian  Village  Community.     L.,  1896. 
77  POWELL,  B.  H.  BADEN-.     The  Origin  and  Growth  of  Village  Communities  in 

India.     L.,  1899. 
*78  RATZEL,  F.     H istory  of  Mankind,  2 : 204-3 x  >  3:  X49~79>  3J3~533- 

*79  REIN,  J.  J.     Japan  nach  Reisen  und  Studien 2d  ed.     Lpz.,  1905. 

[Vol.  i  of  the  first  ed.  is  translated  as  Japan,  Travels  and  Researches  (N.  Y.,  1888)  and  vol.  2,  as  The 
Industries  of  Japan  (N.  Y.,  1889).] 

*8o  RISLEY,  H.     The  People  of  India.     Calcutta  and  L.,  1908. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  14 : 90.] 
-  *8i  RIVERS,  W.  H.  R.     The  Todas.     L.,  1906. 

[One  of  the  most  important  books  in  ethnology,  and  a  model  study.] 

82  ROBERTSON,  G.  S.     The  Kafirs  of  the  Hindu-Rush.     L.,  1896. 
*83  ROCKHILL,  W.  W.     Diary  of  a  Journey  through  Mongolia  and   Tibet  in 

1891-92.     Wash.,  1894. 

*84  ROCKHILL,  W.  W.     Tibet,  the  Land  of  the  Lamas.     L.,  1891. 
*8s  ROCKHILL,  W.  W.      "Notes  on  the  Ethnology  of  Tibet,"  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus., 
Rep.  for  1893:665-747. 

86  ROHRBACH,  P.  "Armenier  und  Kurden,"  Berlin  Gesellsch.  f.  Erdk.,  Verhandl., 
27:128-33. 

87  SCHRENCK,  L.  VON.     Reisen  und  Forschungen  im  Amurlande.     St.  P.  and 
Lpz.,  1891. 

*8ja  SCHWARTZ,  W.     "Mythologische   Bezuge  zwischen  Semiten  und   Indoger- 
manen,"  Zeils.f.  Ethn.,  24:156-76. 

[Of  importance  for  Part  VI.] 

*88  SIEBOLD,    P.  F.      Nippon,    Archiv    zur    Beschreibung    von    Japan 

Wiirtzburg,  1897. 

*8g  SMITH,  W.  ROBERTSON.     Kinship  and  Marriage  in  Early  Arabia.     L.,  1903. 
90  SPENCER,  H.     Descriptive  Sociology,  Vol.  V. 

900  STENIN,  P.  v.    "Die  Kurden  des  Gouvernments  Erivvan,"  Globus,  70: 221-26- 
*9i  STENTZ,  G.  M.     "Beitrage  zur  Volkskunde  Siid-Schantungs,"  Lpz.  Stadti- 

sches  Mus.  f.  Volkerkunde,  Veroffent.,  1:1-116. 

*92  THURSTON,  E.     Ethnographic  Notes  in  Southern  India.     Madras,  1906. 
[Thurston's  various  government  reports  collected.] 

93  VAMBERY,  A.     Travels  and  Adventures  in  Central  Asia.    (Tr.)    N.  Y.,  1863. 

94  VAMBERY,  A.     Die  primitive  Cultur  des  Turko-Tatarischen  Volkes.     Lpz., 
1879. 

95  VOLLAND,  DR.     "Beitrage  zur  Ethnographic  der  Bewohner  von  Armenien 
und  Kurdistan,"  Archiv  f.  Anth.,  36:183-96. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  905 

*g6  WADDELL,  L.  A.     Lhdsa  and  its  Mysteries,  with  a  Record  of  the  Expedition  of 

1903-1904.     L.,  1905. 
*97  WEHRLI,    H.     "Ethnologic    der   Chingpaw    (Kachin)    von   Ober-Burma," 

Internat.  Arch.f.  Ethnog.,  i6:Sup.  1-71. 
98  WESTON,   W.     "Customs  and  Superstitions  in  the  Highlands  of  Central 

Japan,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  26:20-31. 
*99  WILLIAMS,  S.  W.     The  Middle  Kingdom.     L.,  1883. 

[Good  general  history  of  China.] 

*ioo  WOODTHORPE,  R.  G.     "Notes  on  the  Wild  Tribes  Inhabiting  the  So-called 
Naga  Hills,  on  Our  North  East  Frontier  of  India,"  //.  Anth.  Inst.,  11:56-72, 
196-213. 
*ioi  YOE,  S.     The  Burman:  His  Life  and  Notions.     L.,  1896. 

102  YOUNGHUSBAND,  F.  E.     The  Heart  of  a  Continent:  Travels  1884-94.     L., 
1896. 

103  ZABOROWSKI,  M.     "La  Chine  et  les  Chinois,"  Rev.  Scientifique,  15:161-70. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  13 

EUROPE 

*i  AUERBACH,  B.     Les  races  et  les  nationalites  en  Autriche-Hongrie.    P.,  1898. 
*2  AUERBACH,  E.    "Die  jiidische  Rassenfrage,"  Arch.f.  Rassenu.  Gesellschafts 

Biologie,  4:332-61. 

[This  paper  and  von  Luschan's  reply:  "Offener  Brief  an  Herrn  Dr.  Elias  Auerbach," 
ibid.,  362-73,  are  important  on  the  question  of  the  race  mixture  of  the  Jews.  But  the  Jewish 
question  in  general  is  not  included  in  this  bibliography.] 

20  BEHLEN,    H.     "Der   diluviale  (palolithische)  Mensch  in  Europa,"  Anth. 
Gesells.  in  Wien,  Mitth.,  37: 1-17,  72-84. 

[An  excellent  critical  review  of  the  literature  and  theories  up  to  1906.] 

3  BUSHNELL,  D.  I.     "Early  Man  in  Western  Switzerland,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S., 
8:1-12. 

4  CARTAILHAC,  E.     Les  ages  prehistoriques  de  I'Espagne  et  du  Portugal.     P., 
1886. 

*5  CARTAILHAC,  E.     La  France  prehistorique.     2d  ed.     P.,  1896. 
6  DAWKINS,  W.  B.     Cave-hunting,  Researches  on  the  Evidence  of  Caves  Respect- 
ing the  Early  Inhabitants  of  Europe.     L.,  1874. 
*7  DAWKINS,  W.  B.     Early  Man  in  Britain.     L.,  1880. 
*8  DECHELETTE,    J.     Manuel    archeologique,    prehistorique,  Celtique    et    Gallo- 

Romaine.     P.,  1908. 

9  DENIKER,  J.     "Les  races  europeens, "  L'anth.,  9:113-33. 
*io  DENIKER,  J.     "Les  six  races  composant  la  population  actuelle  de  1'Europe," 
.77.  Anth.  Inst.,  34:181-206. 

11  DOIGNEAU,  A.     Notes  d'archeologie  primitive.     P.,  1905. 

12  DOIGNEAU,  A.     Nos  anc&tres  primitifs.     P.,  1905. 

[This  and  the  preceding  are  popular  but  good.] 

*i3  DREYER,  W.     "The  Main  Features  of  the  Advance  in  the  Study  of  Danish 

Archeology,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  10:505-30. 
*i4  ENGERRAND,  J.     Six  lemons  de  prehistoire.     Br.,  1905. 

[Popular  presentation  of  the  views  of  Rutot  and  others,  who,  in  opposition  to  HOCHI-JS,  Boule, 
and  others,  hold  that  eoliths  were  made  by  man.     With  notes  serving  as  bibliography.} 


906  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

*J5  FISHBERG,  M.     "Materials  for  the  Physical  Anthropology  of  the  Eastern 
European  Jews,"  Am.  Anlh.  Assoc.,  Mem.,  1:1-146. 

[One  of  Fishberg's  numerous  and  important  papers  on  the  Jew.] 

16  GOMME,  G.  L.     Ethnology  in  Folk-Lore.     L.,  1892. 

17  GOMME,  G.  L.     Folk-Lore  as  an  Historical  Science.     L.,  1907. 

*i8  HEHN,    V.     De   Moribus   Ruthenorum:    Zur   Characteristik  der  russischen 
Volksseele.     Stutt.,  1892. 

*i9  HOERNES,  M.     Die  Urgeschite  des  Menschen V.,  1892. 

[Probably  remains  the  best  book  on  European  prehistorics.    Hoernes'  Primitive  Man  (I-.,  1900;  is.) 
is  unfortunately  of  no  great  value.] 

*2O  HOERNES,  M.     Der  diluviale  Mensch  in  Europa.     Brauns.,  1903. 

*2i  HOERNES,  M.     Urgeschichte  der  bildenden  Kunst  in  Euro  pa,  von  den  A  nfangen 

bis  zum  500  vor  Chr.     V.,  1898. 
*22  HOLMES,  T.  RICE-.     Ancient  Britain  and  the  Invasions  of  Julius  Caesar. 

Oxf.,  1907. 

23  JOYCE,  P.  W.     A  Social  History  of  Ancient  Ireland.     L.,  1903. 
*24  KEANE,  A.  H.     Ethnology,  "Homo  Caucasicus,"  374-420. 
*25  KEANE,  A.  H.     Man  Past  and  Present,  "The  Caucasic  Peoples,"  441-564. 
*26  KLAATSCH,  H.     "Die  neuesten  Ergebnisse  der  Palaontologie  des  Menschen 

....,"  Zeits.f.  Ethn.,  41:537-84. 
*27  KRAUSS,  F.  S.     Slainsche  Volkforschungen.     Lpz.,  1908. 

[Krauss  is  pre-eminent  in  South  Slavonian  folk-lore.    This  is  the  latest  of  his  many  works.] 

*28  LARTET,  E.,  AND  CHRISTY,  H.     Reliquiae  Aquitanicae.      Contributions  to  the 

Archaeology  and  Palaeontology  of  Peri gord L.,  1875. 

29  LUBBOCK,  J.     Prehistoric  Times  as  Illustrated  by  Ancient  Remains  and  the 
Manners  and  Customs  of  Modern  Savages.     5th  ed.     L..  1891. 
[An  old  but  important  work.] 

*3o  McCuRDY,  G.  G.     "Some  Phases  of  Prehistoric  Archaeology,"  Am.  Assn. 
Adv.  ScL,  Proc.,  56:543-67. 

[Read  this  and  the  paper  by  Dreyer  first  of  all.] 

*3i  McCuRDY,  G.  G.     "The  Eolithic  Problem:    Evidences  of  a  Rude  Industry 
Ante-dating  the  Paleolithic,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  7:425-79. 

[Has  a  bibliography  of  154  books  and  papers  on  the  eolithic  question.] 

32  McCuRDY,  G.  G.     "Eolithic  and  Paleolithic  Man,"  Am.  Anth.,  N.  S.,  11:92- 
100. 

320  Manuel  de  recherches  prehistoriques.    Published  by  the  Societe  prehistorique 
de  France.     P.,  1906. 
[A  very  useful  little  book  of  instructions  to  investigators  in  prehistoric  archaeology.] 

33  MONTELIUS,  O.     The  Civilisation  of  Sweden  in  Heathen  Times  (tr.  Woods). 
N.  Y.,  1888. 

*34  MONTELIUS,  O.     Kulturgeschichte  Schwedens  von  den  altesten  Zeiten  bis  zum 

elf  ten  Jahrhundert  nach  Christus.     Lpz.,  1906. 
*35  MONTELIUS,    O.     Die   alteren   Kulturperioden  im   Orient   und  in   Eitropa. 

Stock.,  1903. 

[Archaeological.    Contains  also  an  excellent  introduction  on  method.] 

*36  MONTELIUS,  O.     La  Civilisation  primitive  en  Italie  depuis  I' introduction  des 
metaux.     Stockholm  and  B.,  Pt.  i,  1895;  Pt.  2,  1904. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  907 

*37  MONTELIUS,  O.     "On  the  Earliest  Communications  between  Italy  and  Scandi- 
navia," //.  Anth.  Inst.,  30:89-94. 

*38  MORTILLET,   G.   ET  A.     Le  prehistorique.     Origine  et  antiqnite  de  I'homme. 
P.,  1900. 

[3d  ed.    Standard  French  work.] 

*39  MUCH,  M.     "  Vorgeschichtliche  Nahr- und  Nutzpflanzen  Europas  ....," 

Anth.  Gesell,  in  Wien,  Mitth.,  38:195-227. 

*4o  MULLER,  S.     Urgeschichte  Europas  (tr.  Jiriczek).     Strass.,  1905. 
[Also  a  French  tr.,  by  Philipot,  L'Europe  prehistorique,  P.,  1907.    The  most  important  recent 
general  attempt  to  interpret  European  prehistoric  times.     Attaches  much  importance  to  early 
Asiatic  influence.] 

41  MULLER,  S.     Nordische  Altertumskunde  (tr.  Jiriczek).     Strass.,  1898. 
*42  MUNRO,  R.     Prehistoric  Problems.     Edin.,  1897. 

[Contains  an  excellent  discussion  of  Pithecanthropus  erectus  Dubois,  or  the  "missing  link,"  with  a 
bibliography  of  the  important  literature  on  this  find.] 

43  NADAILLAC,  J.  F.  A.  DU  P.  DE.     Manners  and  Monuments  of  Prehistoric 
Peoples.     N.  Y.,  1892. 

44  NILSSON,  S.    The  Primitive  Inhabitants  of  Scandinavia.     (Tr.)     L.,  1868- 

45  QUATREFAGES,  A.  DE.     Hommes  fossiles  et  hommes  sauvages.      P.,  1884. 
*46  RATZEL,  F.     History  of  Mankind,  2:204-31;   3:534-69. 

47  REINHARDT,  L.     Der  Mensch  zur  Eiszeit  in  Europa  und  seine  Kullurent- 
•wicklung  bis  zum  Ende  der  Steinzeit.     Miinchen,  1906. 

48  RHYS,  J.,  AND  BRYNMOR- JONES,  D.     The  Welsh  People.     L.,  1900. 

49  RHYS,  J.     Celtic  Folklore:   Welsh  and  Manx.     Oxf.,  1901. 

*5o  RIPLEY,  W.  Z.     The  Races  of  Europe:  A  Sociological  Study.     N.  Y.,  1899. 
[Comment  in  Bibliography  14:100.] 

*5i  RUTOT,  A.     Coup  d'aeil  sur  i'etat  des  connaissances  relatives  aux  industries  de 

la  pierre.     Namur,  1904. 

52  SCHRADER,  O.  Sprachvergleichung  und  Urgeschichte.  3d  ed.  Jena,  1907. 
[A  work  in  "linguistic  paleontology"  which  has  been  the  subject  of  much  controversy  between 
archaeologists  and  philologists.  Schrader  claims  rightly  that  many  things  can  be  established 
by  language  which  "remains"  throw  no  light  on.  There  is  much  of  value  in  his  materials, 
but  his  attempt  to  establish  exactly  by  linguistic  methods  the  original  home  of  the  "Indo- 
Germanic"  people  cannot  be  regarded  as  successful.  The  3d  ed.  is  an  improvement  on  the  2d, 
which  is  translated  into  English  as  Prehistoric  Antiquities  of  the  Aryan  Peoples  (L.  1890).  The 
Indo-Germanic  or  Aryan  question  is  still  largely  in  the  region  of  conjecture,  and  visionary  views 
prevail.  Those  interested  should  read  HIRT,  H.,  Die  Indogermanen,  ihre  Verbreilung,  ihre 
Urheimat  und  ihre  Kultur,  Strass.,  1907.  He  is  one  of  the  opponents  of  Schrader.] 

*53  SCHWALBE,  G.     Studien  zur  Vorgeschichte  des  Menschen.     Stutt,  1906. 
[228  pp.     Special  number  of  Zei/s.  }.  Morph.  u.  Anth.      Has  also  a  Vorgeschkhte  des  Mensclien 

(52  pp.).     Brauns.,  1904.] 

*54  SEEBOHM,  F.     The  English  Village  Community.     L.,  1890. 
55  SERGI,  G.     The  Mediterranean  Race;   A  Study  of  the  Origins  of  European 

Peoples.     L.,  1901. 

[The  best  presentation  of  the  (unlikely)  theory  that  the  long-headed  peoples  of  the  south  of  Europe 

came  from  Africa.] 

+56  STRAUSS,  A.     Die  Bulgaren.     Ethnographische  Studien.     Lpz.,  1898. 

57  VAiiBERY,  A.     Das  Turkenvolk.     Lpz.,  1885. 

58  VAuBf  RY,  A.     Der  Ursprung  der  Magyaren.     Lpz.,  1882. 


908  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

59  VAMBEKY,  A.     Hungary.     N.  Y.,  1898. 

*6o  VILLENEUVE,  L.  DE,  VfiRNEAU,  R.,  EX  BOTTLE,  M.     Les  Grottes  de  Grimaldi 
(Baousse-Rouss£).     Monaco,  1906. 

61  WINDLE,  B.  C.  A.     Remains  of  the  Prehistoric  Age  in  England.     L.,  1904. 
*62  WLISLOCKI,  H.     Aus  dent  inneren  Leben  der  Zigeuner.     B.,  1892. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  14 

BOOKS  RECOMMENDED  FOR  PURCHASE 

This  list  of  more  recent  works  is  offered  with  smaller  libraries  and  indi- 
vidual purchasers  in  view.  The  divisions  are  numbered  to  correspond  with 
the  preceding  bibliographies  1-13,  except  that  the  first  division  is  added. 
America  is  relatively  neglected  because  of  the  existence  and  accessibility  of  the 
periodicals  mentioned  in  the  Preface;  Asia  and  Europe,  for  reasons  mentioned 
on  p.  874.  It  must  be  remembered  also  that,  after  all,  books  form  the  less 
important  part  of  the  literature  of  anthropology.  I  recognize  the  immorality 
of  pronouncing  so  summary  a  judgment  on  books,  but  I  believe  that  bibliog- 
raphies are  not  much  used  unless  annotated. 

O.    GENERAL 

1  DENIKER,  J.     The  Races  of  Man:  An  Outline  of  Anthropology  and  Ethnog- 
raphy.    L. :  Scott.     N.  Y.:  Scribner,  1900.     Pp.  611.     $1.50. 

[An  excellent  sketch,  but  the  space  is  not  sufficient.] 

2  DUCKWORTH,  W.  L.  H.     Morphology  and  Anthropology.     Camb.:  University 
Press,  1904.     Pp.  564.     155. 

[Strictly  physical  anthropology.    Contains  a  good  discussion  of  Pithecanthropus  erectus  Dubois. 
or  the  "missing  link."    See  also  Bibliography  13:42.] 

3  GERLAND,  G.     Atlas  der  Volkerkunde.     Gotha:    J.  Perthes,  1892.     Pp.  15. 
15  maps.     M.  19.60. 

4  KEANE,    A.    H.     Ethnology.     Camb.:     University   Press,    1901.     Pp.    442. 
IDS.  6d. 

]The  titles  of  this  and  the  following  should  have  been  reversed,  if  anything.  Taken  together  they 
are  the  best  small  general  work  on  ethnology.  But  they  are  doctrinaire.  Keane  often  speaks 
of  matters  (especially  the  origin  of  man  and  the  relation  of  races)  as  though  they  were  settled, 
when  they  are  not  settled  at  all.] 

5  KEANE,  A.  H.     Man  Past  and   Present.     Camb.:     University   Press,  1899. 
Pp.  584.     125. 

6  RATZEL,  F.     History  of  Mankind.     (Tr.  Butler.)     L.  and  N.  Y.:   Macmillan, 
1898.     Pp.  486,  562,  599.     $12. 

[The  most  important  single  work  on  ethnology,  and  worth  the  price.  Well  illustrated.  Ratzel 
unfortunately  does  not  give  the  sources  for  his  statements,  but  he  is  a  reliable  person  and  his 
judgment  is  usually  sound.  This  work,  supplemented  by  the  two  volumes  of  Keane  and  the 
atlas  of  Gerland,  forms  a  minimum  basis  of  reference.] 

7  SCHURTZ,  H.     Urgeschichte  der  Kultur.     Lpz. :    Bibliographisches  Institut, 
1900.     Pp.  658.     M.  17. 

[A  clear,  scientific,  and  descriptive  presentation  of  the  beginnings  of  culture.  Resembles  Ratzel. 
More  recent  than  Lippert's  great  work,  Kultur geschichte  der  Menschheit,  and  superior  in  its 
greater  objectivity.] 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  909 

I.      EXTERNAL  ENVIRONMENT   AND   ECONOMICS 

8  BUCHER,    K.     Die   Entstehung   der    Volkswirtschaft.     Tr.    by   Wickett   as 
Industrial  Evolution.     N.  Y.:  Holt,  1901.     Pp.393.     $2.50. 

[The  translation  is  from  the  jd  ed.  The  sth  ed.  is  noticeably  enlarged.  The  6th  ed.  (1908)  has 
slight  additions.  This  work  is  the  first  serious  attempt  to  apply  the  data  of  ethnology  to  politi- 
cal economy.  In  connection  with  it  should  be  read  Vierkandt,  A.,  "Die  wirtschaftlichen  Ver- 
haltnisse  der  Naturvolker,"  Zeits.  f.  Socialwiss.,  a  181-97,  175-85,  and  Lasch,  R.,  "Die  Arbeits- 
weise  der  Naturvolker  "  Zeits.  }.  Socialwiss.,  11:293-304;  Somlo,  F.,  Der  Guterverkehr  in  der 
Urgesellschaft  (Instituis  Solvay:  notes  ei  memoires),  Br.  and  Lpz.,  1909,  is  announced.] 

9  HAHN,  E.     Die  Haustiere  und  ihre  Beziehungen  zur  Wirtschaft  des  Menschen. 
Lpz.:   Duncker  und  Humblot,  1896.     Pp.  581.     M.  n. 

[Except  for  the  fact  that  it  is  untranslated,  Hahn's  book  is  more  desirable  than  the  celebrated 
Kulturpflanzen  und  Haustiere  of  Hehn.  The  latter  is  limited  to  Asia  and  Europe,  and  is  based 
largely  on  classical  philology.  Hahn's  smaller  and  later  book,  Die  Entstehung  der  wirtschaft- 
lichen  Arbeit  (Heidelberg,  1908,  M.  2 . 50)  is  in  much  the  same  line  as  Mason's  Woman's  Share  in 
Primitive  Culture,  verging  also  on  the  woman  question.  It  adds  nothing  to  Mason  and  is  in- 
accurate in  the  data  on  primitive  economic  conditions  in  Australia.  Keller,  C.,  Die  Abstam- 
mung  der  altesten  Haustiere,  deals  with  the  question  from  the  zoological  standpoint.  MUCH,  M., 
"Vorgeschichtliche  Nahr-  und  Nutzpflanzen  Europas,"  Anth.  Gesells.  in  Wien,  Milth.,  38:195- 
aay,  and  Stuhlmann  F.,  Beitrdge  zur  Kulturgeschichle  von  Osl-Afrika  (see  comment  in  Bibli- 
ography 9 :  tooa)  should  be  read  on  the  plant  side.] 

10  SEMPLE,  ELLEN  C.     Influence  of  Geographic  Environment:   On  the  Basis  of 
Ratzel's  Anthropogeographie.     Bost.:  Houghton,  Mifflin.     In  press. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  i.] 

2.      MIND 

11  B ARTELS,  M.     Die  Medizin  der  Naturvolker.     Ethnologische  Beitrdge  zur 
Urgeschichte  der  Medizin.     Lpz.:  Grieben,  1893.     Pp.  361.     M.  n. 

[Important  for  Parts  II  and  VI.] 

12  HOVORKA,    O.,    UND    KRONFELD,    A.     Verglichende    Volksmedizin.     Stutt.: 
"Strecker  und  Schroder,  1908.     Pp.  495,  960.     M.  28. 

[Important  for  Parts  II  and  VI.] 

13  STOLL,  O.     Suggestion  und  Hypnotismus  in  der  Volker  psychologic.     Lpz.: 
Veit,  1904.     Pp.  738.     M.  16. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  2.] 

14  VIERKANDT,  A.    Naturvolker  und  Kulturvolker.    Lpz. :  Duncker  und  Humblot, 
1896.     Pp.  497.     M.  10.80. 

[This  and  the  following  are  the  best  systematic  attempts  to  explain  the  mental  retardation  of  savage 
and  (incidentally)  of  oriental  societies.  Important  as  supplementary  to  Part  II.  A  later  work,  F. 
Schultze,  Psychologic  der  Naturvolker  (Lpz.,  1900)  is  not  recommended.  The  author  does  not  know 
the  sources  and  lacks  scientific  standpoint.  V'ierkandt's  recent  paper,  "Fiihrende  Individuen  bei 
den  Naturvolkern,"  Zeits.  f.  Socialwiss.,  11:342-53,  623-39,  should  be  read.  "Die  Kulturtypen 
der  Menschheit,"  Arch.  }.  Anth.,  25:61-75,  contains  a  summary  statement  of  Vierkandt's  general 
position.] 

15  VIERKANDT,  A.     Die  Stetigkeit  im  Kulturwandel.     B.:    Reimer,  1909.     Pp. 
209.     M.  5. 

16  WUNDT,  W.     Volker psychologic;   cine  Untersuchung  der  Entivicklungsgesetze 
von  Sprache,  Mythus  und  Sitte.     Lpz.:    Engelmann,   1904-1909.     (5  half- 
vols.)     Pp.  667,  673,  617,  481,  792.     M.  60. 

[Altogether  the  most  important  attempt  to  apply  psychology  to  the  interpretation  of  early  society,  but 
in  difficult  German,  and  presupposing  an  intimate  knowledge  of  psychology.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  work  of  permanent  value,  but  as  one  introducing  the  psychological 


910  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

method  into  this  subject  in  much  the  same  way  that  Herbert  Spencer  introduced  the  biological. 
Among  the  important  reviews  of  this  work  are:  Ehrenreich  P.,  in  Globus,  79:21-23;  Mead, 
G.  H.,  in  Psych.  Bui.,  3:393-99;  Weichsel,  J.,  in  Psych.  Bui.,  5:120-23;  Gardiner,  H.  N.,  in 
Phil.  Rev.,  17:316-23;  Hales,  F.  N.,  in  Mind,  N.  S.,  12:239-45;  Hoffmann,  O.,  in  Zeils.  f. 
Socialwiss.,  9:403-6;  Goldstein,  in  Globus,  906 : 79-80.  Lasch,  R.,  "Ueber  Sondersprachen  und 
ihre  Entstehung,'Mn<&.  Gesells.  in  Wien.,  Mitth.,  37:89-101,  140-62,  should  be  read  in  connection 
with  vol.  i,  or  independently.] 

3.      INVENTION 

17  MASON,   O.  T.     The  Origins  of  Invention:    A  Study  of  Industry  among 
Primitive  Peoples.     L.:  Scott.     N.  Y.:   Scribner,  1895.     Pp.  419.     $1.25. 

18  RIVERS,  A.  LANE-FOX  PITT-.     The  Evolution  of  Culture.     Oxf.:   Clarendon 
Press,  1906.     Pp.  232.     "js.  6d.     (Edited  by  Myers,  with  an  introduction  by 
Balfour.) 

4.      SEX   AND   MARRIAGE 

19  CRAWLEY,  E.     The  Mystic  Rose;   a  Study  of  Primitive  Marriage.     N.  Y. : 
Macmillan,  1902.     Pp.  492.     $4. 

[Comment  on  p.  534.] 

20  MASON,  O.  T.     Woman's  Share  in  Primitive  Culture.     N.  Y.:    Appleton, 
1894.     Pp.  295.     $1.75. 

[Best  description  of  woman's  relation  to  the  activities  of  early  society.] 

21  PLOSS,  H.  H.,  UND  B  ARTELS,  M.     Das  Weib  in  der  Natur-  und  Volkerkunde. 
9th  ed.     Lpz.:  Grieben,  1908.     Pp.  986,  884.     M.  30. 

LThis  continuation  by  Bartels  of  Floss's  work  is  the  greatest  collection  of  ethnological  data  on  woman.] 

22  WESTERMARCK,  E.     History  of  Human  Marriage.     3d  ed.     N.  Y.:    Mac- 
millan, 1901.     Pp.  644.     $4.50. 

[No  important  changes  from  the  first  edition.     Westermarck's  reply  to  his  critics  ("Neueres  iiber  die 
Ehe,")  will  be  found  in  Zeils.  f.  Socialwiss.,  11:553-59.] 

5-       ART,    ORNAMENT,    DECORATION 

23  BiiCHER,  K.     Arbeit  und  Rhythmus.     4th  ed.     Lpz.:    Teubner,  1909.     Pp. 

476.     M.  7. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  5.] 

24  GROSSE,  E.     The  Beginnings  of  Art.      (Tr.  of  Die  Anfange  der  Kunst.) 
N.  Y.:   Appleton,  1897.     Pp.  327.     $1.75. 

25  HADDON,  A.  C.     Evolution  in  Art,  as  Illustrated  by  the  Life-Histories  of 
Designs.     L.:  Scott.     N.  Y.:   Scribner,  1895.     Pp.  364.     $1.25. 

26  HIRN,  Y.     The  Origins  of  Art;    a  Psychological  and  Sociological  Inquiry. 
N.  Y. :   Macmillan,  1900.     Pp.  331.     $3.25. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  5.] 

27  WALLASCHEK,    R.     Primitive    Music.     An    Inquiry    into    the    Origin    and 
Development  of  Music,  Songs,  Instruments,  Dances  and  Pantomimes  of  Savage 
Races.     L.  and  N.  Y.:  Longmans,  1893.     Pp.  326.     $4.50. 

6.      MAGIC,    RELIGION,   MYTH 

28  FRAZER,  J.  G.     The  Golden  Bough:    A  Study  in  Magic  and  Religion.     L.  and 
N.  Y.:  Macmillan,  1900.     Pp.  467,  471,  490.     $10. 

[A  3d  ed.  is  in  press,  well  advanced,  and  the  parts  can  be  had  as  they  appear.] 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  911 

29  LEONARD,  A.  G.     The  Lower  Niger  and  Its  Tribes.     L.  and  N.  Y.:    Mac- 
millan,  1906.     Pp.  564.     $4. 

[On  African  religion.] 

30  SKEAT,  W.  W.     Malay  Magic,  Being  an  Introduction  to  the  Folklore  and 
Popular  Religion  of  the  Malay  Peninsula.     L.  and  N.  Y. :    Macmillan,  1900. 
Pp.  685.     $6.50. 

31  TYLOR,    E.    B.      Primitive   Culture;     Researches  into  the  Development  of 
Mythology,  Philosophy,  Religion,  Language,  Art  and  Custom.     4th  ed.     Lon- 
don:  J.  Murray,  1903.     2  vols.     Pp.  994.     215. 

[No  important  changes  from  earlier  editions.] 

32  WARNECK,   J.     Die  Religion  der  Batak.     Ein  Paradigms  fur  animistische 
Religionen    des    Indischen    Archipels.      Lpz.:    Dieterich,     1909.      Pp.  136. 
M.  4. 

[Important  for  Part  VI.    Forms  first  vol.  of  fourth  section  ("Die  Naturvolker  und  die  Kulturarmen 
Volker")  of  Religionsurkunden  der  Volker,  edited  by  J.  Bohmer.] 

7.      SOCIAL    ORGANIZATION,    MORALITY,    THE   STATE 

33  NIEBOER,  H.  J.     Slavery  as  an  Industrial  System.     The  Hague:    Nijhoff, 
1900.     Pp.  474.     Fl.  7.50. 

[A  comparative  study  of  slavery  among  savage  and  barbarous  peoples.    A  unique  work  of  great 

importance.] 

34  SCHURTZ,  H.    Altersklassen  und  Mdnnerbiinde.    B.:    Reimer,  1902.  Pp.458. 
M.  8. 

[A  highly  important  work  on  early  social  organization,  somewhat   resembling  Webster's  Primitive 

Secret  Societies.} 

35  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.     Ethnologische  Studien  zur  ersten  Entwicklung  der  Strafe, 
nebst  einer  psychologischen  Abhandlung  iiber  Grausamkeit  und  Rachsucht. 
Ley.:   Van  Doesburgh,  1894.     Pp.  486,  425.     M.  20. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  7.] 

36  STEINMETZ,  S.  R.   Rechtsverhdltnisse  von  eingeborenen  Volkern  in  Afrika  und 
Ozeanien.     B.:   Pringer,  1903.      Pp.  455.     M.  10. 

37  SUMNER,  W.  G.     Folkways:  a  Study  of  the  Sociological  Importance  of  Usages, 
Manners,    Customs,    Mores,    and   Morals.     Bost.:     Ginn,    1907.     Pp.    692. 
$3  •  oo. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  7.] 

38  WEBSTER,   H.     Primitive'  Secret  Societies:    a  Study  in  Early  Politics  and 
Religion.     N.  Y.:  Macmillan,  1908.     Pp.  227.     $2. 

39  WESTERMARCK,  E.     The  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Moral  Ideas.     N.  Y.; 
Macmillan,  1908.     Pp.  716,  .852.     $7. 

[After  Ratzel,  perhaps  the  most  important  work  to  purchase,  because  of  the  wealth  of  material  rather 
than  for  theory.    See,  however,  my  comment  on  p.  8s?.] 

8.      AMERICA 

40  FARRAND,  L.     Basis  of  American  History,  1500-1900.     (Vol.  2  of  Hart,  The 
American  Nation.)     N.  Y. :   Harper,  1904.     Pp.  303.     $2. 

41  SCHMIDT,    M.     Indianer-Studien   in    Zentralbrasilien.     B.:     Reimer,    1905. 
Pp.  456.     M.  10. 


912  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

42  STEINEN,  K.  VON  DEN.     Unter  den  Naturvolkern  Zentral-Brasiliens.    Reise- 
schilderung  und    Ergebnisse    der    2.    Schingu-Expedition,   1887-1888.     B.: 
Reimer,  1894.     Pp.  570.     M.  12. 

[A  work  famous  among  specialists;  the  best  on  South  America.] 

43  THURN,  E.  F.  IM.     Among  the  Indians  of  Guiana.     L.:  Kegan  Paul,  Trench, 
1883.     Pp.  445.     185. 

9.     AFRICA 

44  CUNNINGHAM,  J.  F.     Uganda  and  Its  Peoples;   Notes  on  the  Protectorate  of 
Uganda,  Especially  the  Anthropology  and  Ethnology  of  Its  Indigenous  Races. 
L.:  Hutchinson,  1905.     Pp.  370.     245. 

[Johnston's  Uganda  Protectorate  (N.  Y.,  1004,  $12.50)  contains  valuable  material  on  that  region, 
the  two  vols.  being  about  equally  divided  between  ethnology  and  natural  history.  But  Cun- 
ningham's single  volume  is  perhaps  a  better  investment.] 

45  ELLIS,  A.  B.     The  Tshi-speaking  Peoples  of  the  Gold  Coast  of  West  Africa. 
L.:   Chapman  and  Hall,  1887.     Pp.  343.     IQS.  6d. 

46  ELLIS,  A.  B.     The  Ewe-speaking  Peoples  of  the  Slave  Coast  of  West  Africa. 
L.:   Chapman  and  Hall,  1890.     Pp.  331.     los.  6d. 

47  ELLIS,  A.  B.     The  Yoruba-s peaking  Peoples  of  the  Slave  Coast  of  West  Africa. 
L.:   Chapman  and  Hall,  1894.     Pp.  402.     105.  6d. 

48  FROBENIUS,  L.      Ursprung  der  afrikanischen  Kulturen.      B.:    Borntraeger, 
1898.     Pp.  368.     M.  10. 

49  FULLEBORN,  F.     Das  deutsche  Nyassa-  und  Ruwumagebiet:  Land  und  Leute. 
(Deutsch  Ost-Afrika,  vol.  9.)     B.:  Reimer,  1906.     Pp.  1031.     M.  60. 

[Best  general  survey  of  East  Africa,  and  an  admirable  work.    Illustrated.    There  is  also  a  separate 
atlas  (not  indispensable)  of  119  photographs  at  M.  65.] 

50  HOLLIS,  A.  C.     The  Masai:  Their  Language  and  Folklore.     Oxf. :  Clarendon 
Press,  1905.     Pp.  359.     145. 

51  HOLLIS,  A.  C.     The  Nandi:  Their  Language  and  Folklore.    Oxf.:  Clarendon 
Press,  1909.     Pp.  328.     i6s. 

52  JOHNSTON,  H.  H.     George  Grenfell  and  the  Congo;  a  History  and  Description 
of  the  Congo  Independent  State  and  Adjoining  Districts  of  Congoland,  Together 
•with  Some  Account  of  the  Native  Peoples  and  Their  Languages,  the  Fauna 
and  Flora;  and  Similar  Notes  on  the  Cameroons  and  the  Island  of  Fernando 

,        P6.     L.:  Hutchinson,  1908.     Pp.  496,  497-990.     305. 

53  JOHNSTON,  H.  H.     Liberia.     N.  Y.:   Dodd,  Mead,  1906.     Pp.  519,  521-1183. 
$12.50. 

54  JUNKER,  W.     Travels  in  Africa  during  the  Years  1875-1886.     (Tr.  Keane.) 
L.:   Chapman  and  Hall,  1890-92.     Pp.  582,  477,  586.     215. 

55  KIDD,  D.    The  Essential  Kaffir.    L.  and  N.  Y.:  Macmillan,  1904.  Pp.436.  $6. 

56  OVERBERGH,  C.  VAN.     Les  Bangala.     Br.:  De  Wit,  1907.     Pp.458.     Fr.  10. 

57  OVERBERGH,    C.    VAN.     Les    Mayombe.     Br.:    De  Wit,    1907.     Pp.    470. 
Fr.  10. 

58  OVERBERGH,  C.  VAN.    Les  Basogne.     Br.:    De  Wit,  1908.     Pp.  564.    Fr.  10. 

59  OVERBERGH,  C.  VAN.     Les  Mangbetu.    Br.,  1909.     Pp.  594.     Fr.  10. 

[First  vols.  (on  the  Congo)  of  Collection  de  monographies  ethnographiques,  based  on  very  full  materials 
and  to  be  extended  to  all  countries.  Very  important,  though  the  results  are  given  in  too  sum- 
marized a  form.] 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  913 

60  PASSARGE,  S.     Die  Buschmanner  der  Kalahari.     B.:  Reimer,  1907.     Pp.  144. 

M.  3. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  9.] 

6 1  PAULITSCHKE,  P.     Ethnographic  Nor  dost  Afrikas.       Die  Mater  idle  Kultur 
der  Dandkil,  Galla  und Somdl.     B.:  Reimer,  1893.     Pp.  338.     M.  20. 

62  PECHUEL-LOESCHE,    E.     Volkskunde  von  Loango.      Stutt.:     Strecker    und 
Schroder,  1907.     Pp.  482.     M.  24. 

[Perhaps  the  best  monograph  on  any  region  of  Africa,  at  least  from  the  standpoint  of  this  volume.] 

63  SCHULTZE,   L.     Aus  Namaland  und  Kalahari.     Jena:    G.   Fischer,   1907. 
Pp.  752.     M.  60. 

[The  anthropo-geographical  data  are  unusually  good,  and  the  volume  is  a  great  monograph.] 

64  THEAL,  G.  M.     History  and  Ethnography  of  Africa,  South  of  the  Zambesi 
before  1795.     L.:   Sonnenschein,  Vol.  i,  1907.     Pp.  526.     75.  6d. 

[Two  vols.  are  to  follow.    This  is  the  sd  ed.  of  his  History  of  South  Africa  .....  with  the  addition 
of  "Ethnography"  to  the  title.] 

65  WEULE,    K.      Wissenschaftliche   Ergebnisse  meiner  ethnographischen  For- 
schungsreise  in  den  Siidosten  Deutsch-Ostafrikas.     B.,  Mittler,  1908.     M.  3. 
Tr.  by  Alice  Werner  as  Native  Life  in  East  Africa.     L.:    Pitman,   1909. 

Pp.  466.       125.  6d. 

10.      AUSTRALIA   AND  TASMANIA 

66  HOWITT,  A.  H.     Native  Tribes  of  South  East  Australia.     N.  Y.:  Macmillan, 
1904.     Pp.  818.     $6.50. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  10 .] 

67  ROTH,  H.  L.  AND  BUTLER,  M.  E.     The  Aborigines  of  Tasmania.     Halifax, 
Eng. :    King,  1899.     Pp.  228.     $6. 

68  ROTH,  W.  E.     Ethnological  Studies  among  the  North-West-Central  Queens- 
land Aborigines.     Brisbane:    E.  Gregory,  Government  Printer,  1897.     Pp. 

199.     $6. 

[Comment  in  Bibliography  10: 64  and  65.] 

69  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.     The  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia. 

N.  Y.,  Macmillan,  1899.     Pp.  671.     $6.50. 

[If  two  books  are  bought  on  Australia  they  should  perhaps  be  this  and  Howitt.] 

70  SPENCER,  B.,  AND  GILLEN,  F.  J.     The  Northern  Tribes  of  Central  Australia. 
N.  Y.:  -Macmillan,  1904.     Pp.  784.     $6.50. 

71  STREHLOW,  C.   Die  Aranda- und  Loritjastdmme  in  Zentralaustralien.    Frankf. : 
Baer,  Pt.  i  (1907).    Pp.  104.    M.  15.     Pt.  2  (1908).    Pp.  84.     M.  10. 

[Edited  by  Leonhardi,  and  issued  as  Verdffentlichungen  aus  dent  st&dtischen  Vdlkcrmuseum,  Frank- 
furt, a.  M.  Strehlow  is  a  missionary  and  his  reports  are  important  as  supplementary  to  and 
corrective  of  those  of  Spencer  and  Gillen  on  the  same  region.] 

II.   OCEANIA  AND  THE  MALAY  ARCHIPELAGO 

72  ANNANDALE,  N.,  AND  ROBINSON,  H.  C.    Fasciculi  Malayenses.    Results  of 
an  Expedition  to  Perak  and  the  Siamese  Malay  States.     L.:  Longmans,  1904. 
2  vols. 

[Vol.  i:   Anthropology  (pp.  i8o  +  xliv)  can  be  had  separately  at  155.     After  Skeat  and  Blagden,  the 
best  English  book  to  buy  on  this  region.] 

73  ATKINSON,  F.  W.     The  Philippine  Islands.     Bost.:    Ginn,  1905.     Pp.  426. 
*3- 

[A  good^popular  work.] 


914  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

74  CODRINGTON,  R.  H.     The  Melanesians:  Studies  in  Their  Anthropology  and 
Folk-lore.     Oxf. :    Clarendon  Press,  1891.     Pp.  419.     165. 

75  CHRISTIAN,  F.  W.     The  Caroline  Islands.     N.   Y.:  Scribner,  1899.     Pp.  412. 

$4- 

[Rather  too  much  'of  the  nature  of  travel.] 

76  HADDON,  A.  C.     Head-hunters:   Black,  White,  and  Brown.     L.:    Methuen, 
1902.     Pp.  426.     155. 

77  HAGEN,  B.     Unter  den  Papuas.     Beobachtungen  und  Studien  uber  Land  und 
Leute,  Thier  und  Planzenwelt  in  Kaiser  Wilhelmsland.     Wiesbaden:    C.  W. 
Kreidel,  1899.     Pp.  327.     M.  30. 

78  HAGEN,  B.    Die  Orang  Kubu  auf  Sumatra.    Frankf. :  Baer,  1908.    Pp.269. 
M.  25. 

79  HURGRONJE,    S.      The  Achehnese.      (Tr.  O'Sullivan.)      Ley.:    Brill,  1906. 
Pp.  439,  384.     325. 

80  KRIEGER,  M.     Neu  Guinea.     (Bibliothek  der  Landerkunde,  5  and  6  [2  vols. 
in  one].)     B.:   A.  Schall,  1899.     Pp.  535.     M.  11.50. 

[A  good  investment.] 

81  KUBARY,    J.    S.      Ethnographische    Beitrdge    zur    Kenntnis   des    Karolinen 
Archipels.     Ley.:   Trap  (Lpz. :   Winter),  1895.     Pp.  307.     Fl.  16.50. 

[Not  altogether  up  to  date  but  the  result  of  a  long  residence.] 

82  KRAMER,  A.     Samoa-Inseln.     Stutt.:    Schweizerbart,  1903.      Pp.  509,  445. 

M.  36. 

[Kramer  is  one  of  the  many  natural  historians  seduced  by  ethnology.  An  admirable  mono- 
graph, and  one  of  the  celebrated  German  works.  The  price  is  modest  in  view  of  the  size  and 
merit  of  the  work  and  the  rich  illustrations.] 

83  KRAMER,  A.    Hawii,    Ostmikronesien,  und  Samoa Stutt.:    Strecker 

und  Schroder,  1906.     Pp.  585.     M.  10. 

[Not  so  admirable  as  the  preceding,  showing  signs  of  rapid  travel.     Well  illustrated, 
though  not  richly.] 

84  MAN,  E.  H.     On  the  Aboriginal  Inhabitants  of  the  Andaman  Islands.     L.: 

Triibner,  1885.     Pp.  224.     los.  6d. 

[To  be  bought  if  the  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute,  from  which  it  is  reprinted,  is 

not  on  hand.] 

85  MARTIN,  R.     Die  Inlandstdmme  der  Malayischen  Halbinsel.     Jena:  Fischer, 

1905.     Pp.  1052.     M.  60. 

[One  of  the  greatest  of  all  German  monographs.    Richly  illustrated.] 

86  NIEUWENHUIS,  A.  W.      Quer  durch   Borneo.     Ergebnisse  seiner  Reisen   in 

1894,  1896-7,  1898-1900.     Ley.:    Brill,  1904-7.     Pp.  493,  557.     M.  42. 
[A  low  price  for  a  handsome  and  scientific  work,  well  illustrated.] 

87  PARKINSON,  R.     Dreissig  Jahre  in  der  Siidsee.     Lande  und  Leute,  Sitten  und 
Gebrduche  im  Bismarckarchipel  und  auf  den  deutschen  Salomoinseln.     Stutt. : 
Strecker  und  Schroder,   1907.     Pp.  876.     M.  16. 

[A  work  which  ethnologists  regard  with  special  affection,  because  of  Parkinson's  intimate  knowledge.] 

88  ROTH,  H.   L.     The  Natives  of  Sarawak  and  British  North  Borneo.     L. : 
Truslove  and  Hanson,  1896.     Pp.  496,  546.     505. 

[A  compilation  of  great  value.] 

89  SANDE,  G.  A.  J.  VAN  DER.     Ethnography  and  Anthropology  [of  New  Guinea] 
[Vol.  3  of  Nova  Guinea,  the  report  of  the  Dutch  Expedition  of  1903].     Ley.: 
Brill,  1907.     Pp.  390.     $20. 

[Fortunately  printed  in  English,  and  one  of  the  most  attractive  as  well  as  important  of  all  ethnological 
works.    The  price  is  regrettable,  but  there  are  50  plates,  216  figures,  and  a  map.] 


SUPPLEMENTARY  BIBLIOGRAPHIES  915 

90  SARASIN,  P.  UND  F.     Die  Weddas  von  Ceylon  und  die  sie  umgebenden  Volker- 
schaften.     Wiesbaden:    Kreidel,  1893.     Pp.  599.     M.  144. 

[Two  parts  text  and  two  parts  plates,  bound  in  2  vols.  The  84  plates  are  extraordinarily  fine.  One 
of  the  most  intensive  of  all  monographs,  on  one  of  the  lowest  human  groups.  The  authors  are 
primarily  physical  anthropologists,  and  this  side  is  very  strong.  It  is  now  recognized  that  the 
ethnological  side  was  not  so  well  done,  though  better  done  than  anything  before  attempted  on  the 
Veddas.] 

91  SARASIN,  P.  AND  F.    Reisen  in  Celebes.    Wiesbaden:    Kreidel,  1905.     Pp. 
381,  390.     M.  24. 

[In  consideration  of  the  price  a  better  investment  than  the  preceding  for  the  ordinary  library.] 

92  SKEAT,  W.  W.,  AND  BLAGDEN,  C.  O.    Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula. 
L.  and  N.  Y.:  Macmillan,  1906.     Pp.  724,  855.     $13. 

[The  best  work  to  buy  on  this  region.    In  part  a  compilation.] 

93  TAYLOR,  R.     Te  Ika  a  Maui;  or,  New  Zealand  and  Its  Inhabitants.     2d  ed. 
L.:  Macintosh,  1870.     Pp.  730.     255. 

94  WORCESTER,  D.  C.     The  Philippine  Islands  and  Their  People.    N.  Y.: 
Macmillan,  1898.     Pp.  529.     $4. 

[A  good  popular  account.] 

12.      ASIA 

95  CROOKE,  W.    The  Tribes  and  Castes  of  the  North-Western  Provinces  and  Oudh. 
Calcutta:    Office  of  the  Supt.  of  Government  Printing,  1896.     Pp.  ccxvi  + 
294,  499,  500,  516.     $10. 

96  DUBOIS,  J.  A.,  AND  BEAUCHAMP,  H.  K.    Hindu  Manners,  Customs,  and 
Ceremonies.     Oxf.:   Clarendon  Press,  1906.     Pp.  xxxiv+74i.     65. 

[New  ed.  of  a  standard  work  by  an  intimate  observer.] 

97  RIVERS,  W.  H.  R.     The  Todas.     L.  and  N.  Y.:   Macmillan,  1906.    Pp.  755. 
$6.50. 

[A  model  in  ethnological  method,  and  one  of  the  most  important  of  all  monographs.] 

90  RISLEY,  H.  H.     The  People  of  India.     Calcutta:    Thacker,  Spink,   1908. 

Pp.  477  (25  plates).     $7.50. 

[The  Census  of  India,  1901,  vol.  i  (Calcutta,  1903),  contains  Risley's  original  paper  on  tribes  and 
caste.  Also  reprinted  in  The  Indian  Empire:  Imperial  Gazeteer  of  India  (Oxf.,  1907), 
1:283-348.] 

13 .      EUROPE 

99  HOERNES,  M.     Die  Urgeschichte  des  M enschen.     V. :   Hartleben,  1892.     Pp. 

672.     M.  13.50. 

[Remains  perhaps  the  standard  work  on  European  prehistoric  times.    See,  however,  the  comment 
on  M  tiller.  Bibliography  13:40.] 

loo  RIPLEY,  W.  Z.     The  Races  of  Europe.     N.  Y.:    Appleton,  1899.     Pp.  624, 

160.     $5. 

[The  most  important  work  on  the  relation  and  distribution  of  the  European  races.  Appeared  origi- 
nally as  "The  Racial  Geography  of  Europe,"  a  series  of  papers  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly, 
vol.  50  (1897).  Associated  with  this  work  also  is  A  Selected  Bibliography  of  the  Anthropology 
and  Ethnology  of  Europe,  published  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Boston  Public  Library  (Appleton, 
1899.  Pp.  160.  $1.00).] 


INDICES 


INDEX   OF   NAMES   IN    BIBLIOGRAPHIES 

Abbott,  C.  C.,  440.  Earth,   P.,  318.  Bowring,  J.,  895. 

Achelis,  T.,  318,  736,  859.  Barthel,  K.,  884.  Boyle,  D.,  737. 

Adair,  J.,  874.  Barton,  F.  R.,  636.  Boyle,  F.,  895. 

Ahlqvist,  A.,  901.  Bartram,  W.,  874.  Brass,  M.,  637. 

Aimes,  H.  H.  S.,  883.  Bastian,  A.,  318,  319,  884.    Breeks,  J.  W.,  901. 

Albertis,  L.  M.  d',  894.  Batchelor,  J.,  901.  Brett,  W.  H.,  875. 

Allen,  H.  A.,  874.  Bates,  H.  W.,  874.  Brigham,  A.  P.,  134. 

Allen,  J.,  318.  Baumann,  O.,  859,  884.        Brigham,  W.  T.,  637. 

Allen,  W.,  and   Thomson,  Beardmore,  E.,  895.  Brinkley,  F.,  901. 

T.  R.  H.,  883.  Beauchamp,   W.   M.,  535,    Brinton,   D.   G.,  319,  636, 

Ammon,  O.,  859.                         859,  874.  737,  875. 

Andree,  R.,  318,  440,  636,  Beck,  L.,  440.  Brooke,  C.,  895. 

859.  Beckwith,  H.  W.,  874.  Brown,  J.  M.,  895. 

Andrian-Werburg,  F.,  859.  Beckwith,  P.,  875.  Brown,  W.,  895. 

Angas,  G.  F.,  891.  Beddoe,  J.,  891.  Browne,  J.,  891. 

Angell  and  Moore,  318.  Beecham,  J.,  884.  Bruce,  J.,  884. 

Angell  and  Thompson,  636.  Beguin,  E.,  884.  Briihl,  G.,  875. 

Angus,  H.  C.,  535.  Behlen,  H.,  905.  Brun,  P.,  884. 

Ankermann,  B.,  883.  Bei,  Mustafa,  535.  Brunner,  F.  G.,  319. 

Annandale   and   Robinson,  Bennett,  A.  L.,  884.  Bryce,  J.,  319. 

894,  913.  Benneville,  J.   S.   de,  901.    Biicher,    K.,    112-29,    J34> 

Arbousset,  T.,  and  Daumas,  Bentley,  W.  H.,  884.  637,  909,  910. 

F.,  883.  Bertran,  A.,  134.  Buckland,  A.  W.,  134,  637, 

Arnot,  F.  S.,  883.  Best,  E.,  895.  737. 

Ashmead,  A.,  318.  Bevan,  T.  F.,  895.  Buckley,  E.,  737. 

Aston,  W.  G.,  318,  636.  Biart,  L.,  875.  Billow,  W.  von,  319,   737, 

Atkinson,  F.  W.,  895,  913.  Binger,  Capt.,  884.  860,  895. 

Atkinson,  J.  J.,   859,   895.  Bishop,  I.  L.  B.,  901.  Bunce,  D.,  891. 

Atwater,  C.,  874.  Blair  and  Robertson,  895.    Burckhardt,  J.  L.,  901. 

Auerbach,  B.,  905.  Bland,  R.  H.,  891.  Burden,  J.  A.,  884. 

Auerbach,  E.,  905.  Bleek,  W.  H.  I.,  319.  Burrows,  G.,  884. 

Avelot,  R.,  636.  Bloomfield,  J.  K.,  875.  Burton,  R.  F.,  884. 

Bloxham,  G.  W.,  319.  Buschan,  G.,  884. 

Baas,  J.  H.,  318.  Blumentritt,  F.,  895.  Bushnell,   D.  I.,  319,  905. 

Babelon,  E.,  318.  Blunt,  A.,  901.  Buttel-Reepen,  H.  von,  319. 

Baegert,  J.,  874.  Boas,   F.,   143-55.   3O3-X5» 

Bailey,  J.,  895.                            319,  636,  737,  749,  859,    Caillie,  R.,  884. 

Baker,  S.  W.,  883,  884.           860,873,875.     '  Calder,  J.  E.,  891. 

Baker,  W.  B.,  636.  Boas  and  Hunt,  737.  Caldwell,  R.,  901. 

Baldwin,  J.  D.,  874.  Bock,  C.,  895.  Callaway,  H.,  738. 

Baldwin,  J.  M.,  318.  Boehmer,  G.  H.,  440.  Calvert,  A.  F.,  891. 

Balfour,  H.,  440,  636.  Bogoras,  W.,  737,  901.  Cameron,  A.  L.  P.,  891. 

Ball,  J.  D.,  901.  Boman,  E.,  875.  Cameron,  V.  L.,  884. 

Balz,  E.,  318,  901.  Bonney,  F.,  891.  Campbell,  H.,  535. 

Bancroft,  N.  H.,  874.  Bonwick,  J.,  891.  Campbell,  J.  M.,  738. 

Bandelier,    A.,    440,    859,  Bordeau,  L.,  134.  Canfield,  W.,  738. 

874.  Bordier,  A.,  134,  319,  440.    Capitan,  L.,  134. 

Barrett,  S.  A.,  134,  636.  Bos,  P.  R.,  134.  Capus,  G.,  637. 

Barrington,  G.,  891.  Bosanquet,  H.,  535.  Cardi,  C.  N.  de,  860. 

Barrows,  D.  P.,  134.  Bouche,  P.  B.,  884.  Carey  and  Tuck,  901. 

Bartels,  M.,  318,  909.  Bourke,    J.    G.,    440,  636,    Carlile,   W.   W.,   319. 

Earth,  H.,  884.                             737,  860.  Carmichael,  C.  H.  E.,  892. 

919 


920 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


Carr,  L.,  636. 

Oarr  and  Watson,  319. 

Cartailhac,  E.,  905. 

Carus,  P.,  738. 

Carver,  J.,  875. 

Casati,  G.,  884. 

Catlin,  G.,  875. 

Cator,  D.,  895. 

Chalmers,  J.,  895. 

Chamberlain,   A.    F.,    320, 

535.  738,  749.  875- 
Chamberlain,   B.   H.,   320, 

637,  860,  895,  901. 
Chamberlain,  I.  C.,  749. 
Champlain,  S.  de,  875. 
Chapaux,  A.,  884. 
Charlevoix,  P.  F.  X.,  875. 
Charnay,  D.,  875. 
Chatelain,  H.,  884. 
Cheever,  H.,  895. 
Christaller,  J.  G.,  738. 
Christian,  D.,  875. 
Christian,  F.  W.,  895,  914. 
Christmann,  F.,  892. 
Clarke,  K.  M.,  738. 
Clavigero,  F.,  876. 
Clement,  E.,  892. 
Clement,  E.  W.,  860. 
Closson,  C.  C.,  134,  135. 
Clozel,  F.  J.,  884. 
Clozel  and  Villamur,  884. 
Coan,  T.  M.,  895. 
Codrington,    R.    H.,    320, 

440,  738,  860,  895,  914. 
-Cohen,  H.,  738. 
Colden,  C.,  876. 
Cole,  F.  C.,  895. 
Coleman,  F.  M.,  902. 
Colenso,  W.,  895. 
Comrie,  Dr.,  895. 
Conant,  L.  L.,  320. 
Conder,  C.  R.,  885. 
Connelly,  W.  E.,  876. 
Connolly,  R.  M.,  860,  885. 
Cook,  Capt.  J.,  895. 
Cooley,  C.  H.,  320. 
Copway,  G.,  876. 
Coquilhat,  C.,  885. 
Cotton,   P.  H.  G.  Powell-, 

885. 

Couty,  L.,  860. 
Cowper,  H.  S.,  440. 
Craig,  W.,  135,  320. 
Cranz,  D.,  876. 
Crawfurd,  J.,  135,  885,  895. 
Crawley,   E.,   512-29,   535, 

738,  910. 
Crooke,  W.,  738,  902,  915. 


Crozet,  892. 
Cruickshank,  B.,  885. 
Cruikshank,  E.,  135. 
Culin,  S.,  637. 
Cunningham,    D.   J.,    320. 
Cunningham,    J.    F.,    885, 

912. 

Cunow,  H.,  860,  892. 
Cureau,  A.,  320. 
Curr,  E.  M.,  320,  892. 
Gushing,  F.  H.,  320,  440, 

637,  738,  876. 
Cusick,  D.,  876. 

Dahnhardt,  O.,  320. 
Dale,  G.,  885. 
Dall,  W.  H.,  638,  876. 
Dalton,  E.  T.,  902. 
Dames,  M.  L.,  638,  902. 
Danks,  B.,  320,  535,  739. 
Dannert,  E.,  860. 
Dargun,  L.,  535. 
Das,  S.  C.,  902. 
Dautremer,  J.,  860. 
Davenport,   F.   M.,   739. 
Davids,  T.  W.,  739. 
Davis,  E.  J.,  320. 
Dawkins,  W.  B.,  905. 
Dawson,  J.,  892. 
Dechelette,  J.,  905. 
Deken,  P.  de,  885. 
Del  Mar,  A.,  320. 
Deniken,  J.,  905,  908. 
Dening,  W.,  321. 
Dennett,   R.  E.,  321,   739, 

860,  885. 

Densmore,  F.,  638. 
Desplagnes,  L.,  885. 
Dewey,    J.,     173-86,    321, 

638,  860. 
Dictionnaire     nouveau    de 

geographic      universelle, 

!35- 

Diederich,  F.,  892. 
Dieffenbach,  E.,  896. 
Dimitroff,  Z.,  638,  860. 
Dixon,  R.  B.,  638,  739,  749, 

876. 

Dixon   and   Kroeber,    321. 
Dobrizhoffer,   M.,    876. 
Dodge,  R.  I.,  876. 
Doigneau,  A.,  905. 
Donaldson,  H.  H.,  321. 
Donaldson,  T.,  876. 
Dopp,  K.  E.,  321. 
Dorsey,    G.   A.,   321,   638, 

739- 
Dorsey  and  Kroeber,   739. 


Dorsey,  J.  O.,  135,  321, 
440,  535,  638,  739,  860, 
876. 

Doughty,  C.  M.,  902. 

Douglas,  J.,  876. 

Dowd,  J.,  885. 

Drake,  S.  G.,  876. 

Dreyer,  W.,  905. 

Driesmans,  H.,  135. 

Drury,  R.,  896. 

Dubois,  C.  G.,  739. 

Dubois  and  Beauchamp, 
902,  915. 

Duckworth,  W.  L.  H.,  908. 

Dunbar,  J.  B.,  876. 

Dunlop,  W.,  739. 

Durkheim,  E.,  535,  860. 

Duveyrier,  H.,  885. 

Dyer,  T.  F,  535. 

Dzieduszycki,  A.,  638. 

Earl,  G.  W.,  896. 
Eastman,  C.,  321. 
Edkins,  J.,  321. 
Eels,  M.,  876. 
Ehrenreich,    P.,    321,    739, 

861,  876,  910. 
Eichmann,  J.  R.,  135. 
Elkus,  S.  A.,  321. 
Elliott,  H.  M.,  902. 
Ellis,    A.     B.,     740,     885, 

912. 

Ellis,  H.,  535,  638. 
Ellis,   W.,  896. 
Ellis,  W.  G.,  861. 
Ellwood,  C.  A.,  321. 
Elmslie,  D.,  740. 
Emerson,  E.  R.,  638. 
Emmons,  G.  T.,  638. 
Endemann,  K.,  885. 
Engerrand,  J.,  905. 
Enjoy,  P.  d',  535,  861. 
Enright,  W.  J.,  860,  892. 
Ephraim,  H.,  638. 
Erskine,  J.  E.,  896. 
Escher,  R.,  440. 
Espinas,  A.  V.,  440. 
Eyre,  E.  J.,  892. 

Fabrega,    H.    P.    de,    321, 

876. 
Farrand,  L.,  638,  740,  876, 

882,  911. 
Farrand    and    Kahnweiler, 

740. 

Farrar,  F.  W.,  321. 
Felkin,  R.  W.,  135. 
Ferree,  B.,  135,  638. 


INDICES  921 

Fewkes,  J.   W.,   638,    740,  Gamier  et  Ammann,   135,  Haddon,  A.   C.,  135,  543- 

749,  861,  876.  639.                                           49,   536,   640,    742,   862, 

Fewkes  and  Stephens,  861.  Garnett,  L.  M.  J.,  535.              873,  896,  910,  914. 

Fielde,  A.  M.,  321,  322.  Garson,  J.  G.,  877.  Haddon  and  Rivers,  862. 

Fies,  K.,  885.  Garson  and  Read,  873.  Haddon,     Seligman,     and 

Fillmore,  J.  C.,  639.  Gason,  S.,  892.                           Wilkins,  742.           H*i  ^ 

Finsch,  O.,  896.  Gatschet,  A.  S.,  322,  639,  Haddon  and  Watkin,  862. 

Fischer,  A.,  902.  877.  Haddon,  E.  B.,  640. 

Fischer,   K.,  639.  Gautier  and  Chudeau,  886.  Hagen,  B.,  896,  914. 

Fishberg,  M.,  906.  Geddes  and  Thomson,  536.  Hagen,  K.,  640. 

Fison,    L.,   322,    740,    741,  Geiger,  L.,  322.  Hahn,  E.,  136,  909. 

861.  Geiger,  W.,  902.  Hale,  H.,  322,  742,  877. 

Fison  and  Howitt,  892.  Gennep,  A.  van,  536,  741,  Hales,  F.  N.,  910. 

Fite,  W.,  639.  862.  Hales,  H.,  640. 

FitzGerald,     W.     W.     A.,-  Gerber,  A.,  741.  Halkin,  J.,  886. 

885.  Gerland,  G.,  135,  908.  Hall,  C.  F.,  877. 

Flahault,  C.,  135.  Gibbs,  G.,  877.  Hamilton,  A.,  640. 

Fletcher,  A.  C.,  639,    741,  Giddings,  F.  H.,  862.  Hamilton,  A.  G.,  536. 

861.  Giesswein,  A.,  322.  Hamy,  E.  T.,  886,  902. 
Florenz,   K.,   741.  Gilmore,  B.  J.,  639.  Hanoteau  et   Letourneaux, 
Fliigel,  O.,  322.  Gilmour,  J.,  902.                         886. 

Folnesics,  J.,  639.  Girard,  H.,  886,  902.  Happ,  E.,  441. 

Forbes,  F.  E.,  885.  Glassberg,  A.,  862.  Hardisty,  W.  L.,  877. 

Forbes,  H.  O.,  896.  Goblet  d'Alviella,  E.,  639.  Hardwick,  A.  Arkell-,  886. 

Foreman,  J.,  896.  Goddard,  P.  E.,  877.  Harkness,  H.,  902. 

Fornander,  R.,  896.  Godden,  G.  M.,  902.  Harkness,  W.,  323. 

Fortescue,  J.  W.,  135.  Goeje,  C.  H.  de,  877.  Harper,  R.  F.,  862. 

Fortier,  A.,  741.  Goldstein,  910.  Harrison,  C.,  742. 

Fouille"e,  A.,  322.  Gollmer,  C.  A.,  322.  Hartland,  E.  S.,  862." 

Fowke,  G.,  639,  883.  Gomme,  A.  B.,  639.  Hartmann,  M.,  536. 

Foy,  W.,  639.  Gomme,   G.  L.,  639,   741,  Hartmann,  R.,  886. 

Francois,  H.  von,  885.  862,  906.  Haulleville   et   Coart,   640, 

Fraser,  J.,  741,  892.  Gordon,  G.  B.,  322.                    742. 

Frauenstadt,  P.,  86r.  Gottschling,  E.,  886.  Hauri,  J.,  862. 

Frazer,  J.  G.,  535,  651-69,  Gotzen,  G.  A.  von,  886.  Hawtry,  S.  H.  C.,  877. 

741,   861,   873,   910.  Grabner,  F.,  896.  Haxthausen,  A.  von,  902. 

Freeman,  R.  A.,  885.  Granville,  R.  K.,  886.  Haynes,  883. 

Frere,  H.  B.,  861.  Gray,  J.,  322.  Hearn,  L.,  640. 

Fric,    V.,    and   Radin,    P.,  Greifswald,  G.  J.,  639.  Hearne,  S.,  877. 

877.  Grey,  G.,  741,  892.  Heckewelder,  J.,  877. 

Friederici,    G.,    135,    322,  Grierson,  P.  J.  H.,  135.  Hedin,  S.,  902. 

440,  639,  861.  Griffis,  W.  E.,  741,  902.  Hedinger,  A.,  441. 

Friedmann,  M.,  322.  Grigsby,  W.  E.,  862.  Hehn,  V.,  136,  906. 

Fritsch,  G.,  885.  Grinnell,  G.   B.,   322,   536,  Hein,  A.  R.,  641. 

Frob^enius,  H.,  886.  640,  741,  862,  877.  Hein,  W.,  640,  641. 

Frobenius,    L.,    135,    639,  Groos,  K.,  640.  Hellwig,  A.,  862. 

862,  886,  896,  912.  Groot,  J.  J.  M.  de,  741.  Henderson,  J.,  892. 
Fiihner,  H.,  741.  Grosse,    E.,    577-93,    640,  Hendren,  S.  R.,  863. 
Fiilleborn,  F.,  886,  912.  910.  Hennepin,  L.,  877. 
Furness,  W.  H.,  896.  Grunzel,  J.,  135.  Henshaw,  H.  W.,  641. 
Futterer,  K.,  902.  Gubbins,  J.  H.,  862,  902.  Herbertson,      A.     J.     and 

Guessfeldt,  P.,  886.  F.  D.,  136. 

Gallon,  F.,  135,  535.  Guise,  R.  E.,  896.  Heriot,  G.,  877. 

Gamboa,  S.  de,  877.  Gulick,  S.  L.,  902.  Herve,  G.,  886. 

Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  877.  Gutmann,  B.,  886.  Hervey,  D.  F.  A.,  641. 

Gardiner,  H.  N.,  910.  Hewitt,  E.  L.,  323. 

Gardiner,  J.  S.,  896.  Haast,  J.  von,  640.  Hewitt,  J.  F.  K.,  902. 

Gardner,  F.,  750.  Haberland,  C.,  741.  Hewitt,  J.  N.  B.,  742,  863. 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


Hiekisch,  C.,  902. 
Hildburgh,  W.  L.,  742. 
Hildebrand,  R.,  863. 
Hildebrandt,  P.,  641. 
Hinde,  S.  L.,  886. 
Him,  Y.,  605-34,  641,  910. 
Hirsch,  W.,  323. 
Hirt,  H.,  907. 
Hitchcock,  R.,  903. 
Hobhouse,  L.  T.,  323,  536, 

863. 

Hobley,  C.  W.,  886. 
Hodge,  F.  W.,  136,  877. 
Hodgkinson,  C.,  892. 
Hodgson,  C.  P.,  892. 
Hodson,  T.  C.,  641. 
Hoernes,  M.,  906,  915. 
Hoffmann,  O.,  910. 
Hoffmann,  W.  J.,  323,  641, 

743,  863,  877. 
Holden,  E.  S.,  323,  641. 
Holdich,  T.  H.,  902. 
Hollis,  A.  C.,  323,  742,  886, 

912. 

Hollub,  E.,  886. 
Holmes,  H.,  642. 
Holmes,  T.  Rice-,  906. 
Holmes,  W.  H.,  441,  558- 

76,   641,   642,   873,  877, 

883. 

Holmes,  and  Mason,  873. 
Holub,  E.,  886. 
Hore,  E.  C.,  886. 
Horn,  W.  A.,  892. 
Hose,  C.,  896. 
Hose  and  McDougall,  742. 
Hose  and  Shelf ord,  642. 
Hough,  W.,  136,  323,  441. 
Hovelaque,  A.,  886. 
Hovorka  und  Kronfeld,  742, 

909. 

Howard,  G.  E.,  536. 
Howitt,    A.     W.,     213-34, 

258-81,    323,    536,    642, 

669-83,  742,  764-87,  863, 

892,  913. 

Howitt  and  Fison,  863. 
Howitt  and  Siebert,  742. 
Howitt,  W.,  892. 
Hrdlicka,  A.,  877. 
Hue,  E.  R.,  903. 
Humboldt,  A.  von,  877. 
Hunter,  J.,  877. 
Hurgronje,  S.,  896,  914. 
Hutchinson,  T.  J.,  887. 
Hutter,  D.,  887. 
Hyades,  P.,  et  Deniker,  J., 

878. 


Iguchi,  536. 
Ihering,  H.  von,  642. 
Ireland,  A.,  136. 
Irle,  I.,  887. 

Jackson,  F.  G.,  903. 
Jacob,  G.,  903. 
Jacobowski,  L.,  536. 
Jacobs,  J.,  742. 
Jacottet,  E.,  743. 
Jagor,  F.,  896,  903. 
James,  E.,  878. 
Jastrow,  M.,  743. 
Jayne,  C.,  642. 
Jenks,  A.  E.,  136,  897. 
Jennings,  H.  S.,  323. 
Jensen,  H.,  323. 
Jette,  J.,  743. 
Jevons,  F.  B.,  743. 
Jochelson,  W.,  743,  903. 
Joest,  W.,  878,  897. 
Johnston,  H.,  136,  323,  441, 

743,  863,  887,  912. 
Johnstone,  H.  B.,  887. 
Johnstone,  J.  C.,  897. 
Jolly,  J.,  863. 
Jones,  P.,  878. 
Jones,  W.,  683-92,  743,  878. 
Jong,  K.  H.  E.  de,  743- 
Joret,  C.,  136. 
Joyce,  P.  W.,  906. 
Judd,  C.  H.,  323. 
Jiilg,  B.,  743. 
Jung,  K.  A.,  323. 
Junghuhn,  F.,  897. 
Junker,  W.,  887,  912. 

Kakyo,  I.,  897. 
Kandt,  R.,  642. 
Karutz,  Dr.,  441,  643. 
Kate,  H.  ten,  323,  743,  903. 
Keane,    A.    H.,    323,    878, 

887,  892,  897,  903,  906, 

908. 

Keller,  A.  G.,  873. 
Kelly,  F.,  878. 
Keraval,  P.,  323. 
Kern,  R.  A.,  324. 
Kerschensteiner,  G.,  324. 
Kersten,  L.,  878. 
Kidd,  D.,  324,  887,  912. 
King,  I.,  324,  743. 
King,  R.,  324. 
Kingsley,  M.  H.,  743,  887. 
Kinnaman,  A.  J.,  324. 
Kirby,  R.  J.,  324. 
Kittredge,  G.  L.,  750. 
Klaatsch,  H.,  906. 


Klose,  H.,  887. 
Kloss,  C.  B.,  897. 
Klugmann,  N.,  536. 
Knocker,  F.  W.,  897. 
Koch-Griinberg,  T.,  642. 
Koenigswald,  G.  von,  878. 
Kogenei,  903. 
Kohler,  A.,  863. 
Kohler,  J.,  863. 
Kolben,  P.,  887. 
Kollman,  P.,  887. 
Kovalevsky,  M.,  536,  863. 
Kraepelin,  E.,  642. 
Kramer,  A.,  642,  897,  914. 
Kramer,  H.,  136. 
Krapf,  L.,  887. 
Krapotkin,  P.,  324. 
Krasinski,  903. 
Krause,  A.,  878. 
Krause,  G.  A.,  743. 
Krauss,    F.    S.,    743,   903, 

906. 

Krehl,  C.  L.  E.,  743. 
Kremer,  A.  von,  324. 
Krieger,  M.,  897,  914. 
Kroeber,  A.   L.,  642,   743, 

744,  878. 
Kropf,  A.,  887. 
Kubary,  J.  S.,  897,  914. 
Kiichler,  L.  W.,  536. 
Kukenthal,  W.,  897. 
Kulischer,  M.,  324. 
Kiirchhoff,  D.,  887. 
Kuske,  B.,  642. 

Laborde,  J.  V.,  324. 
Lafevre,  A.,  324. 
LaFlesche,  F.,  744,  750. 
Lahontan,  L.  A.  de,  878. 
Landor,  A.  H.  S.,  897. 
Lane,  E.  W.,  887. 
Landtman,  G.,  744,  863. 
Lang,  A.,  744. 
Langkavel,  B.,  136. 
Lapicque,  L.,  887. 
Lapouge,  G.  V.  de,  136. 
Lartet  and  Christy,  906. 
Lasch,  R.,  136,  137,  536, 
642,  744,  864,  909,  910. 
Laufer,  6.^324,  643,  903. 
Lavelaye,  E.,  864. 
Lazarus,  M.,  137,  324,  864. 
LeBon,  G.,  324. 
Lehman,  J.,  643. 
Leichardt,  F.  W.  L.,  892, 

893- 

Lejeune,  M.  C.,  537. 
Leland,  C.  F.,  744. 


INDICES 


923 


LeMoyne,  M.  J.  de,  878. 
Lenormant,  F.,  744. 
Lenz,  O.,  887. 
Leonard,  A.  G.,  744,  911. 
Leslie,  D.,  887. 
Lesson,  A.,  897. 
Letourneau,   C.,   137,   324, 

537.  864. 

Leuschner,  F.,  643. 
Levenstein,  S.,  887. 
Lewin,  T.  H.,  903. 
Lewis,  A.  B.,  878. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  878. 
Lichtenstein,  H.,  887. 
Liebrecht,  F.,  744. 
Lietard,  G.  A.,  324,  325. 
Lindsay  and  Kano,  643. 
Lippert,  J.,  137,  441,  643, 

744- 

Livingstone,  D.,  887. 
Lloyd,  A.,  903. 
Lockhart,  J.  H.  S.,  325. 
Loeb,  J.,  325. 
Low,  H.,  897. 
Lowenstimm,  A.,  864. 
Lowrie,  R.  H.,  878. 
Lubbock,  J.,  906. 
Lukas,  F.,  325. 
Lumholtz,  C.,      643,      878, 

893- 
Luschan,  F.  von,  643,  873, 

888,  897,  905. 
Lyall,  A.  C.,  903. 
Lyman,  B.  S.,  903. 

Maas,  A.,  897. 
Mabille,  A.,  888. 
MacCauley,  C.,  643,  879. 
McCoanJ.  C.,  888. 
McCurdy,  G.  G.,  906. 
MacDonald,  D.,  888. 
Macdonald,  D.  B.,  325. 
Macdonald,  G.,  888. 
Macdonald,   J.,    744,    864, 

888. 

Macdonald,  R.  M.,  325. 
MacDougall,  R.,  325. 
McDougall,  W.,  325. 
McDougall  and  Myers,  325. 
McFarlane,  S.,  897. 
McGee,  W  J,  55-73,   137, 

325,  873,  879.' 
Macgowan,  D.,  325. 
McGuire,  J.  D.,  441,  643. 
Mckenney,  T.  L.,  879. 
Mackenzie,  A.,  325,  879. 


Maclean,  J.,  864,  879. 
McLennan,  J.  F.,  537; 
MacRitchie,  D.,  903. 
Maget,  G.,  744. 
Magnus,  H.,  325. 
Mahler,  R.,  897. 
Mahly,  E.,  888. 
Maine,  H.  S.,  864. 
Mallery,  G.,  325,  326,  744. 
Man,  A.,  326. 

Man,  E.  H.,  643,  898,  914. 
Mann,  R.  J.,  888. 
Manouvrier,   L.,  326,   537. 
Manuwiri,  Te,  898. 
Manwaring,  A.,  326. 
March,  H.  C.,  643. 
March,  O.  S.  von  der,  326. 
Marett,  R.  R.,  744. 
Mariner,  W.,  898. 
Marion,  H.,  537. 
Markham,  C.  R.,  898. 
Marriott,  H.  P.  F.,  864. 
Marshall,  W.  E.,  903. 
Martin,  F.  R.,  903. 
Martin,  R.,  898,  914. 
Martius,  K.  F.  P.  von,  864, 

879. 

Mason,  J.  E.,  898. 
Mason,  O.  T.,  29-45,  137, 

326,  441,  442,  643,  910. 
Maspero,  G.,  888. 
Mass,  864. 
Mathew,  J.,  643,  893. 
Mathews,  R.  H.,  326,  537, 

644,  865,  893. 
Mathews  and  Everett,  893. 
Matthews,  C.  H.  S.,  893. 
Matthews,    W.,    644,    745, 

865,  879. 
Mauer,  F.,  865. 
Maurer,  F.,  745. 
Maxfield    and    Millington, 

75°- 

Mayer,  A.,  537. 
Mayne,  R.  C.,  879. 
Mayr,  F.,  888. 
Mazzarella,  G.,  865. 
Mead,  G.  H.,  326,  910. 
Meakin,  B.,  888. 
Menges,  J.,  326. 
Merker,  M.,  865,  888. 
Meyer,  A.  B.,  644,  898. 
Meyer  und  Parkinson,  644. 
Meyer  und  Richter,  644. 
Meyer    and    Schadenburg, 


Meyer,  H.,  443. 
Meyer,  H.  E.,  893. 
Meyer,  J.  Br.,  326. 
Miller,  E.  Y.,  898. 
Milligan,  R.  H.,  888. 
Mills,  T.  W.,  326. 
Mindeleff,  C.,  137,  644. 
Mindeleff,  V.,  644. 
Mondtere,  A.  T.,  888. 
Monteil,  C.,  326. 
Montelius,  O.,  906,  907. 
Montgomery,  H.,  883. 
Montgomery,  T.  H.,  537. 
Mooney,  J.,  745,  750,  865, 

879. 

Moorehead,    W.    K.,    883. 
Morga,  A.  de,  898. 
Morgan,  C.  L.,  326. 
Morgan,  J.,  893. 
Morgan,   L.  H.,  326,  537, 

644,    745.    803-23,    835- 

55,  865,  879. 
Morice,  A.  G.,  879. 
Mortillet,  G.  de,  137,  443. 
Mortillet,  G.  and  A.,  907. 
Mosely,  H.  N.,  898. 
Much,  M.,  907. 
Mucke,  J.  R.,  137,  865. 
Mullens,  J.,  698. 
Miiller,  S.,  907. 
Mumford,  E.,  866. 
Munro,  N.  G.,  903. 
Munro,  R.,  907. 
Murdoch,  J.,  326,  879. 
Murdoch    and    Yamagata, 

904. 

Musters,  Lt,  879. 
Myers,  C.  S.,  644. 
Myers  and  Haddon,  745. 

Nachtigal,  G.,  888. 
Nadaillac,  Marquis  de,  326, 

883,  907. 
Nansen,  F.,  879. 
Nassau,  R.  H.,  745. 
Negelein,  J.  von,  745. 
Nelson,  E.  W.,  879. 
Newell,  W.  W.,  745,  750. 
Niblach,  A.  P.,  879. 
Nicholas,  F.  C.,  879. 
Nicholls,  J.  H.  Kerry-,  898. 
Nieboer,   H.   J.,   537,   866, 

911. 

Nina-Rodrigues,  745. 
Nieuwenhuis,  A.  W.,  898, 

914. 


1  Professor  McGee  does  not  place  periods  after  VV  and  J  in  his  name.     These  were  inserted  in  some 
the  preceding  pages  by  an  oversight. 


924 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


Nilsson,  S.,  907. 
Nitobe,  I.,  904. 
Nordenskiold,   E.,   880. 
Nordenskiold,   G.,  644. 
Northcote,   G.  A.   S.,  888. 
Nuoffer,  O.,  745. 
Nuttall,  Z.,  750. 

Oberlander,  R.,  893. 
Oldfield,  A.,  893. 
Ollone,  Capt.  d',  888. 
Oppel,  A.,  866. 
Overbergh,    C.    van,    888, 

912. 
Owen,  M.  A.,  745. 

Palmer,  E.,  893. 
Park,  M.,  888. 
Parke,  T.  H.,  888. 
Parker,  A.  C.,  880. 
Parker,  K.  L.,  745,  893. 
Parkinson,  J.,  888. 
Parkinson,    R.,    898,    914. 
Parsons,  E.  C.,  537. 
Partridge,  C.,  888. 
Passarge,  S.,  888,  889,  913. 
Pattetta,  F.,  866. 
Paulitschke,   P.,   889,   913. 
Payne,  E.  J.,  137,  326,  866, 

880. 

Peal,  S.  E.,  537. 
Pearson,  K.,  326. 
Pechuel-Loesche,    E.,    889, 

9i3- 
Peckham,  G.  W.  and  E.  G., 

327- 

Peet,  S.  D.,  443,  745,  866. 
Penck,  138. 
Penka,  C.,  138. 
Pennefather,    F.    W.,    898. 
Perez,-  R.  P.  F.  A.,  898. 
Perrig,  A.,  745. 
Peschel,  O.,  138. 
Peterson  and  Luschan,  904. 
Petitot,  E.,  746,  880. 
Petrie,  W.  M.  F.,  138. 
Petrucci,  R.,  866. 
Pfeil,  Graf  von,  327. 
Pfeil,  J.,  898. 
Phillips,  R.  C.,  889. 
Phister,  N.  P.,  746. 
Pischon,  C.  N.,  746. 
Pitcairn,  W.  D.,  898. 
Pleyte,  C.  M.,  644,  746,  899. 
Ploss,  H.  H.,  327,  537. 
Ploss  and  Bartels,  910. 
Poch,   R.,   899. 
Pogge,  P.,  889.1? 


Polack,  J.  S.,  899. 
Pommerol,  J.,  537. 
Porter,  J.  P.,  327. 
Posada,  H.,  866. 
Post,  A.  H.,  537,  866. 
Powell,  B.  H.,  Baden-,  866, 

904. 

Powell,  J.  G.,  746. 
Powell,    J.    W.,   327,    443, 

644,  75°.  823-35- 
Powers,  S.,  880. 
Preuss,  K.  T.,  644,  645,  746. 
Proksch,  O.,  866. 
Proyart,  L.  B.,  889. 
Pryer,  W.  B.,  899. 
Putnam,  F.  W.,  645. 

Quatrefages,    A.    de,    880, 

889,  907. 
Quedenfeldt,  M.,  889. 

Radloff,  W.,  746. 
Rae,  J.,  750. 
Raffles,  T.  S.,  899. 
Ramabai,   Pundita,   537. 
Ramseyer,      F.      A.,      and 

Kiihne,  J.,  889. 
Rancke,  C.  E.,  327. 
Rasmussen,  K.,  880. 
Ratzel,    F.,    45-47,    92-98, 

138,    327,    443,    426-35, 

537,    549-58,    645,    746, 

753-64,    880,    889,    893, 

904,  907,  908. 
Rau,  C.,  138. 
Ray,  S.  H.,  327,  746. 
Reclus,  E.,  138,  893. 
Reed,  V.  Z.,  645. 
Reed,  W.  A.,  899. 
Reeves,  W.  P.,  899. 
Regnault,  F.,  138,  645. 
Reibmayr,  A.,  327. 
Reid,  A.  P.,  746. 
Rein,  J.  J.,  904. 
Reinach,    S.,   645,    746. 
Reindorf,  C.  C.,  889. 
Reinhardt,   L.,  907. 
Reuleaux,  F.,  443. 
Reville,  A.,  746. 
Rhamm,  K.,  537. 
Rhys,  J.,  907. 
Rhys  and  Brynmor-Jones, 

907. 

Ribbe,  C.,  899. 
Richter,   O.,  899. 
Ridgeway,    W.,    138,    327, 

746. 
Ridley,  W.,  893. 


Riggs,  S.  O.,  880. 
Rink,  H.  J.,  746,  880. 
Rink,    S.,    746. 
Rink  and  Boas,  645. 
Ripley,   W.    Z.,    138,    907, 

9i5- 

Risley,  H.,  904,  915. 
Rivers,     A.     L.-F.     Pitt-, 

335-99,  404-25,  899,  910. 
Rivers,  W.  H.  R.,  328,  483- 

89,    S38,    746,    866,  904, 

9*5- 

Rivet,  Dr.,  880. 
Riviere,  E.,  645. 
Robertson,  G.  S.,  904. 
Robinson,  C.,  889. 
Robinson,  J.,  328. 
Robinson,  J.  H.,  5-12,  873. 
Rochet,  L.,  328. 
Rockhill,  W.  W.,  904. 
Roeder,  A.,  328. 
Rohrbach,  P.,  904. 
Roscoe,  J.,  889. 
Rose,  H.  A.,  866. 
Rosenberg,  H.  von,  899. 
Roth,  H.  L.,  98-112,   538, 

645,   866,  880,  889,  899, 

914. 
Roth,  W.  E.,  138,  645,  867, 

893,  9*3- 

Roth  and  Butler,  893,  913. 
Royce,  C.  A.,  880. 
Royce,  C.  C.,  880. 
Royce,  J.,  443. 
Ruelle,  E.,  889. 
Rusden,  G.  W.,  894. 
Russell,  F.,  746,  880. 
Rutmeyer,  L.,  899. 
Rutot,  A.,  907. 

Sabatier,  C.,  538. 
Sagard,  T.  G.,  880. 
Saleeby,  N.  M.,  899. 
Salvado,  R.,  894. 
Sande,  G.   A.   J.   van  der, 

899,  9J4- 

Sarasin,  P.  and  F.,  698, 915. 
Sarazin,  H.,  889. 
Sarbah,  J.  M.,  867. 
Sartori,  P.,  867. 
Satow,  E.,  645,  746. 
Schadenberg,  A.,  899,  900. 
Scheerer,  O.,  328. 
Schellong,  O.,  645. 
Schmid,  K.  A.,  328. 
Schmidt,  E.,  880. 
Schmidt,  M.,  645,  880,  911. 
Schmidt,  P.  W.,  894. 


INDICES 


925 


Schmoller,  G.,  867. 
Schnee,  H.,  900. 
Schneider,  O.,  328. 
Schneider,  W.,  747. 
Schomburgk,  R.  H.,  880. 
Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  747,  880. 
Schrader,  F.,  138,  907. 
Schrader,  O.,  328,  907. 
Schreiber,  M.,  538. 
Schrenck,  L.  von,  904. 
Schufeldt,  R.  W.,  645. 
Schultze,  F.,  328,  747. 
Schultze,  L.,  889,  913. 
Schurtz,  H.,  328,  646,  747, 

867,  908,  911. 
Schwalbe,  G.,  907. 
Schwartz,  W.,  747,  904. 
Schweiger-Leschenfeld,    A. 

von,  538. 

Schweinfurth,  G.,  646,  889. 
Seebohm,  F.,  907. 
Seidel,  H.,  889. 
Seidlitz,  N.  von,  328. 
Seler,  E.,  747,  883. 
Seligman,  C.  G.,  328,  538. 
Semple,  E.  C.,  47-54,  138, 

909. 

Semon,  R.,  894. 
Senfft,  A.,  867. 
Sergi,  G.,  907. 
Sharp,  F.  C.,  867. 
Sheldon,  M.  French-,  889. 
Shooter,  J.,  889. 
Sibree,  J.,  867,  900. 
Siebold,  P.  F.,  904. 
Sieroshevski,  74-92. 
Siemiradzki,  J.  von,  880. 
Sievers,  W.,  889. 
Sighele,  S.,  328. 
Simmel,  G.,  538,  646,  747, 

867. 

Sinclair,  A.  T.,  646. 
Skeat,  W.  W.,  747,  911. 
Skeat   and    Blagden,    139, 

328.  443.  S38.  646,  747, 

900,  915. 

Skertchley,  S.  B.  J.,  443. 
Smet,  P.  J.,  880. 
Smith,  A.  H.,  328. 
Smith,  E.  A.,  328,  747. 
Smith,  J.,  881. 
Smith,  P.,  900. 
Smith,  P.  W.  Bassett-,  894. 
Smith,  S.  P.,  900. 
Smith,  W.  R.,  747,  904. 
Smyth,  R.  B.,  894. 
Somerville,  B.  T.,  900. 
Somlo,  F.,  909. 


Souffret,  F.,  329. 
Specht,  C.  A.,  889. 
Speck,  F.  G.,  88 1. 
Speke,  J.  H.,  889. 
Spencer,  B.,  867. 
Spencer,  F.  C.,  329. 
Spencer,  H.,  139,  186-213, 

329,  443,  SOQ-1 2>  538» 
646,  704-32,  867,  881, 
889,  894,  900,  904. 
Spencer  and  Gillen,  234-58, 
329>  443,  468-82,  538, 
646,  747,  788-92,  862, 

894,  9*3- 
Spinden,  J.,  881. 
Spix,  J.  B.  von,  and  Mar- 

tius,  C.  F.  P.  von,  881. 
Squier,  E.  G.,  874,  881. 
Stanley,  H.  M.,  889,  890. 
Starbuck,  E.  D.,  747. 
Starcke,  C.  N.,  538. 
Starr,  F.,  890. 
Stearns,  R.  E.  C.,  329. 
Steere,  J.  B.,  881. 
Steinen,  K.  von  den,    329, 

881,  912. 
Steinmetz,  S.  R.,  329,  538, 

747,867,868,911. 
Steinthal,  H.,  329,  748. 
Stenin,  P.  von,  904. 
Stentz,  G.  M.,  329,  904. 
Stephan,  E.,  329,  646. 
Stephen,  A.  M.,  881. 
Stephens,  J.  L.,  881. 
Stepman     and     Graebner, 

900. 

Stevens,  F.  E.,  88 1. 
Stevens,  H.  V.,  538. 
Stevenson,  J.,  748. 
Stevenson,  M.  C.,  646,  747. 
Stevenson,  T.  E.,  329. 
Stickney,  G.  P.,  139. 
Stigand,  C.  H.,  890. 
Stokes,  J.  F.  G.,  646. 
Stall,  O.,  329,  538,  748,  881, 

909. 

Stolpe,  H.,  646. 
Stow,  G.  W.,  890. 
Stratz,  C.  H.,  646. 
Strauss,  A.,  907. 
Strehlow,  C.,  894,  913. 
Stuart,  J.  McD.,  894. 
Stuart,  T.  P.,  868. 
Stubel,  Reiss,  and  Koppel, 

443- 

Stuhlmann,  F.,  890. 
Summer,     W.     J.,     74-92, 

868. 


Sumner,  W.  G.,  911. 
Sutherland,  A.,  868. 
Suyematsu,  K.,  868. 
Svoboda,  W.,  900. 
Swan,  J.  G.,  881. 
Swanton,  J.   R.,   748,   868, 
881. 

Takaishi,  S.,  538. 
Tanner,  A.,  538. 
Taplin,  G.,  894. 
Tarde,  G.,  329,  868. 
Tate,  H.  E.,  890. 
Taylor,  I.,  329. 
Taylor,  R.,  900,  915. 
Teit,  J.,  748,  881. 
Temple,  R.  C.,  330. 
Theal,    G.    M.,    748,    890, 

9*3- 

Thilenius,  G.,  900. 
Thomas,  C.,  330,  881,  883. 
Thomas,  N.  W.,  329,  443, 

539,  874- 
Thomas,    W.    I.,    155-73, 

281-303,   329,   443,   539, 

868. 

Thompson,  B.  H.,  749. 
Thompson,  R.  C.,  748. 
Thomson,  B.  C.,  900. 
Thorndike,  E.  L.,  330. 
Thrupp,  J.,  139. 
Thurn,  E.  F.  Im,  636,  881, 

912. 

Thurston,  E.,  904. 
Thurston,  G.  P.,  883. 
Thwaites,  R.  G.,  881. 
Tillinghast,  J.  A.,  890. 
Topinard,  P.,  330,  873. 
Torday,     E.,     and    Joyce, 

T.  A.,  890. 

Tout,  C.  Hill-,  868,  882. 
Tregear,  E.,  900. 
Tschoffen,  890. 
Tucker,  A.  R.,  890. 
Tufts,  J.  H.,  539,  868. 
Turner,  C.  H.,  330. 
Turner,  G.,  900. 
Turner,  L.  M.,  882. 
Turner,  W.  Y.,  900. 
Tylor,  E.  B.,  330,  399-404, 

443,    539,    636,   692-704, 

748,  869,  873,  874,  882, 

894,911. 

Ule,  O.,  139. 
Utiesenovie",  O.  M.,  869. 

Vacca,  G.,  331. 


926 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


Va'mbe'ry,  A.,  869,  904,  907, 

Washburn,  M.  F.,  331. 

908. 

Watkins,  J.  E.,  443. 

Veblen,  T.,  539,  636,  869. 

Watson,  J.  B.,  331. 

Velten,  C.,  890. 

Weale,  J.  M.,  331. 

Venturillo,  M.  H.,  900. 

Webster,  H.,  792-803,  869, 

Verneau,  R.,  869. 

911. 

Verner,  S.  P.,  890. 

Weichsel,  J.,  910. 

Vierkandt,    A.,    139,    331, 

Wehrli,  H.,  905. 

869,  909. 

Weissman,  A.,  139. 

Villeneuve,     Verneau,      et 

Welling,  J.  C.,  869. 

Boule,  908. 

Werther,  C.  W.,  891. 

Vincent,  G.  E.,  331. 

Westermarck,    E.,    447-68, 

Virchow,  R.,  139,  900. 

489-509,   539,    748,   749, 

Vissering,  W.,  331. 

869,  910,  911. 

Voit,  C.,  139. 

Weston,  W.,  905. 

Volland,  Dr.,  904. 

Weule,  K.,  891,  900,  913. 

Voth,  H.  R.,  539,  748. 

White,  R.  B.,  882. 

Whitmere,  S.  J.,  900. 

Wachter,  W.,  443. 

Wickersham,  J.,  331. 

Waddell,  L.  A.,  905. 

Widenmann,  A.,  891. 

Waitz,   T.,   139,   331,   882, 

Wied,  M.  zu,  882. 

890,  894,  900. 

Wilkes,  C.,  882. 

Wake,  C.  S.,  331. 

Wilkin,  A.,  749,  869. 

Walker,  J.  B.,  894. 

Wilkinson,  R.  J.,  749. 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  882. 

Will,  G.  F.,  and  Spinden, 

Wallaschek,    R.,    593-605, 

H.  J.,  882. 

646,  910. 

Williams,  F.  W.,  749. 

Wallis,  B.,  869. 

Williams,  S.  W.,  905. 

Warburton,  D.  E.,  894. 

Williams,  M.,  749. 

Ward,  H.,  890. 

Williams  and  Calvert,  901. 

Ward,  L.  F.,  331,  443. 

Willoughby,  C.,  882. 

Wardle,  H.  N.,  748. 

Willoughby,  W.  C.,  869. 

Warming  and  Vahl,  139. 

Wilser,  L.,  539. 

Warneck,  J.,  900,  911. 

Wilson,  J.  A.,  901. 

Warren,  W.  W.,  882. 

Wilson,  T.,  647. 
Wilson  and  Felkin,  891. 
Wilutsky,  P.,  539. 
Windle,  B.  C.  A.,  908. 
Winship,  G.  P.,  882. 
Winsor,  J.,  882,  883. 
Winterbottom,  T.,  891. 
Wissler,  C.,  647,  882. 
Wissler  and  Duval,  749. 
Wissmann,  H.  von,  891. 
Witte  und  Schmidt,  647. 
Wlislocki,  H.  von,  749,  908. 
Woermann,  K.,  647. 
Wolf,  J.,  331. 
Wolf,  L.,  890. 
Woodruff,  C.  E.,  139,  647. 
Woods,  J.  D.,  894. 
Woods,  J.  E.  T.,  894. 
Woodthorpe,  R.  G.,  905. 
Worcester,  D.  C.,  901,  915. 
Wray,  L.,  647. 
Wundt,  W.,  331,  647,  749, 

909. 
Wylde,  A.  B.,  891. 

Yarrow,  H.  C.,  749. 
Yate,  W.,  901. 
Yoe,  S.,  905. 
Younghusband,  F.  E.,  905. 

Zaborowski,  M.,  905. 
Zachariae,  T.,  749. 
Zeisberger,  D.,  882. 
Zoller,  H.,  901. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Abstraction,  24,  146,  160,  163,  200,  201, 
206,  207,  210,  317,  733,  856. 

Acculturation,  303,  306,  313. 

Activity,  food  and  sex  basis  of,  177. 

Aged,  authority  of,  788,  856;  treatment 
of,  89,  90,  91,  533. 

Aesthetics,   544. 

Altruism,  72,  194,  200. 

Agriculture,  98,  180,  192,  659;  as 
woman's  work,  109;  communal,  830; 
implements  of,  400;  insecurity  of, 
96;  development  of,  57,  66,  73,  109, 
in;  theory  of,  98;  types  of,  96. 

Almanacs,   364. 

Amulets,  554. 

Animals,  relations  with  man,  66,  68,  70, 
81,  83,  93,  183. 

Animism.     See  Religion. 

Anthropogeography,  29. 

Arctic  area,  39,  40,  74. 

Arid  regions,  50,  55,  73. 

Armistice,  ceremonial,  233. 

Armor,  375. 

Arrested  development,  causes  of,  51. 

Art,  148,  182,  395,  543,  544,  547,  549, 
560,  561,  616,  621,  629,  631,  635. 

Art,  and  control,  15,  605,  615,  621; 
and  history,  609;  and  information, 
605;  and  magic,  626;  and  war,  620; 
and  work,  614;  ceramic,  form  and 
ornament  in,  558;  commemorative, 
608,  612,  613,  624;  decorative,  543, 
544,  561,  570,  575;  influence  of  ma- 
terials on,  547,  560,  561,  568,  573, 
576.  See  Dance,  Drama,  Music,  Or- 
nament, Pottery,  Professions. 

Artistic  representations,  life-histories  of, 
546. 

Arts,  types  of,  33. 

Artificial  deformations.  See  Mutilations. 

Association,  176,  664. 

Astronomy,  364. 

Attention,  of  Savage,  439;  and  control, 
16;  relation  to  culture,  858;  waste 
of,  437- 


Barter,  31,  42,  495,  534,  781. 

Birth  customs,  526. 

Birth  rate,  533. 

Blood- vengeance,  84,  758,  781,  783. 

Brain,  145,  173. 

Bride-price,  490,   534. 

Cactus,   58. 

Calendars,  364. 

Canoes,  406. 

Carrying,  methods  of,  359. 

Cattle-breeding,  92. 

Causation,  idea  of,  201,  208. 

Cereals,  43,  no. 

Chieftainship,  282. 

Children,  90,  195,  213. 

Choice,  power  of,  in  savages,  148. 

Church,  influence  on  culture,  289,  294, 

302. 

Civics  and  anthropology,  13. 
Civilization,  main  superiority  of,   438; 

threshold  of,  131. 
Clocks,  364. 
Clothing,  549. 

Clubs,  men's,  515;    women's,  519. 
Collectors,  instructions  to,  873. 
Colonization,  763. 
Commensality,  57,  66. 
Commerce.     See  Trade,  Barter. 
Communality  life,  66,  81,  114,  851. 
Communication,    49,     126,     264,    306, 

429,  433.  545- 

Confederacy,  Iroquois,  803  ff. 
Conservatism,   21,   198,   210,  317,  428, 

780. 

Consumption,  31,  78. 
Control,    14,    133,    159,    193,    216,   316, 

437.   6°5>   615,   733,   765,   856.     See 

Initiation  ceremonies,  Secret  societies. 
Co-operation,  55,  59,  66,  359,  619. 
Corrobboree,  577,  599. 
Cosmology,  634. 


927 


928 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


Councils,  769,  812,  826. 

Counting,  146,  273,  359. 

Cowardice,  621. 

Credulity,  208. 

Crisis,  relation  to  control,  16-22,  133, 
172,  436,  526,  533.  635,  753,  858. 

Cruelty,   197,  622. 

Culture,  and  clothing,  550;  as  progress 
from  naturalism  to  artificialism,  45; 
and  population,  46;  areas,  38,  39,  44; 
bases  of,  130;  borrowings  of,  431 
classification,  by  epochs  of,  25,  133; 
confused  with  progress  in  intelligence, 
157;  contacts  of,  47,  129,  429,  434; 
continuity  of,  430;  dependence  on 
mechanical  invention,  437;  depend- 
ence on  tradition,  427;  geographical 
factors  of,  51,  53,  55,  130,  132,  426, 
763;  influence  of  interest  in  future 
on,  609;  influence  of  segregation  on, 
434,  754,  760;  origins  of,  23,  315; 
parallelism  in  development  of,  164; 
pastoral,  66,  74;  physical  weakness 
of  man  as  factor  of,  467;  regional 
study  of,  857 ;  relation  to  abstraction, 
24;  relation  to  crisis,  17,  20,  858;  rela- 
tion to  mind,  130,  155,  426;  theories 
of,  23;  uniformity  of,  130,  313. 

Curiosity,   209. 

Custom,  changes  of,  780;  force  of,  764; 
influence  on  activities,  153;  influence 
on  mind,  152;  relation  to  standards 
of  behavior,  153;  rudimentary,  476. 

Customs  duties,  origin  of,  127. 

Dance,  aesthetic  character  of,  587; 
degeneration  of,  in  civilization,  593; 
dramatic,  598,  606;  erotic,  579,  585, 
593;  exciting  power  of,  586,  589; 
gymnastic,  577;  mimetic,  583,  595; 
music  in,  582,  596;  relation  to  drama, 
589;  rhythm  in,  577;  social  signifi- 
cance of,  591;  symbolic,  627;  totemic, 
225;  types  of,  288,  577. 

Death,  attitude  toward,  184,  671. 

Decoration,  543  ff. 

Democracy,  756. 

Desert,  co-operation  in,  65. 

Desert-culture,   55,  64. 

Desert  people,  characteristics  of,  60. 

Despotism,  755. 

Discouragement,  areas  of,  38,  54. 

Distribution  of  man,  45. 


Domestic   animals.     See  Animals. 

Drama,  593,  599,  603. 

Dreams,  672,  705,  710,  733,  734. 

Earth,  relation  to  man,  29  ff. 
Economic  organization,  112  ff. 
Economic  unit,  74. 
Economics  and  anthropology,   13. 
Education  and  anthropology,  13. 
Educational  systems  of  the  savage,  142 

ff.,  213,  258  ff.,  317,  436. 
Emanation  theories,  632. 
Emotion,    147,    186,   604;    in  art  and 

religion,   635;    in  child  and  savage, 

190. 

Engineering,  371. 
Environment,  adaptation  to,  in  plants, 

animals,    and    man,    compared,    61, 

65,  71;    control  of,  14,  65;    relation 

to  culture,  166,  547,  712. 
Ethics.     See  Morality. 
Ethnic  areas,  39. 
Ethnology,  importance  of,  4,  12. 
Ethnotechnology,  43. 
Evolutionary  view  of  life,  3. 
Exchange,  genesis  of,  113. 
Expectancy,  as  factor  of  art,  546. 

Family,  as  nucleus  of  society,  461; 
pastoral  type  of,  87 ;  relation  to  mar- 
riage, 457;  relation  to  state,  762; 
size  of,  in  relation  to  economic  con- 
ditions, 75. 

Family  life,  among  animals,  448;  among 
savages,  451;  relation  to  type  of 
marriage,  483,  510;  relation  to 
slavery,  88;  role  of  father  in,  452. 

Filial  feeling,  507. 

Fire,  15,  406. 

Fire-sticks,  369. 

Folk-lore,  145,  150.  See  Myth,  Tradi- 
tion. 

Food,  division  of,  78;  improvidence 
concerning,  104;  magic  control  of, 
63  5 1  789;  varied  character  of,  98. 

Food  regulations,  528,  531. 

Food  supply,  conservation  of,  92;  rela- 
tion to  social  organization,  80,  131, 
465- 

Foreign  rulers,  764,  771. 

Frontiers,  importance  of,  760. 


INDICES 


929 


Genius,  19,  54,  427. 

Geographic    environment,    relation    to 

culture,  130. 
Geographic  factors,  47,  49,  51,  53,  54, 

60,  62,  95,  763. 

Geographic  location,  52,  82,  95. 
Geographic  regions,  37,  38. 
Gifts,  and  trade,  114,  116,  534. 
Government,  as  mode  of  control,   15; 

separation  of  civil  and  military,  821; 

secret  societies  in,  793;    women  in, 

825,  853;  tribal,  764,  823,  834. 
Gregariousness,  in  apes  and  man,  461. 

Habit,  17,  21,  131,  144,  185,  198,  815. 
Haftings,  types  of,  336. 
Heredity  and  environment,  48. 
Heterogeneity  of  lower  races,  133,  764. 
History,   and  anthropology,    13;    as  a 

science,  5. 

Hospitality,  78,  114,  478,  835,  842,  854. 
Hydrotechnology,  369. 
Hydrotechny,  370. 

Ideas,   progressive  role  of,   130. 

Imagination,  202,  210,  607. 

Imitation,  560,  626. 

Imitativeness,  204,  205.     See  Mimicry. 

Immediacy  of  primitive  life,  178. 

Immortality,   312,   700,   711,   717. 

Implements.     See  Tools. 

Improvidence,  76,  191,  199. 

Incest,  487. 

Individual,  as  the  real  variable,  173. 

Individualism,  753. 

Industrial  development,  43. 

Industrial  districts,  112. 

Industrial  peoples,  122. 

Industries,  30,  93;  centrifugal  and 
centripetal  movement  of,  41;  origin 
of,  40;  and  art,  614;  effect  of  tribute 
collection  on,  128. 

Information,  as  basis  of  art,  544. 

Inhibition,  147,  159,  160. 

Initiation  ceremonies,  213,  234,  316, 
688,  796;  dramatic  character  of,  290; 
exclusion  of  women  from,  527;  not 
in  hands  of  medicine  man,  300;  ob- 
jects of,  215,  224,  231,  236. 

Intellectual  evolution,  202. 


Intelligence,  206,  213,  615. 

International  dealings,  815. 

Interrelations  of  life.  65. 

Invention,  210,  335,  359,  426,  438; 
as  aid  to  social  organization,  467; 
as  condition  of  progress,  430,  437, 
438;  as  mode  of  control,  15;  as  test 
of  mind,  166;  importance  of  tradi- 
tion for,  427;  loss  of,  428;  opposition 
to,  428;  order  of  emergence  of,  25; 
origin  of,  314;  stimulated  by  animals, 
35- 

Irrigation,  63,  96,  369,  370. 

Jealousy,  471,  530. 

Kinship,   basis  of  social  organization, 

810. 
Knots  and  hitches,  355. 

Labor,  75,  97,  131,  182,  190,  614;  com- 
munal, 372;  division  of,  107,  122, 
168,  303;  songs  and  dances,  598, 
616,  620. 

Land,  communal  use  of,  75,  85,  100, 
114;  tenure,  191. 

Language,  as  mode  of  control,  15; 
development  of,  36,  617;  inadequacy 
of,  706,  723;  influence  of  exogamy 
and  sex-segregation  on,  521. 

Law,  292,  779. 

Laziness,  131,  190. 

Legends.     See  Myth. 

Liberty,  love  of,  192. 

Longevity,  in  deserts,  61. 

Luxury,  551,  557. 

Machinery,  evolution  of,  366. 

Magic,  284,  437,  617,  622,  626,  632, 
634,  657-69,  756;  as  system  of  con- 
trol of  nature,  437,  682;  fallacy  of, 
664;  imitative  or  mimetic,  652; 
sympathetic,  545,  632,  651. 

Manitou,  683. 

Markets,  118,  120,  781. 

Marriage,  184,  454,  511,  530;  as  mode 
of  control,  16;  by  capture,  475,  496, 
5°3»  533;  b7  choice,  489,  499,  504; 
by  contract,  476,  505,  508;  by  elope- 
ment, 500;  by  purchase,  489,  496, 
5°3>  534;  ceremonies,  527,  534;  child- 
marriage,  498,  505;  endogamy  and 
exogamy,  530,  828;  group-marriage, 
468,  470,478,  481;  monogamy,  509; 


93° 


SOCIAL  ORIGINS 


origin  and  antiquity  of,  447;  poly- 
andry, 483,  532;  polygamy,  87,  525; 
promiscuity,  451,  460,  472,  477,  487, 
488,  530,  531. 

Matriarchal  system,  756,  828. 

Measuring,  201,  359,  361. 

Mechanics,  356,  367. 

Medicine,  16,  631,  662. 

Medicine-man,  281,  627,  669,  680. 

Memory-helping  devices,  360. 

Message-sticks,  264. 

Messengers,  126,  264,  274,  317,  818. 

Meteorology,  366. 

Method  of  anthropology,  873;  of  study, 
3ff- 

Metrology,  362. 

Migrations,  42,  50,  429. 

Mimicry,  instinct  of,  588. 

Mind,  26,  107,  128,  143,  147,  150,  155, 
158,  164,  169,  173,  186,  188,  191,  197, 
201,  316,  439,  630,  632,  704,  710; 
development,  of  175,  316,  735;  hunt- 
ing type  of,  168,  176,  181;  types  of, 
176;  unity  of,  26,  130,  148,  167,  313, 
3i5- 

Miscegenation,  between  plants  and 
animals,  59. 

Missing  link,  907,  908. 

Modesty,  549,  551. 

Money,  119,  361. 

Monotony,  areas  of,  38. 

Morality,  148,  154,  165,  197,  223,  227, 
232,  436,  635,  700,  857. 

Music,  582,  593,  596,  600,  602,  603, 
607,  616,  621. 

Mutilations,  as  ornament,  555. 

Mystery,  power  of,  684. 

Myth,  attitude  toward,  691;  compara- 
tive study  of,  309;  development  of, 
301,  303,  311;  dissemination  of, 
3°4,  3°7.  3I2»  433- 

Names,  personal,  436,   724,  735,   829; 

nicknames,    728;     totem-name,    229. 
Navigation,    influence    on    migration, 

42;  modes  of,  404. 
Nomads,  50,  94,  101. 
Numbers,  359. 

Old  Men.     See  Aged. 
Opera,  602. 


Oratory,  766. 

Ordeals,  expiatory,  784. 

Occupations,  professional.  See  Pro- 
fessions. 

Occupations,  relation  of,  to  activity, 
175;  to  art,  635;  to  sex,  523;  special- 
ization of,  17,  167,  317.  See  Profes- 
sions. 

Ornament,  543  ff.,  553,  565,  572,  625. 
See  Art. 

Pantomime.  See  Drama,  Dance,  Mim- 
icry. 

Parallelism,  geographical  and  cultural, 
54;  in  mental  development,  164,  211; 
in  myths,  306;  vs.  spread  of  ideas, 
3*7- 

Parental  instinct,  195,  447,  456. 

Particularism,  errors  of,  22,  531,  533, 
734- 

Paternal  authority,  504,  506. 

Perception,  149,  203,  204. 

Phallicism,  472,  626. 

Philosophy,  150. 

Picture-writing,  545,  611. 

Pithecanthropus  erectus,  907,  908. 

Plants,  domestication  of,  109. 

Play,  as  mode  of  control,  16. 

Pleasure-pain  reactions,  167. 

Plough,  origin  of,  399. 

Poetry,  586,  594,  607. 

Poisons,  use  of,  394,  398,  676. 

Political  organization,  81,  511,  753, 
856. 

Population,  45,  63,  83,  510,  755. 

Potter's  wheel,  367. 

Pottery,  558. 

Precociousness,  of  savage,  211. 

Prehistoric  period,  importance  of,  5;  in 
America,  883. 

Prevision  of  distant  results,  201. 

Professions,  and  patronage,  302;  litera- 
ture, 291;  medicine,  284;  music  and 
dancing,  287 ;  origin  of,  283. 

Progress,  basis  of,  157,  426,  438;  mean- 
ing of,  30;  relation  to  crisis,  18;  slow- 
ness of  early,  132. 

Property,  private,  82,  114,  201. 

Proprietary  instinct,  development  of, 
191. 

Proverbs,  161. 


INDICES 


931 


Puberty  customs,  527.  See  Initiation 
ceremonies. 

Race-improvement,  316. 

Race-mixture,  548,  763. 

Race-prejudice,  156. 

Race-problem,  873. 

Races,  extinction  of,  46;   origin  of,  39. 

Rain-making,  682. 

Realism,  in  art,  547,  566. 

Reasoning,  151,  172,  205. 

Recapitulation  theory,  26. 

Religion,  15,  183,  223,  665,  692,  733; 
absence  of,  667,  692,  714;  and  art, 
545;  and  emotion,  635,  684;  and 
environment,  37,  712;  and  magic, 
665,  733;  and  sex,  520,  523;  ancestor- 
worship,  609,  717,  734;  animal- 
worship,  132,  718,  735;  animism, 
692,  699,  702;  evolution  of,  666,692, 
701,  704;  ghost  theory  of,  281,  704; 
natural,  683,  700;  nature-worship, 
684,731;  plant-worship,  730. 

Representativeness,  207. 

Restraint,  intolerance  of,  76,   192. 

Rhythm,  587, ,619. 

Ritual,  derivation  of,  689. 

Sacrifices,  714. 

Science,  170,  171,  438. 

Sea  coast,  influence  of,  51. 

Sea  power,  52. 

Secret  societies,  792. 

Sedentary  life,  95. 

Segregation,  48,  434,  514,  527,  549,  760. 

Sennit,  341,  415,  416. 

Sense-perceptions,  158,  202. 

Sexes,  antagonism   of,    512,   518.     See 

Segregation,       Solidarity,      Woman, 

Marriage. 

Slave  trade,  124,  754. 
Skepticism,  202. 
Sleep.     See  Dreams. 
Sociability,  193,  199. 
Social  organization,  15,  37,  74,  83,  85, 

288,  465,  59i.  856- 
Soil,  32,  51. 
Solidarity,  59,  154,  437,  548,  592,  754 

856;   of  sex,  517,  529. 
Song.     See  Music. 
Sons,  position  of,  504. 


Souls,  belief  in,  700,  704,  711,  717,  733; 

doctrine  of,  701;   transmigration  of, 

719.     See  Religion. 
Spencer,  H.,  erroneous  views  of,   28,1, 

3i6, 533,  734,  735- 
State,  753  ff.,  761,  762. 
Steppe  region,  culture  of,  74. 
Story-telling,  professional,  602. 
Stoicism,  222. 

Suggestion,  287,  545,  560,  617,  630, 
635,  689. 

Taboo,  147,  184,  229,  258,  264,  512, 
729,  765,  795- 

Tattooing,  556,  622. 

Technic  areas,  39. 

Technogeography,  29,  130. 

Technology,  335. 

Telephonic  contrivances,  126. 

Temperament,  influence  of  cattle-breed- 
ing on,  94. 

Tools,  30;  and  agriculture,  96;  and  art, 
573;  as  ornaments,  554;  types  of, 
335- 

Totemism,  132,  183,  244,  246,  520, 
727.  See  Dances,  Names,  Religion. 

Trade,  35,  112,  557;  as  means  of  politi- 
cal power,  757;  routes,  125,  306. 

Trading  peoples,  122. 

Tradition,  132,  149,  150,  152,  311,  427, 
613;  and  reasoning,  151.  See 
Myth. 

Transportation,  126. 

Travelers,  instructions  to,  873. 

Tribal  organization,  62,  77,  462,  803, 
823. 

Tribute  and  taxes,  128. 

Truth,  conception  of,  202. 

Vanity,  relation  to  clothing,.  551. 
Variability,  173,  194. 
Vegetarianism,  98. 

Wants,  30,  544. 

War,  373,  374,  621,  661,  679,  758;  and 
art,  625;  and  leadership,  821;  in- 
fluence of,  613,  622,  753,  759,  769, 
821;  mimic,  623;  songs,  623;  women 
in,  658. 

Weapons,  as  ornaments,  554;  classifi- 
cation of,  374;  defensive,  374;  offen- 
sive, 385. 


932  SOCIAL  ORIGINS 

Wealth,  and  art,  545.  525,    549,    802;     language   of,    521; 

Weighing,  359.  magical   practices  of,   681;    occupa- 

WheeUarriages,  origin  of,  399,  403.  ^ons  of>  ™9>  265>  285-  5o3,  658,  825, 

853;    position  of,  90,  107,  511,  519. 

Wind-power,  369.  See     Marriage,      Sex,     Segregation, 

Witchcraft,   punishment  of,   832.     See  Solidarity. 

Magic. 

Woman;   and    altruism,    197;    attitude  Zones,  anthropological,  38. 

toward   marriage,    532;     control   of,  Zooculture,  69, 73.     See  Animals. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


PEC  4 


Book  Slip-15m-8,'58(5890s4)4280 


UCLA-Colleg*  Library 

HM51T36S 


LOOS  763  184  8 


College 
Library 


HM 

£L 

T36s 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A    001  086716    6 


